I know this is supposed to be a comedy show, but John Oliver shows again and again that he is better at explaining the context of current events than almost anyone else currently attempting to do so. He kicked off the sixth season of Last Week Tonight on Sunday night by checking in on Brexit.
To give his viewers some sense of the enormity of the clusterfuck in question, Oliver had to use extreme methods: a Churchillian address about how steadfastly the U.K. has committed to f*cking itself, a mug reading “You’ve Pretty Much F*cked Yourself With a Rusty Piece of Rebar,” and most shockingly of all, a music video from a boy band called the Breunion Boys urging the U.K. to remain in the European Union.
Oliver explained the history of the closed borders with Northern Ireland, and how Brexit could bring back the old tensions. He concludes that the best decision would be to stay in the EU:
Nonetheless, the comedian said he thinks that the UK's leaders need to make a "courageous decision" and decide to remain in the EU because of the significant risks associated with an exit. "A true act of political courage at this point ... would be to acknowledge that the first one [EU exit referendum] was fatally flawed," Oliver said. "[Courage means acknowledging] ... that carrying it [Brexit] out will do longterm damage to the country and then cancelling Brexit altogether."
