Shining a spotlight on America’s woes

It is ‘‘hard to fall in love with a country that is behaving like this,’’ John Oliver is telling me, with a rather surprising level of emotional sincerity.

‘‘But to the extent that I had control over it, I chose to fall in love with this place. I chose to move here and I am refusing to leave.’’

After 11 years living in the United States, the Birminghamborn comedian has some pretty firm ties to the country, including an American wife and their son.

But 40-year-old Oliver also makes his living by exposing everything that is wrong with today’s America – from drones and payday loans to congressional fundraising and gerrymandering – on his satirical show Last Week Tonight on SoHo.

He previously spent seven years deadpanning as Senior British Correspondent on The Daily Show.

Today, we are in the HBO headquarters in midtown Manhattan. In person, Oliver is more buoyant and relaxed than his on-screen persona and he is understandably proud about the ripples – sometimes waves – that are created by the topics covered on Last Week Tonight.

A segment about net neutrality led to such a surge in traffic to the Federal Communications Commission website that it crashed, while a piece about the underfunding of public defenders resulted in thousands of dollars being donated by the show’s fans. ‘‘While we are not the first to talk about any of these things, we have come to realise that we can function as an amplifier in a useful way to some of those issues,’’ he says. A piece about Edward Snowden, which included an indepth interview with the whistleblower, also hit the mark.

‘‘He is incredibly smart,’’ Oliver says, who is himself no slouch. He studied English at Cambridge University, where he was a member of Footlights, alongside David Mitchell and Richard Ayewode.

Of course, in the past 18 months, America has experienced one of the most extraordinary elections and resulting presidencies in history.

And, crucially for shows such as this, the speed of the news cycle has intensified to a breakneck level.

‘‘It’s like a firehose of nonsense that just gets pointed at you and you have to sift through it to find what is worth talking about because otherwise you will end up talking about just what is being said,’’ Oliver notes.

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, SoHo, Monday My web series Avi’s Return to Ghana is premiering April 3 (tomorrow) on TVNZ On Demand, which I’m really excited about! The series follows my journey back to Ghana to try and find all the students that I taught two years ago. And of course, Survivor season 2, which I can’t wait for!

What’s your idea of perfect happiness?

A trip out to coast, the day spent swimming, surfing and scrambling through the bush, the night spent cooking for friends with lots of wine and music and dancing.

What gets your back up?

People who have staunch, hurtful, hateful and unbudging opinions Spending nine months on an isolated coast in Ghana, hitchhiking around Mexico ... or getting a regular job. Probably the latter.

If you could time-travel, where would you go and why?

Pre-colonised Aotearoa, to hear the birds and learn some things. Avi’s Return to Ghana premieres on April 3 on TVNZ On Demand.