John Oliver doesn't want calling 911 to be a joke. So he made this brutally frank PSA.

The main story on Sunday's Last Week Tonight was about 911, a service we all take for granted. "We make roughly 240 million 911 calls each year, and the dispatchers do amazing work, talking people through childbirth, CPR, abductions, and home break-ins," John Oliver said. "In fact, we're so accustomed to relying on them, we even call when we don't have an emergency." He played some of those non-emergency calls, which ranged from absurd to cute. "We have a lot of faith in 911," he added, "but the system can break down more than you think, and when it does, people can die as a result."

One big problem is that 911 dispatchers can't accurately tell your location if you are on a cellphone, for reasons nobody seems to be able to explain. That's not the only problem with 911 centers, though, Oliver said. "Depending on where you live, they may also be underfunded, understaffed, and full of outdated technology — which is fine, if you're describing a Radio Shack." But you expect more from your emergency centers, and so he explained some reasons why "we have an antiquated, disjointed system populated by workers who are understandably sick of listening to people's butts."

On the funding front, for example, "what makes this even more frustrating is that almost everyone's phone bill has a line like this on it," Oliver said, showing a 911 service fee, "which you might assume goes directly to fund 911 centers. But the FCC's fee report shows that since 2008, at least 20 states have diverted those dollars elsewhere. Which is probably why, depending on where you live, 911 may be a joke in your town." He used New York State as an example of the "blasé attitude" toward this fiscal sleight of hand, then argued that "until we're explicitly confronted with the challenges facing 911, it seems we're not going to do anything about them. And maybe the problem is that we are taught from a young age to take 911 for granted. So perhaps it's time for that to change." Watch to the end for the PSA featuring Rob Riggle as a foul-mouthed fireman. Peter Weber

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