‘How Much Data Do You Need?’: John Oliver Skewers Fmr. NSA Chief Keith Alexander

John Oliver turns the screw on Keith Alexander – and saves his new show (The Guardian)

For the first twentysome minutes of the first episode of his new half-hour HBO show, John Oliver seemed in danger of bombing. Then he trapped General Keith Alexander, the recently retired head of the National Security Agency, on camera, and made him sit through a series of NSA rebranding suggestions that included a kitten called Mr Tiggles and, simply, “the Washington Redskins”.

The host gleefully turned the screws on the spy. The general soldiered on. The live studio audience, watching the segment on tape, roared and applauded.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is the future of John Oliver, if there is to be one. The former correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won laudatory reviews last summer when he subbed in the host’s chair. Now Oliver is trying to convert his popularity into bigger stardom, a half-hour at a time, every Sunday night for a contractual minimum of two years.