John Oliver Calls David Ellison His 'Soon-to-Be Business Daddy'
John Oliver called David Ellison his “soon-to-be business daddy” on Last Week Tonight.
The moment came during a segment on UnitedHealthcare and denied insurance claims, as reported by Deadline on 21 September 2026. Oliver started with health care, then turned the lens on his own employer.
He cited the case of a cancer patient who paid $95,000 out of pocket, meaning from personal funds, after a claim was denied. Oliver used the case to walk through how a refusal can leave a patient facing a large bill. The number gave the audience a concrete sense of scale.
From there he moved to HBO’s corporate future. He said his “soon-to-be business daddy has a literal business daddy” and linked having wealthy parents to being in charge of HBO. He then joked that he deeply respects Ellison and would never make fun of him for it, “unlike that pesky Stephen Colbert.”
The Colbert reference points to trouble elsewhere in late night. Colbert had called CBS’s parent company a “big fat bribe” after it settled a lawsuit with Donald Trump. CBS has said The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season, the September-to-May cycle that organises US network schedules, and that The Late Show franchise will be retired, meaning no new host or continuation under that title.
What makes this stand out is the willingness to joke about the boss on the boss’s airtime. Most presenters keep that relationship off camera. Oliver wrote it into the punchline.
For fans, this means two late-night stories now sit side by side. One host jokes about his incoming owner while staying on air. The other is preparing to leave the air after a public dispute with his own.
Last Week Tonight is HBO’s weekly comedy and current-affairs programme, which the network lists under comedy, variety, talk and sketch. HBO credits John Oliver, Tim Carvell, Liz Stanton, Jon Thoday and James Taylor as executive producers, the senior team that oversees editorial and production HBO. The network notes the series has won 32 Emmy Awards.
