This is the one aspect of the show "Last Week Tonight" that always irked me. He makes fun of peoples appearances too much. It's just not good comedy or even a good insult in my opinion.

Yeah it's soured me on him over time. Jon Stewart held against people their behavior, but John goes all over the map and sometimes it just makes him less convincing IMO

I like them both but disappointingly, they both insult people based on superficial traits. Seems like every time Stewart talked about Mitch McConnell he would do the turtle thing where he made fun of the way McConnell looks and speaks.

The one person whose appearance John Oliver has made fun of more than any other is, John Oliver.

Aside from that, he punches up, politicians, celebreties and sometimes just random people, but always in playful manner. Hes quite fond of absurdist rants and comments, I find it thoroughly entertaining.

Which is kind of a fascinating thing if you note that Zelensky is clearly shorter than him by about an inch (~5'5"), and I have yet to see anyone make a comment about his height.

Courage makes you taller.

But that's still a fucked-up thing to say - as if being taller is some kind of better thing and his courage makes him taller?

Thing is though that people present as shorter or taller than they are based on posture, and it's not just people, all mammals do it.

There's a saying in English when someone needs to show bravery: "chin up".

What do you think it means, other than "stand straight and tall"?

Would it be better if I said: Courage makes you bigger

(admittedly it's phrased better that way because it's more indirect, but now we're analyzing glib four-word jokes)

"Courage makes you whiter" -- can we just not use physical traits as proxies for human value?

That's just referring to another physical property that people can't control and may be sensitive about. How about just don't comment on anyone's physical appearance, and stick to their actions and personality?

To be honest... no, we can't. You're asking too much.

I mean if we're going to take this to its logical extreme, why should personality be fair judgement? Some people have grating personalities and are annoying to be around, maybe they were born that way. Actions? Maybe Putin genuinely believes that Nazis are oppressing Russians in Ukraine. If he did, would that make it excusable?

How about we just be nice to each other? That doesn't seem a tall ask. Don't make mean jokes about short people! But that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge that this social phenomenon in language or make jokes that aren't mean.

> To be honest... no, we can't. You're asking too much.

I don't think so. Just don't mock someone's height, sexual-orientation, size-of-hands, etc. That's completely achievable.

> I mean if we're going to take this to its logical extreme

Well then don't take it to an extreme - do the easy bit and just stop yourself each time you're criticising someone for something that they very clearly can't control at all without resorting to surgery.

So I think we're on the same page? Be nice, don't mock people.[1]

Let's waaay overanalyze this: Courage makes you taller does not mock anyone. It does however acknowledge heightism. It's not mean to say, therefore it's fair game and not "fucked up" the way that the joke about the garden gnome in the OP is. We can make jokes about guys with huge pornstar cocks without that being an insult to those who are less-endowed.

[1] Overanalyzing further: Size-of-hands is fair game, because 1) Trump's hands aren't actually particularly small, and 2) because Trump seems to be sensitive to the subject, it's a comment on his thin-skinned personality not his physical self. Also 3) Trump is a public figure and isn't entitled to the same level of politeness that a private person can expect.

> a public figure and isn't entitled to the same level of politeness that a private person can expect

Strong disagree.

This line of thinking ends badly for the 6'4" muscular guy [particularly with a dark complexion] when he ends up in a jury trial. Size jokes seem to have a negative impact on all men.

> Zelensky is clearly shorter than him by about an inch (~5'5"), and I have yet to see anyone make a comment about his height.

Probably because Zelensky is a comedian does TV skits people understand as jokes about having a big enough penis to play the piano with, while Putin's T.V. appeareances are the same bravado without the satire?

What's your moral/ethical basis for that? Sure, don't do this to others in your personal life (or strangers). It's arbitrary cruelty and simply abusive.

But I'm not convinced punching upward in this manner to the obscenely rich and powerful should be considered universally wrong. If Putin did not want to be so judged, he wouldn't put out all those pictures of himself shirtless posing with horses and dolphins. I think he in particular is fair game.

I think it's just fundamentally wrong to abuse human beings, whoever they are, whatever they've done, for things that they can't control. Full stop. No exceptions.

But more than that - if for example you abuse Lindsay Graham by calling him 'gay' - 'punching up' in your mind - then that does that say about what you think about other gay people that you think it's a criticism to call him gay?

plenty of legit things to say about lindsay graham without bringing any of that up indeed.

When you insult someone powerful and evil for some immutable characteristic, everyone else who shares that characteristic also feels it.

> But I'm not convinced punching upward in this manner to the obscenely rich and powerful should be considered universally wrong.

What if you used racial slurs, but exclusively on brown multimillionaires?

Putin is evil for reasons completely unrelated to his height.

But isn't it okay to make fun of Trump's penchance for the orange makeup appearance? So long as it is firmly in the realm of choice and not hiding a medical skin condition or other immutable characteristic, isn't it fair game?

(To be clear, this question applies to certain kinds of public figures and not the shy kid in the schoolyard)

> So long as it is firmly in the realm of choice

I don't think most folks are against that.

I think in the case of Putin, there may be some justification on the basis that he and his supporters (including in the West) portray him as super macho, etc.

On balance though, I think I agree with you.

as a "libturd" like you say, I don't like to call trump fat or talk about how he was "gay for putin" or any of that. It's not cool at all. Got plenty of other actual criticism.

The only reason I'd even consider talking about trump and his apperance in a denigrating fashion is because he's so damn vain. Even so, i try to avoid it.

But we can talk about objective facts: Trump is a tiny, short-fingered vulgarian; a mentally-ill real estate huckster. Nothing shameful about mental illness, but he should get treatment. Can't help him with the fingers, though.

It may be a fact that he has short fingers, but it's not something in his control, or something relevant to anything he does, or something that we should judge him on, or something that we want to associate with being a problem, since there are other short-fingered people who are good people.

I'm sure that, somewhere, there's some weird orthopaedic surgeon who does finger-lengthening.

Trump, perhaps sensibly, went with photoshop instead, tho.