On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, HBO’s John Oliver took a long, hilarious, but ultimately frightening look into the Patriot Act, government surveillance, and the man who revealed it all a couple summers ago – Edward Snowden.
But the show wasn’t your typical show. Oliver actually flew to Russia to conduct an interview with the former NSA contractor.
Oliver offered a brief refresher on exactly what Snowden leaked and why we should all care (even though many of us don’t).
“I’m not saying this is an easy conversation,” said Oliver, “but we have to have it. I know this is confusing. And unfortunately, the most obvious person to talk to about this is Edward Snowden – but he currently lives in Russia, meaning if you wanted to ask him about any of these issues you’d have to fly all the way there to do it. And it is not a pleasant flight. And the reason I know that is last week I went to Russia to speak to Edward Snowden, and this is what happened.
You should watch the whole segment, but the Snowden interview starts at around the 14-minute mark. Leave it to John Oliver to boil a complicated concept down to your nude cellphone pics – and have it work beautifully as an explainer.