John Oliver Uses 2024 Emmys Speech to Mourn Beloved Dog That Died Recently

Oliver set aside time to thank his whole family at the end of his speech.

By Michael Hein

John Oliver accepted the Emmy Award for "Outstanding Scripted Variety Show" on behalf of his show Last Week Tonight, and his speech got extremely personal. Oliver thanked his colleagues, his family and other usual suspects, then took some time out for a tribute to his late dog. The award show organizers tried to play him off-stage during his speech, but he powered through to ensure his dog got a proper tribute.

"I also want to thank our dog, we have the most fantastic dog," Oliver said toward the end of his time for an acceptance speech. The instrumental music began to play as he went on: "She was at our wedding and she got us through two pregnancies and the pandemic – perfect choice of music – we had to say goodbye to her." While the music cue grew louder, Oliver shouted: "F- you!" then continued: "I feel like Sarah McLachlan right now – she was an amazing dog. This isn't just for her. This is for all dogs. You're very good girls, you're very good boys. You all deserve a treat. Play me off, now!"

The dog tribute was arguably not even the biggest snafu of Oliver's acceptance speech, as he also fumbled is son's name while thanking his family. He said: "I would like to thank my wife, Kate, and our kids, husband – husband? His name is Hudson. Ouch. Ouch. That's going to come back to haunt me." He then thanked his other son as well, but joked that he should have mispronounced his name "as well, to even it out, but I didn't."

Of course, Olive started by thanking his colleagues on Last Week Tonight, some of whom were on stage with him. He said: "Thank you so much. Thank you to my staff, some of them are here. Others are in Brooklyn. I don't know that they're watching this, but I know that they are in Brooklyn. Whatever you're doing, I hope you are having fun. I'd particularly like to thank Liz Stanton and Tim Carvell." He also said: "I'd like to say thank you to HBO for not canceling us over the last decade, that was never a guarantee, I appreciate it, please carry on."

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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver premiered in the spring of 2014 and has aired over 300 episodes to date. While often lumped in with other late-night shows, it has a very different format from others of its kind. Rather than chatting with guests or riffing on the news of the day, Oliver and his team choose one subject per week to research deeply, and prepare an educational presentation laced with biting jokes and commentary.

Last Week Tonight is renewed through 2026, and is currently airing its eleventh season. The latest episodes are available to stream on Max.

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