r/lastweektonight • u/Vanshrek99 • 21d ago

Apprentice/understudy needed

So HBO needs to add an understudy to the program. I know JO needs to take holidays but there should be a replacement for him. The program is really no different than 60 minutes. Has more real news than fox.

Or am I alone and miss watching last week tonight when it's on a break. So info back and watch old episodes and piss the wife off when I start going on about it

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u/pocketjacks 21d ago

This is also less about John's personal availability and the amount of time and effort it takes to research, write and produce an episode.

They have a large team dedicated just to researching possible topics and doing the initial investigation to determine if the subject is air-worthy. Then they have a team of fact checkers and lawyers to make sure they don't run afoul of their legal responsibility to tell the truth. And then you have comedy writers that punch up the boring dry facts. Then you've got a team that works on remotes and doing stupid stuff like buying Russell Crowe's jock strap. And then you've got the camera operators and audience wranglers and craft services people that handle the operations of running an episode.

So no... finding a fill-in for John on his weeks off isn't a simple solution. They have to work within their budget and HBO isn't going to double it for twice the number of episodes if they don't see that money coming back to them in increased subscription numbers.

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u/Bod_Lennon 21d ago

I think he did an interview with the New York Times podcast where he briefly talked about having an understudy or something similar. And believe it was something they considered, but ultimately decided not to do because of the work load

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u/Sitcom_kid 21d ago

The contract is only for a certain number of shows per year

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u/Se7enSis 21d ago

I wonder how Diane Morgan would do. I have to explain to virtually all of my US friends when they see some viral clip and think it’s serious that Cunk is a character, but if she could be at least 50% of JO (and series 1 JO was 50% of current JO) in the hosting stakes (technically I mean, if she’s good enough delivering the lines etc), I think she could do really well and bring a freshness and difference, but also sameness, when John’s away. Of course the crew wouldn’t get a break then either so it’s impractical at face value, but I’d love to see her try.