John Oliver's weekly show has always been both educational and hilarious.
However, this week's show made television history and changed the lives of 9,000 people. His focus this week was on medical debt and the truly shady practices surrounding the purchase of debt by collectors and the even more shady world of medical debt.
Using a company that he set up purely for the show, known as Central Assets Recovery Professionals Inc., or CARP (in reference to the bottom-feeding fish of the same name), Oliver was able to buy up $15,000,000 worth of debt. To put that in perspective, that's the budget for a mid-range film with some decent well-known actors. In 1996, you'd have gotten Alan Shearer at the top of his powers for that amount.
It's a lot of money, basically. Take twenty minutes out and watch.
So yeah, he basically out-Oprah'd Oprah and that time she gave away a load of cars on her television show. It's pretty hair-raising to think that sorta thing goes on in the US and just how easily it can be done with little or no regulation behind it.
Sure, we're laughing at the madness of it all, but for 9,000 people, it's a weight of their shoulders. You don't see Oprah Winfrey doing that kinda shit anymore.
Via YouTube
