John Oliver has officially withdrawn himself from consideration for Air Bud Returns, the recently announced 15th installment in the long-running family film franchise—or at least that’s the premise of his latest tongue-in-cheek web exclusive released Sunday night on Last Week Tonight’s YouTube channel.
The new video builds on a different off-week segment released a month ago, in which Oliver lobbied to play Buddy the Dog in the upcoming sequel after filmmakers announced a contest to cast the film’s canine star. In that earlier piece, he argued there was “no rule” preventing a human from auditioning for the role.
In Sunday’s clip, Oliver said that after releasing his October video, he received a letter from Air Bud Entertainment CEO Robert Vince, who offered him a “human role” in the sequel instead, noting that Buddy “has to be a golden retriever.” Vince later posted an Instagram video repeating his offer, prompting the Last Week Tonight host (who has previously voiced non-human characters in The Lion King and The Smurfs) to marvel that he’d finally been cast as a “human being.”
Oliver said momentum stalled once he began noticing what he described as a confusing production timeline, noting that not only had the film begun production without casting its lead dog, but it was now soliciting investors through a crowdfunding pitch. “You don’t have any money either? Are you f*cking sh*ting me?” he exclaimed.
The host added that just nine days after receiving Vince’s invitation, the Air Bud account announced that filming on Air Bud Returns had wrapped. “This is an emotional roller coaster and I want to get off,” he said. “I am officially out.”
The Air Bud franchise has become an unlikely comedic runner for Oliver. He first examined the 1997 original’s narrative quirks in a 2022 web exclusive before returning to the subject last month. Sunday’s clip marks his third long-form digital segment on the series.
Oliver closed the latest installment by inviting other animal-sports films to consider him—with three conditions: they must already have the animal, be fully funded, and not have finished shooting.
Watch the new segment at the top of this post.
