John Oliver is a voice of reason for many people—but for one artist, he’s also a muse.
Floriane Gadayan, a Philippines-based digital artist who shares her work on Instagram, has turned her love of Last Week Tonight into a steady output of artwork.
Hand-drawing her illustrations on a tablet and coloring using the Sketchbook app, Gadayan has memorialized classic Last Week Tonight imagery like Oliver’s portrait, Opposite Snakes, and a retro Disney-inspired Oliver.
Gadayan cites Oliver as her favorite late-night host, though the idea to channel her love of the show into artistic expression wasn’t hers alone.
“It was actually another artist named Alexandra Bowman, who is also a late-night comedy fan, who inspired me to finally start making late-night art, too,” Gadayan tells LateNighter. “I had encountered her incredible work years ago, and that sparked my interest in eventually making art for John Oliver.” (She also credits artist Kara Xu, a.k.a. Helium Raven, with being a major influence on her work.)
Since then, Gadayan has been creating unique works and learning from each one.
“I still consider myself an amateur, still learning from either my mistakes or the works of others,” she says. “If, by sheer luck, John or anyone from his team comes across my artwork of him and the show, it would be an honor to be appreciated or roasted.”
It’s hard to imagine Gadayan’s spot-on depictions of celebrities would be roasted. In addition to late night, Gadayan also creates classic rock-inspired images, including portraits of icons like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Elton John.
Gadayan tells LateNighter she has a few ideas for future Oliver-inspired pieces, including an octopus plushie she spotted on the host’s shelf when he recently appeared on Men in Blazers.
Her latest work came just a few days ago: a portrait of John Oliver wearing glasses over his glasses. It was a moment she took note of in an old Daily Show video, during one of Oliver’s field pieces at the RNC. “I thought it was silly and would perhaps go unnoticed to the audience,” Gadayan says. “So I grabbed the opportunity and poked fun at it in the only way I knew how, which was also a compliment to his antics—that they do not go unnoticed.”
Gadayan’s artwork doesn’t go unnoticed, either. Her work can be found on Instagram and Twitter, and she’s even made some available for purchase on Redbubble.
