John Oliver Roasts His Own Company’s DC Movies on ‘Last Week Tonight,’ and He Doesn’t Hold Back

John Oliver found a way to connect a serious discussion about the U.S. Department of Justice with one of his own company’s biggest movie franchises.

During the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver focused on the Trump administration’s Justice Department and criticized what he described as a series of failed legal efforts. But after playing a clip of NBC News reporter Laura Jarrett questioning Todd Blanche, Oliver quickly turned the segment into a joke about DC superhero movies.

Jarrett pointed out that several high-profile cases and investigations had failed to move forward. She noted that indictments involving James Comey and Letitia James were dismissed, an investigation involving Congressman Adam Schiff never got off the ground, and a grand jury declined to indict six Democratic lawmakers. She also mentioned a judge throwing out a subpoena involving Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Blanche defended the department’s work, saying, “It means that we’re working hard.” He also said the department was not going to avoid difficult cases simply because the media disliked them. Oliver was not impressed.

“OK, first: No one’s accusing you of ‘running away’; they’re accusing you of losing,” he said. He then added an even harsher joke, saying everyone believed the department had “ran cock-first as hard as you could straight into a brick wall.” That was when Oliver brought DC movies into the conversation.

“I didn’t realize the existence of repeated unsuccessful attempts was actually good news — that’s huge for DC movies, if true,” he joked. The show then displayed a collection of DC movie posters, including Birds of Prey, The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Black Adam and Supergirl.

The joke hit a little closer to home because Warner Bros. is part of the same larger corporate family as HBO, where Last Week Tonight airs.

Oliver’s choice to target DC movies also comes at a rough time for the franchise. Supergirl, which was included in his joke, reportedly earned about $126 million worldwide against a production budget of more than $170 million, along with major marketing costs. Variety previously reported that the movie could cost the studio as much as $100 million.

The timing makes the joke even more awkward for Warner Bros., especially as the company faces major uncertainty over its future ownership. Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition could eventually bring the Ellison family into control of the company.

For Oliver, however, the connection was simple. He was using the DOJ’s string of setbacks to make a joke about another collection of expensive projects that have struggled to find consistent success.

The moment also shows why Oliver often mixes serious political commentary with unexpected pop-culture jokes. He can spend several minutes discussing government investigations before suddenly turning the subject into a punchline about superheroes.

And this time, the joke landed especially close to home.

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