--- title: John Oliver: Watch Latest Video Clip on State Legislatures description: Did you hear mid-term elections are coming up? canonical: https://time.com/3553868/watch-john-oliver-state-legislatures/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-03T08:52:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T07:59:51.315Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Watch John Oliver Slam State Legislatures og:description: Did you hear mid-term elections are coming up? og:url: https://time.com/3553868/watch-john-oliver-state-legislatures/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt689e2ceafdffc51e/698763d406f2c14eb3331b38/screen-shot-2014-11-03-at-4-00-18-pm.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2014-11-03 at 4.00.18 PM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch John Oliver Slam State Legislatures twitter:description: Did you hear mid-term elections are coming up? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt689e2ceafdffc51e/698763d406f2c14eb3331b38/screen-shot-2014-11-03-at-4-00-18-pm.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch John Oliver Go to Town on State Legislatures by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 3, 2014 8:52 AM CUT  by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 3, 2014 8:52 AM CUT The credits for John Oliver’s _Last Week Tonight_ got a new addition to its roster: Associate Producer of Creating Horrifying Things For Us To Talk About. Who was cast in the role? ALEC, a.k.a. the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonprofit organization that brings together conservative think tanks and corporate interests to write sample laws for use on the state level. State level politics were the target of Oliver’s pointed satire last night, because, as you may have heard, the mid-term elections are upon us. Oliver can’t understand why national level politics are getting all the attention, though, when party politics mean that almost nothing is happening in the House or Senate. “This Congress is shaping up to be the least productive in history,” said Oliver. “Although, to be fair, Congress is like jazz — it’s really about the bills it’s _not_ passing. It’s also like jazz in that most people hate it and anyone who says they don’t are lying.” The real action in politics these days is at the state level. Oliver proved this point through a montage of state-level political action, including a candidate who felt it important to note “I Believe in the U.S. Constitution” in his campaign ads, a lawmaker who wanted to repeal his state’s ban on dwarf tossing, a few racist speeches, a dramatic paper-punching scene in Illinois and a state senator — and putative full-grown adult — who was arrested for shoplifting condoms from a CVS. It’s a good reminder to get out and vote on Tuesday, although as Oliver notes, it’s too late for some as an estimated 25% of state legislative candidates are running unopposed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3553868/watch-john-oliver-state-legislatures/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3553868/watch-john-oliver-state-legislatures/"},"headline":"Watch John Oliver Go to Town on State Legislatures","datePublished":"2014-11-03T08:52:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T07:59:51.315Z","description":"Did you hear mid-term elections are coming up?","url":"https://time.com/3553868/watch-john-oliver-state-legislatures/","keywords":["Television","HBO","John Oliver"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt689e2ceafdffc51e/698763d406f2c14eb3331b38/screen-shot-2014-11-03-at-4-00-18-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt689e2ceafdffc51e/698763d406f2c14eb3331b38/screen-shot-2014-11-03-at-4-00-18-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-11-03 at 4.00.18 PM","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3553868/watch-john-oliver-state-legislatures/","name":"Watch John Oliver Go to Town on State Legislatures"}}]}] ```