Since Last Week Tonight with John Oliver first premiered, it has been very clear that the talk show and its host are extremely unique in the modern media world. After all, John Oliver once called a surprising reality show one of the funniest things on TV. On top of that, Last Week Tonight recently included an Easter Egg that called out anyone who discovered it.
Another way Last Week Tonight stands out from other talk shows is that its seasons have a history of ending in very remarkable ways. While that has been great for viewers, the team behind the show now needs to keep coming up with new ways to end each season on an exciting note. Fortunately for the show's many fans, Last Week Tonight's recent season 12 finale managed to create the most epic finale for the talk show yet.
Last Week Tonight's season 12 finale launches an epic self-referential auction
During the finale for the 12th season of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the show shone a spotlight on the importance of public broadcasting in the United States. The reason why John Oliver's show found it worthwhile to focus on that subject is that public broadcasting has had a lot of its governmental funding pulled recently. With that in mind, the show's host made a meaningful, epic, and hilarious announcement at the end of the episode.
As a part of the season 12 finale, the team behind Last Week Tonight launched an online auction to benefit public broadcasting in the United States. As a part of that auction, the show's fans have the opportunity to bid on a long list of items from the history of Last Week Tonight. For example, viewers can bid to purchase a massive mug emblazoned with the Reese's logo that appeared during two season 4 episodes and was brought back during season 6.
On top of the auction that Last Week Tonight's finale launched featuring many references to the show's past, it goes further than that. Fans can also bid on things like various pieces of Last Week Tonight merchandise, a signed John Oliver Funko Pop vinyl figure, and the chance to meet the show's host. Most amazingly of all, the auction includes a genuine painting that was created by a legend of public broadcasting, Bob Ross.
As of the time of this writing, the auction will raise a staggering amount of money if all of the highest bidders follow through. For example, the current highest bid for the Bob Ross painting sits at $1,041,000. Additionally, someone bid $100,025 to appear in a future Last Week Tonight episode. Another six items have each received a bid that falls between $10,000 and $51,100, with many more items currently set to fetch thousands of dollars. As of this writing, there are still more than 6 days left for people to continue bidding in Last Week Tonight's charity auction.