John Oliver returned to his old stomping grounds on Monday night (February 10) when he gatecrashed The Daily Show and interrupted host Jon Stewart while he was mid-monologue.
As Stewart discussed President Donald Trump‘s latest orders and how the United States is becoming less of a democracy and “more of a monarchy that we all fought to escape from,” he was interrupted by someone slow-clapping behind him.
This turned out to be former Daily Show correspondent Oliver, who said, “The prodigal son appears to have returned.”
When Stewart asked if he was here to “offer America your wisdom and counsel,” Oliver replied, “Oh no, I am here to gloat.”
“America had its little fun, experimenting with democracy. You fought so hard to get away from us, acting up, throwing all that tea into the harbor, you still owe us for that, by the way,” the Last Week Tonight host continued.
“You told everybody you were going to be different, you weren’t going to turn out like the mean old dad that was horrible to you growing up, so we sat back. We let you spend your wild teen years experimenting with your ridiculous ideas of checks and balances because deep down we knew that once you got that nonsense out of your system, you’d be back,” he added.
“Let me be the first to welcome America to its monarchy era,” Oliver stated. “Congratulations, everyone; you can take your place in the pantheon of great empires alongside the British, the Roman, the Klingon, Wakanda, whatever Babar the elephant was the ruler of, I forget.”
Oliver previously served as the senior British correspondent on The Daily Show with Stewart between 2006 and 2013 before he moved to HBO to host his own weekly late-night current affairs show.
When Stewart tried to counter Oliver’s argument, the British comedian fired back, “Don’t fight being a monarchy, Jon, embrace it. Kings get s*** done. Is it stuff you want done? Not necessarily but they do move quick, they taste cumin at lunch and take over entire an continent by dinnertime. That is how the British roll, F*** everyone else, they’re ‘Not Like Us.’”
Oliver was referring to Kendrick Lamar‘s Drake diss track, though Stewart stopped him before he could start quoting lines from the hit Grammy-winning song.
“Spoiler alert, John, but things didn’t end up so great for the British Empire,” Stewart argued.
“First of all, how dare you? We are technically between empires at the moment, but we’re keeping our castles warm and our crowns bejeweled for the day that we get back onto our feet,” Oliver replied.
“Imperial model isn’t for you? For a country that doesn’t want to be an empire, you’re doing a pretty f****** good impression right now,” he concluded. “Invasions, economic exploitations, and now suggesting turning Gaza into a beachfront casino? Even King George would have been like, ‘I don’t know guys, feels like the situation is a bit more complicated than that and I’m literally dying of medieval brain disease.’”
In the end, Stewart admitted defeat, saying, “We really have become our father.”
You can watch the full segment and Stewart’s entire opening monologue in the video above.
The Daily Show, Weeknights, 11/10c, Comedy Central, Next-Day Streaming on Paramount+
