"Is it any wonder that everyone hates the IRS?" John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. "Dealing with them is obligatory, it often functions badly, and it combines two of the things we hate the most in life: someone taking our money, and math." But after listing all the reasons to hate the tax collectors — yes, including the recent scandals — Oliver said he will attempt the impossible: Getting you to have a "small amount of sympathy for the IRS."
Doing such a hard, extremely boring job takes "a weird kind of heroism," Oliver started, but everything you hate about the IRS is also the fault of Congress, which controls how much you pay in taxes, changes the tax code on a confusingly regular basis, and has created a host of problems by slashing IRS funding out of GOP anger. "The fact is, blaming the IRS because you hate paying your taxes is a bit like slapping your checkout clerk because the price of eggs has gone up — it's not her fault," Oliver said. So he planned a token of reluctant appreciation.
"Expression of sincere emotion is not my forte, I'm British," he added. So Oliver brought out Michael Bolton "to serenade the IRS with, if not a love song, a song of reluctant support for their appropriate funding." And in words I never thought I'd write, Bolton is amazing. Watch below. —Peter Weber
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in ZürichThe Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
