Last Week Tonight honored its native New York City as John Oliver conducted an audit of Eric Adams‘s scandal-ridden mayoralty — and welcomed recently minted mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, an introduction that led to resounding cheers from the live audience.
As Oliver discussed Mamdani’s triumphant speech — which he characterized as an “entirely earned victory lap” and “pretty satisfying” — he noted that some, such as CNN’s Van Jones, critiqued the words as “sharp” and a “character switch.”
“He just weathered one of the most Islamophobic campaigns in recent memory,” the late-night host countered. “‘I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private live’ is a frankly superhuman level of grace to extend to a man who has yet to pronounce your name correctly once.”
After concluding his story for the night — on how America’s singular felony murder laws exacerbate mass incarceration — Oliver returned to the topic of his show’s home city, delivering a eulogy of sorts for the outgoing Adams administration, scheduled to depart Jan. 1.
Calling the leadup to the NYC mayoral election “truly insane from start to finish” — as best exemplified by a viral debate question concerning parades — Oliver mulled over the fact that one local news segment couldn’t locate a single resident to express disappointment in Adams dropping out of the race.
“They couldn’t find anyone! This city has 8 million people. I’m a 1000% sure I could find someone who would vote for a pigeon fucking a bagel in Central Park, but no takers for Eric Adams — that has got to hurt,” he quipped.
In offering “one last look at Eric Adams because he is a deeply weird man,” the political comic paid homage to Adams’s amusing flag-raising ceremonies, in which he has repeatedly stated that New York is the [insert given nation’s capital city] of America.
Though Adams began as a popular candidate with an over 60% approval rating, his stats dropped over 40% in the span of two years. Oliver outlined “the true hallmark of the Adams administration was its constant scandals,” going over a laundry list of corruption, bribery and conspiracy charges faced by a number of admin officials.
“This is a great city, but that is not because of you [Adams] and sometimes it is in active spite of you,” Oliver concluded. “You know, if I could sum up Eric Adams’s mayoralty in one word, it’d probably be: New York, because this is a place where every day you wake up you can experience a plane crashing into our Trade Center, to a fake vegan, non-Alabaman leaving a ghost-filled Gracie Mansion to lecture all of us on family, business, public safety and, of course, clitoral stimulation.”
And though Oliver made sure to include the “soundbite bonanza” that was Republican Curtis Sliwa’s campaign — from his anecdotes about his historical clashes with organized crime to his shots at Andrew Cuomo — the host did forget one gem from the Adams administration: his much-memed, bizarre anti-drug PSA video.