John Oliver Teases New Owner Skydance on Last Week Tonight

John Oliver has finally joked about his new bosses on air.

On Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight, his HBO late-night show, Oliver made several jokey references to Skydance, the company that has acquired Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It is a short ownership chain with big consequences. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of HBO. Skydance, which also acquired Paramount last year, is now the corporate owner sitting above them both.

Oliver leaned into it. He said he was thrilled to be part of the Skydance family. Then he looked down the camera: "Hope you're happy with what you bought, guys." He added: "We're never gonna change! ... Never — we're never changing!"

He did not wait long. The main segment that night was about generic medications. Oliver joked that he was trying to get out ahead of any Paramount budget cuts, a nod to the cost-saving that often follows a large media merger.

What makes this stand out is the timing. Only a week earlier, Oliver had stayed silent on the David Ellison-led Skydance takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery during an episode, which drew speculation about the future of Last Week Tonight amid the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, according to Variety and The Independent.

That earlier episode came just before the deal was finalised. Oliver and his team had extended their contract to 2027 just before the merger was completed. Paramount had said it would close its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, after a deal held up for months over antitrust concerns.

For viewers, this means business as usual for now. The jokes suggest no change to the show's slot or its approach in its new corporate home.