Last week tonight honored his hometown of New York as John Oliver conducted an audit of Eric Adams’ scandal-plagued City Hall — and welcomed newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an introduction that drew resounding cheers from the live audience.
As Oliver discussed Mamdani’s triumphant speech — which he called a “completely deserved victory lap” and “pretty satisfying” — he noted that some, like CNN’s Van Jones, criticized the words as “sharp” and a “change of character.”
“He just went through one of the most Islamophobic campaigns in recent memory,” the late-night host retorted. “‘I wish Andrew Cuomo the best in his private life’ is a frankly superhuman level of grace to extend to a man who has yet to pronounce your name correctly even once.”
After wrapping up his story of the night — about how America’s felony murder laws exacerbate mass incarceration — Oliver returned to the topic of his show’s hometown, delivering a eulogy of sorts for the outgoing Adams administration, scheduled to leave on January 1.
Calling the run-up to New York City’s mayoral election “truly insane from start to finish” — best illustrated by a viral debate question regarding parades — Oliver reflected on the fact that a local news segment couldn’t find a single resident to express disappointment over Adams dropping out of the race.
“They couldn’t find anyone! This city has 8 million people. I’m 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’s what happened.” got hurt,” he joked.
Offering “one last look at Eric Adams because he’s a profoundly weird man,” the political comic paid homage to Adams’s amusing flag-raising ceremonies, during which he repeatedly declared that New York was the [insert given nation’s capital city] of America.
Although Adams started out as a popular candidate with an approval rating of over 60%, his statistics dropped by over 40% within two years. Oliver emphasized that “the real hallmark of the Adams administration was its constant scandals,” reviewing a long list of accusations of corruption, bribery and conspiracy leveled against a number of administration officials.
“It’s a great city, but it’s not because of you [Adams] and sometimes it’s active in spite of yourself,” Oliver concluded. “You know, if I could sum up Eric Adams’ town hall in one word, it would probably be: New York, because it’s a place where every day you wake up you can see a plane crashing into our Trade Center, a fake vegan, non-Alabaman, leaving a ghost-filled Gracie Mansion to give us lessons about family, business, public safety and, of course, fostering the clitoris.
And although Oliver made sure to include the “gold mine” that was Republican Curtis Sliwa’s campaign — from his anecdotes about his historic clashes with organized crime to his shots at Andrew Cuomo — the host left out one gem of the Adams administration: his much-remembered and bizarre anti-drug PSA video.
