Last Week Tonight probably needs to towel off a bit and present a more relaxed half-hour next Sunday. The premiere outing nonetheless showed considerable ingenuity and a willingness to take on topics that haven’t already been parodied to death.

If Last Week Tonight With John Oliver can keep shedding humorous light on international affairs and other stories that fall through the cable-news cracks, this show might make it to eight weeks and beyond.

There were several very strong bits, but the best was Oliver's rant about the U.S. media's disinterest in the Indian elections.... At this point, my main complaint about the show is that it's not an hour.

The first newscast did feel simultaneously long and breathless, maybe because there was little to vary it or break up the topic segments.... But it was a funny, confident start.

Even at a commercial-free 30 minutes, Last Week Tonight felt rushed and jam-packed with information, heightened by Oliver's tendency to get excited and/or yell. Those are all good traits (and, historically, pretty funny traits of his), but the entire concept might work better at an hour so he could at least breathe.

The fact that so much of the show relies on Oliver means he bears the burden of getting the tone exactly right. And right now, he's a little more angry than funny.

Everything about Last Week Tonight felt like another spin of the latenight-satire wheel, with nary a new groove in it.

The most sincere and brilliant late night show on television since Jon Stewart. It's witty, intelligent, investigative, revealing, funny, likeable and did i mention funny! Truly great writing is visible on this show.

Last Week tonight is a very good quality show that needs more recognition from critics, Last week tonight is typical John Oliver humour that encourages people to have more knowledge about current events

I was hoping for John Oliver to take over the Daily Show, but this is much better. The writing is excellent and the way he delves into the main stories with humor and a well-researched perspective is unmatched on television.

This has been a disappointment. It's a cc, of The Daily Show but not a particularly good one. Expected more from John Oliver. Plus he gets way too preachy.

Fudging details to trample over the democratic wishes of the average Britain to promote Britain remaining in the EU and losing its sovereignty? Last show I ever watch of yours John. You should note in your efforts to be a warrior for justice that your own status as a rich elite may not always put you in the best place to judge the reasons people feel as they do. You are in the exact class that benefits from Britain's EU membership and as an intelligent person you should realise that other groups in society do not benefit to the same degree and can even suffer. You are a traitor John and I have no more respect for you.