A Rhetorical Analysis Of John Oliver's In Wage Gap

“Women! What do they want?” John Oliver exclaims sarcastically as he begins his segment on the wage gap. John Oliver always begins his segments with sarcastic and witty comments in order to initially engage his audience which is largely young adults. His use of a news station background is what grabs the attention of news watchers. While he does discuss serious issues he does it with wit in order for his audience to come to the same conclusion as him. Knowing that the majority of his audience holds some college experience, “Last night tonight” expects the audience to be able to differentiate between the actual news and the host’s sarcasm. In his segment “Wage Gap”, host John Oliver uses statistics from the U.S Bureau of Labor, contradicting

opinions of “experts” and crude humor in order to create a strong logical argument in favor of equal pay for men and women.
“Last Week Tonight” aims to firstly inform their mainly young adult audience and then entertain them with crude humor presented by host John Oliver. The crude humor and mild profanity is what captivates the audience and keeps his view count in the multi-millions. “Last Week Tonight” is an uncensored television show that it is found on the premium channel HBO as well as online, through the HBO website and on YouTube. He uses common modern jokes and profanity; that his largely young adult audience would know and be comfortable with. Since John Oliver’s crude humor attracts a predominantly young adult viewing, this means he has more freedom to use modern slang in order to make a point or make a reference. His mainly young audience mostly identifies as moderate or liberal which means his audience has more tolerance for the satire and ridicule presented in this show. Ninety-One percent of his audience is either well informed of current events or is somewhat knowledgeable of them. Because the majority of his audience has some knowledge of current events, John Oliver is able to use a sarcastic approach to the news he delivers. Though they see this as a credible news source, his audience stays updated with other news outlets as well. Meaning that his sarcastic approach is not taken entirely seriously and his audience opts to get several other points of view as well. The majority of his audience also has some college experience meaning that they might not be as suggestible as others who may have no college experience.
Like any television show “Last Week Tonight” aims to use their exigence to propel the popularity of their show forward. However like any other show they also have constraints which may potentially hinder their success. “Last Week Tonight” is able to use much more profanity since they are aired at 11:00 PM ET, and are found on a premium channel (HBO), which can attract an audience that is tired of other censored news sources. Also, since they are aired on a premium channel, they never have to air a commercial. This will appeal to the audience because now they will be less bothered by commercials, and ultimately changing the channel. Since the show has virtually no commercials, host John Oliver is able to provide a content packed half hour unlike other related shows: such as “The Daily Show” which is also a half hour but does contain commercials. Like any other news sources “Last Week Tonight” tries to be as up-to-date and as accurate as possible; though “Last Week Tonight” only airs once a week they have a great difficulty in doing so. Other news sources that air either daily or on weekdays have the ability to respond and inform on the present ongoing news in a timely manner. Another constraint “Last Week Tonight” faces is that since they do air on premium cable channel (HBO) some of the public cannot watch their segments. Though they are located on the HBO website and YouTube as well, many people are unaware that these segments can be watched through these other outlets. Another constraint that the show faces is that it airs on Sundays; being aired on Sunday can work against the show as viewers may not be able to watch the show since they may be preparing work the work week ahead.
John Oliver uses statistics of employees from the Obama administration, which are from the U.S Bureau of Labor to create logic behind his argument. Almost half of the audience of “Last Week Tonight” is women. Therefore, this segment would be relevant to a good part of the audience. With a good portion of the audience fully tuned in, John Oliver shows a clip of Commander and Chief of our Country, President Obama, as he discuss one of his main themes throughout his presidency “equal work for equal pay”. President Obama went on to say “it’s not that complicated”. However, in accordance to statistics from the U.S Bureau of Labor, host John Oliver reveals that women who are white house staff for the Obama Administration only make eighty-eight cents for every dollar that men make. Oliver mocks the President by saying, “Maybe that means the President was eighty-eight percent sincere when he talked about equal pay”. He continued his rant with, “If you round it up it’s basically a hundred percent anyway”. In addition he uses a visual of a dollar bill that he only highlights eighty-eight percent of, to represent what women get paid compared to men. Host John Oliver, is successfully able to show the irony in the lesser pay within the Obama Administration in a way that will resonate with the audience. This would resonate with the audience because not only do they get so see how much women get paid compared to men but they are also presented facts according to the U.S Bureau of Labor and the words of President Obama himself.
In Wage Gap John Oliver shows clips of several experts and he determines that not only do they contradict each other, but they come to ludicrous conclusions.

Many of the experts concluded that it is the women’s fault that they don’t get paid as much as men because they choose to get married, have children, and go into lesser paying jobs. Oliver counters the argument by mockingly reminding the experts that “to be fair women didn’t choose to be the sole gender capable of pregnancy”. Experts continued on with ludicrous conclusions that since women go into lesser paying jobs, their wages can’t be compared against a man who chose a higher paying profession. The expert Cathy Mcmorris Rodgers very clearly stated that we have to compare “apples to apples and not pick and choose”. However, even a study from Yale University went on to compare “apples to apples” between two people, a man and a woman with the same exact experience, resume and education. Professors, who were given the identical resumes of a man and woman, rated the male candidate more favorably and on average four thousand dollars more to the female candidate. Host John Oliver uses that experiment to show that unequal pay is deeply embedded in our society. Host John Oliver is shining light on the “sexism deeply entrenched in our society”, and how complex being able to achieve equal pay may actually be. With a good portion of his audience being women Oliver is able to provide an argument that will effectively register with the audience. Because he is able to achieve this by providing clips of several experts, all contradicting each other or having a wide range of conclusions and clear evidence such as the study on how women are in general paid less for no specific reason other than the “deeply entrenched sexism” in our

society.
John Oliver uses the end commercial to display how ridiculous the wage gap is, and how there’s not efforts to change it, and he gives a mocking solution on how to maintain it. He mocks the majority of business owners in the end of the segment with this commercial. Oliver pokes fun at white middle class men, who seem to be the majority of business owners. He introduces “Lady Bucks” a way to pay women the same as men “without sacrificing the sheer convenience of paying women less”. “Lady Bucks” gives employers the convenience of not paying women more by only paying them eighty-three cents for every dollar because it virtually the same anyway. “Lady Bucks” is not only a product of Playtex Gentle Glide 360, but is also backed by the Federal Reserves. This gives business owners the opportunity to pay women less, while still being in regulation with the U.S Government. “Lady Bucks” also comes in different scents and colors, “featuring some of the most celebrated female presidents such as Geena Davis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Battle Star Galatica Laura Roslin who only became president after almost all of mankind was destroyed”. This end segment commercial would resonate with the audience because the visual of “Lady Bucks” is simply ridiculous and John Oliver wants the public to realize there’s no concrete reason why women should get paid less.
In “Last night tonight” host John Oliver mocks the traditional way of delivering news by adding twists of sarcasm and wit. Host John Oliver’s unapologetic antics; entertains his audience while still delivering important news. He expects his intended audience to be able to determine that all the satire and mockery is all for amusement and what the actual core of the news is. He counteracts all constraints held by the show, by focusing and excelling in the exigencies within the show. He focuses on a logical approach by ridiculing statistics that show inconsistencies originally stated by the president. He mocks experts’ opinions that only achieve to demonstrate that they are simply contradictory and the ludicrous innovation of “lady bucks” which shows how preposterous it is for women to get paid less.