Late Night Last Week: John Oliver Exposes Air Bud & More

By Will DiGravio  |  October 21, 2025 | 10:01am
TV Features Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Late Night Last Week: John Oliver Exposes Air Bud & More

Late Night Last Week highlights some of the best late night TV from the previous week. Today, we cover John Oliver’s new monologue on Air Bud, Bette Midler singing her thanks to Stephen Colbert, and Roy Wood Jr. and Maya Rudolph’s appearances with Jimmy Kimmel. 

“Believe it or not, we actually talked about Air Bud three years ago, and you might have missed that,” said John Oliver at the outset of a new web-exclusive Last Week Tonight monologue.

“Or maybe you didn’t miss it,” he continued. “Maybe you just saw a video titled, ‘Air Bud: Last Week Tonight,’ saw that it was almost fifteen minutes long, and decided to do literally anything else with your time because you suddenly remembered how many lives you had.”

Yes, you read that right. Oliver on October 19th returned once again to the subject of Air Bud, dissecting the franchise—and its forthcoming, fifteenth iteration—with the precision and critical insight befitting the very best of video essayists on YouTube. The bit of media at the center of Oliver’s new 20-minute video, however, is less the movie franchise and more a recent announcement made by its creator, Robert Vince.

Oliver breaks down the video nearly frame by frame, taking issue not just with the premise of the franchise, not just the absurd number of sequels, but something much greater. “What we can’t debate, what I won’t debate,” Oliver said, “is that Robert Vince ‘introduced America to a dog named Air Bud.’ Because he did not do that.”

The dog’s name is Buddy, Oliver observed, noting such a mistake would be like saying the name of the shark was Jaws, or that James Camero created a species called Avatar. Such is the kind of rigorous fact-checking we have come to expect from Last Week Tonight.

But Oliver is only beginning to scratch the surface here. The real subject of his ire is where the video with Vince heads next. He goes on to announce that while a fifteenth movie is planned, they have yet to find a dog to play the (arguably) titular role. Hardly ever have we seen Oliver in such dismay.

“In the words of Josh’s dad from the original Air Bud, I think I’m in hell, because this is completely insane,” Oliver said. “Without that, your idea is basically just: movie”

Where would we be without this man keeping the media honest? 

Beyond Oliver, last week was a relatively quiet one on late night television. The Daily Show was off, as were Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. Stephen Colbert, however, soldiered on. On October 15, The Late Show welcomed Bette Midler—who better than Winnie in October? 

Before Colbert even had a chance to ask Midler a question, she started to thank him, begging him to stay on the air and citing him as a voice of reason in our times. She then went on to discuss her own relationship with television talk, rightly citing her reputation as a singer called upon to sing in tribute to great hosts, from Johnny Carson to Krusty the Klown.

And Midler made sure to give Colbert the same send-off. Seated from the couch, Midler sang a spoof of her 1988 song, “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Rather than ask the host, “Did you ever know that you’re my hero?,” she asked, “Did you ever know that you’re my Frodo?” 

Over on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel welcomed onto his show another late night veteran, Roy Wood Jr. The former Daily Show correspondent is now the co-host of CNN’s Have I Got News for You. Wood Jr. also joined to discuss his new memoir, The Man of Many Fathers. 

But it was an unrelated TV moment that Kimmel wanted to discuss. Wood Jr. set up the clip. He is friends with Judge Yodit Tewolde, one of the hosts of the panel-style courtroom show, Hot Bench. Wood Jr. said he is also a fan of the show. 

“Everyone got their favorite court show,” he said. “I like the show where it’s three judges deciding who gets the Playstation controller.” 

One day, Wood Jr. explained, he was at a taping of the show and the producer offered him the chance of a lifetime: sitting in the courtroom behind the plaintiffs. Cut to the show, with Wood Jr. staring solemnly in the background. 

“And what, Roy, did you learn from that experience?” Kimmel asked.

Wood Jr. didn’t skip a beat.

“I learned if you loan somebody $5,000 you need a promissory note in writing.” 


Finally, we end with the great Maya Rudolph, who also appeared as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s show. Rocking a men’s suit, Rudolph joined to discuss an array of topics, including being mistaken for a New Yorker (which she says is a compliment) and her television series, Loot. 

But the best moment came courtesy of the Kimmel research team, who dug out a quote that a teenage Rudolph made to the Los Angeles Times. “It’s Madonna and Jean Paul Gaultier,” she said to the paper at the time about Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour. “They’re what style is all about.” 

Rudolph seemed genuinely surprised, noting that she was just a regular high school student at the time with no memory of the comment. “‘Scuse me?!” Rudolph said. “What a cool teenager. Who said that? That’s so rad.” 

 Will DiGravio is a Brooklyn-based critic, researcher, and late night comedy columnist, who first contributed to Paste in 2022. He is an assistant editor at Cineaste, a GALECA member, and since 2019 has hosted The Video Essay Podcast. You can follow and/or unfollow him on Twitter and learn more about him via his website.

 
Join the discussion...