Last Week Tonight with John Oliver may have closed out its 11th season last weekend, but fans of the show can spend this holiday week reliving all of Season 7 on YouTube.
As is now tradition with the perennial Emmy-winning series, any break of a week or more typically comes with a new season drop on YouTube. In this case, November 17 marked the end of the HBO show’s 11th season—meaning we likely won’t see any new episodes until February. In the meantime, all 30 episodes of Season 7, which aired from February 16, 2020 to November 15, 2020, are free to watch on YouTube.
What makes this season such an interesting rewatch is that it premiered shortly after COVID-19 began making headlines and just weeks before much of the world went into lockdown mode. While Last Week Tonight typically chooses one very specific topic to talk about each episode, coronavirus is a main throughline throughout the season, with 10 full episodes dedicated to the pandemic.
In just the first few minutes of the first episode alone, Oliver laments the many stories he missed during the break between seasons, but says that, “In short, we nearly went to war with Iran, the UK’s election made BoJo Prime Minister, and the coronavirus has started spreading around the world. And if you happen to feel like you’re getting sick right now, you do have it and you only have hours to live.”
Also of major interest to Oliver during Season 7: George Floyd and police brutality, the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden’s subsequent victory in that election, Donald Trump’s refusal to concede, and the impact Trump’s nonacceptance of the election results had on America. (If only Oliver knew what would be coming on January 6, 2021.)
Given that Americans are preparing for yet another transfer of power between Trump and Biden—this time in the opposite direction—it’s a worthwhile recap.
