Clearly back in full force now that the writers’ strike has been settled, John Oliver hit former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson with a new nickname during the latest episode of Last Week Tonight.
While going deep on the weaponization of homeschooling that’s ramped up thanks to issues like critical race theory the increased rash of book bans, Oliver had actually had something positive to say after showing a clip of a teen who was genuinely able to learn better after escaping the bullying of public schools.
“That’s great. That is very nice. And I know that’s not something you usually hear me say after a clip on this show,” Oliver said via Deadline. And that’s when the drive-by nickname happened.
“It’s usually a variation of ‘That’s horrible’ or ‘That’s heartbreaking,’” Oliver said as Carlson’s face appeared on the screen, “Or shut the f**k up you baby bi**h lawn dart.”
(You can see Tucker Carlson get his new nickname at the 3:20 mark above.)
Oliver has only been back for two episodes, and the late night host is clearly relishing the opportunity to go after the targets he missed because of the strikes. In a new interview with NPR, he called being back “joyful” and opened up about how he and the writers stayed sharp by joking with each other Zoom calls.
“We were checking in with [the writers] a bunch and whenever we were on those Zoom calls and they were making each other laugh, part of the sadness was, ‘Oh, it would be really nice to direct these incredible senses of humor at the targets that you want to direct them at,’” Oliver said. “And so, yes, it was very, very fun to give them assignments and to watch them excel and make us laugh. It was utterly joyful.”