John Oliver Explains English Soccer To Dave | Letterman

Dave has a lot of questions.
(From "Late Show," air date: 9/30/14)

#johnoliver #soccer #letterman

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[st.ricardomilos]

I can only imagine how much patience John had to gather before being okay with calling it soccer for 10 minutes

[mmhendrie]

after this interview - but Luton Town FC, were promoted 4 times in 10yrs, to go from playing non-league (amateur soccer) to the English Premier League for the 2023-24 season. Cinderella soccer story.

[bearcb]

Oliver made Dave think this was an English craziness, when in fact it’s how it works all over the world

[shinankoku]

This is a classic! I love John’s continuous self-depreciating humor with Dave playing straight man. That is, until right up at the end when Dave says ‘roll the clip’. Amazing!

[jaywinner]

I don't think I've ever seen John happier than when Dave requested to show a clip they didn't have.

[jet]

as much as he loves it, John Oliver did not explain the English soccer league system well at all

[ScottLevick-np]

I love how John was proper chuffed about Dave throwing to a clip that didn't exist.

[germen]

Argentinian here. I can feel the thrill of trying to explain how Football works (and feels) to people in the US (even tho he didn't fully know or remember some key aspects of how their league works).
Also, I really wonder what he thinks of Leicester, winning the Premier. That happen roughly 2 years after this interview.

[ccguy]

I’m disappointed that a monster soccer fan like John Oliver can’t tell you immediately that there are 20 teams in the Premier League. Yeah, I know there used to be 22, but it’s been 20 now for so long it’s canon.

[alfiend]

John Oliver is hilarious, but how does he not know the promotion/relegation rules? He was WAY off. The bottom 3 teams in the Premier League get relegated to the Championship...every year. And the top 3 from the Championship get promoted...every year. There is movement between all the leagues every year. That's part of what makes it interesting.

[matthewwalker]

John Oliver in September 2014 in response to Letterman suggesting that the lesser teams can struggle their way to the top: "Yes, they can, but we all know how that works"

Leicester City within 2 seasons made him look a little silly, having just won promotion to the Premier League, staying in the division and then going on to win it in 2015-16

[kstepko]

Long before Reynolds and McElhenney welcomed us to Wrexham, John Oliver attempted to explain football leagues in the UK to Americans.

[multipl]

John Oliver has made self-deprecation an art form! Love him

[MeldersJnr]

To all those moaning about John not really knowing about football .. he just gave the basics to Letterman who, to be honest, only asked out of manners - and it probably went in one ear and out the other... lol

[lvbluestreak]

Thanks to Ted Lasso I found this interview thoroughly engaging - obviously Dave is the best when it comes to talking about sports as a late night host

[chinncannon]

Dave's deadpan face when congratulating John on the cover of Rolling Stone is fantastic and nobody laughed! (except me)

[nedludd]

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show had a song about being successful but being sad because they couldn't make it "On the Cover of the Rolling Stone". A wonderful song by a great group written by a fine writer Shel Silverstein.

This was in 2014, two years before peasant team Leicester won the championship at 5, 000 to one odds. Some Leicester betters made a lot of money. There were stories of bookies trying to buy back tickets towards the end of the season, but probably few Leicester fans went for it.

[richard]

"On the cover of The Rolling Stone.
I'll be out front smiling, man.
Oh, beautiful.*

[mulletforyou]

Watching that was totally worth it for the joke at the end :) Dave is a master at creating moments <3

[romulusnr]

7:10 John: "They might need an extremely rich, um, oil baron, to help them"
Audience: *laughter*
Fulham, Man City, Newcastle, Sheffield: what's the joke?