Last Week Tonight Last Night
If you didn't see "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver last night, the Main Story was one I've written a bit about in the past and was thrilled to see them do -- and do so wonderfully: Medicare Advantage. Despite its name, it's not Medicare, and is just on the good side of a scam. And not always on "the good side." Their report is terrific, dealing with all the important points (notably the convoluted Medicare Advantage rules, like if one spouse has a disease, the other spouse can be considered to have the same illness!), and is infuriating and hilarious at the same time.
There is also one of their funniest pieces at the end. It would be funny on its own, but it parodies something earlier in the story which is what takes makes it such a joy. I don't want to give away too much of it, just that I'll say it uses a real-life married couple (each of them Emmy winners), and while both are great in the segment, it's the actress's over-the-top, yet meticulous performance (a rare combination to pull off -- but then, she's a Northwestern grad, so she'll well-trained. And yes, I'm biased...) that makes this stand out.
I think the full report is highly-worth watching. But if it's simply not a topic of interest, I'll do something I haven't for previous "Last Week Tonight" videos -- provide where to jump to for both the closing sketch and the set-up. The set-up comes around the 6:00 mark and runs for two minutes, which includes Oliver's follow-up, and the finale starts around 27:00. It's just so well-done.
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