The Best Episodes Directed By Jim Hoskinson

In the premiere episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen starts off the show with a segment called The Word coining the term "Truthiness". Other segments include: The Threat Down rating avian flu, basketball, babies, hurricanes and James Brady. Stephen interviews Stone Phillips, an Emmy award winning journalist and host of Dateline NBC. At the end of the interview, Stephen and Stone Phillips have a competition of gravitas.

There are very few government checks on what America’s sweeping surveillance programs are capable of doing. John Oliver sits down with Edward Snowden to discuss the NSA, the balance between privacy and security, and dick-pics.

A set of Supreme Court decisions made over 100 years ago has left U.S. territories without meaningful representation. That’s weird, right? Plus, daylight saving time doesn’t actually benefit anyone. Strangely, it’s still a thing!

After the arrests of numerous top officials, John Oliver decided to give an update on the state of FIFA. Also, Thailand's ignorance about the world's history involving Hitler might require some re-education.

The US Senate Torture Report revealed horrifying details of America's interrogation program. Helen Mirren will fill you in. Plus, information about the 2015 European Games and the Canadian Senate expenses scandal.

Many American companies do not offer paid leave after the birth of a child, which means they probably shouldn’t run sappy Mother’s Day ads. Also, the Japanese have some unhealthy obsession with mascots and John proposes to adopt some of that culture in the U.S. government agencies as well.

John Oliver explains why America’s bail system is better for the reality TV industry than it is for the justice system.

Online harassment is a major problem, but it’s rarely prosecuted. If only we’d been warned about this in the early days of the internet.

This week’s gay rights victory was historic, but the transgender community still faces staggering challenges. John Oliver focuses on the “T” in “LGBT."

John talks about the late Antonin Scalia's love of the Letter of the Law, Chipotle's food safety problems, how Voter IDs laws should be applied to those who write them, and New Zealand's economic development minister Steven Joyce.

For inventors, patents are an essential protection against theft. But when patent trolls abuse the system by stockpiling patents and threatening lawsuits, businesses are forced to shell out tons of money. Also, CNN produced an actual doomsday video to broadcast when the world is ending and it’s incredibly dull. We've enlisted Martin Sheen to help make humanity’s final moments happier!

John explores the concept of changing and cheap fashion and some of the ugliest truths of the manufacturing process.

American students face a ridiculous amount of testing. John Oliver explains how standardized tests impact school funding, the achievement gap and how often the kids are expected to throw up while taking one.

Producers, sellers, and consumers waste tons of food. John Oliver discusses the shocking amount of food we don’t eat.

John talks about the recent Paris attacks, China's Singles Day, the Koh-i-Noor diamond and Daily Fantasy Sports.

The vast majority of US judges are elected, forcing many judges to pander to the electorate and accept campaign money in order to keep their jobs. This seems slightly troubling... The UK's Labour Party has painted a campaign van pink in an attempt to attract women voters. We are glad they didn't keep going with that strategy.

If you have money, committing a municipal violation may pose you a minor inconvenience. If you don’t, it can ruin your life. Also, the New Hampshire legislature refused to make the red-tailed hawk the official raptor of their state... so Last Week Tonight made it the official raptor of the show.

John reflects on the aftermath of Paris attacks and how it affects refugees worldwide. Plus, he questions the usefulness of the U.S. penny, since minting the coins costs more than they're actually worth.

Cities spend massive amounts of public money on privately-owned stadiums. Cities issue tax-exempt municipal bonds that — wait, don’t fall asleep!

John Oliver discusses problems that prisoners face when re-entering the society after they're released from prison. A quick interview with Bilal Chatman shines a light on one such case. Plus, a law proposed in the United Kingdom advocates for a mass surveillance of citizens' online activities, how Department of Defense is paying huge sums of money to professional sports teams to honor veterans during their events, and Washington Redskins file a lawsuit to defend their poorly chosen trademark name by naming other terrible examples.

John talks about the South Carolina Republican primary, the Supreme Court vacancy and abortion, which theoretically is legal in the U.S., but some states make it practically inaccessible. Plus, how is Hollywood whitewashing still a thing?

Mandatory minimums require fixed prison sentences for certain crimes. John Oliver explains why we treat some turkeys better than most low-level offenders.

John Oliver explains how chicken farming can be unfair, punishing, and inhumane. And not just for the chickens!

Thanks to tobacco industry regulations and marketing restrictions in the U.S., smoking rates have dropped dramatically. John Oliver explains how tobacco companies are keeping their business strong overseas and how Phillip Morris International in particular is employing some unethical legal practices while suing some of the world's poorest countries. Plus, we've noticed that the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue still exists but can’t quite figure out why.

John Oliver discusses the growing issues of pharmaceutical companies marketing directly to and through doctors. Also, since RadioShack has filed for bankruptcy, John has created a farewell message for them. Plus, the online sessions by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to address the public aren't going too well.