--- description: John Oliver's Last Week Tonight was focused on the Senate Intelligence Committee Study on CIA Torture title: John Oliver Gets Helen Mirren to Read Senate Torture Report image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cab31bb22f8a355/6988547e428a9e51d3ccdb45/screen-shot-2015-06-15-at-2-40-17-pm.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # John Oliver Conscripts Helen Mirren to Read the Senate's Report on Torture by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 15, 2015 6:43 AM CUT  by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 15, 2015 6:43 AM CUT While John Oliver took a moment to respond to embattled [FIFA](http://time.com/3897612/john-oliver-fifa-corruption/ "undefined") executive Jack Warner’s assertion that he was a [“comedian fool,”](http://time.com/3918694/jack-warner-john-oliver-video-response-fifa-corruption/ "undefined") a title Oliver did not dispute, the real brunt of [the political force](http://time.com/3674807/john-oliver-net-neutrality-civil-forfeiture-miss-america/ "undefined") of _Last Week Tonight_ was focused on the Senate Intelligence Committee Study on CIA Torture. Despite the Senate’s findings that the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” were not effective, 57% of Americans believe that torture can work to prevent terror attacks, while only 46% of Americans believe in the Big Bang theory, according to Oliver. Oliver thinks this might be beacause torture always works on television, specifically on _24_. Jack Bauer’s interrogations are so effective that Justice Antonin Scalia even referenced him in the Supreme Court, according to Oliver. Despite the effectiveness of Bauer’s fictional torture techniques, the “advanced interrogation” techniques listed in the report were so graphic that not even Helen Mirren could make them appealing — and she tried. Oliver somehow convinced the Oscar-winning actress to read aloud passages of the report and the results are jarring. Warning: you may never look at hummus the same way again. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3920764/john-oliver-helen-mirren-report-torture/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3920764/john-oliver-helen-mirren-report-torture/"},"headline":"John Oliver Conscripts Helen Mirren to Read the Senate's Report on Torture","datePublished":"2015-06-15T06:43:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:30:45.701Z","description":"Blame Jack Bauer","url":"https://time.com/3920764/john-oliver-helen-mirren-report-torture/","keywords":["Television","torture","Helen Mirren","CIA","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cab31bb22f8a355/6988547e428a9e51d3ccdb45/screen-shot-2015-06-15-at-2-40-17-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/blt3cab31bb22f8a355/6988547e428a9e51d3ccdb45/screen-shot-2015-06-15-at-2-40-17-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Oliver torture","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/3920764/john-oliver-helen-mirren-report-torture/","name":"John Oliver Conscripts Helen Mirren to Read the Senate's Report on Torture"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Reasons TV's Top Shows Are So Addictive","description":"Here's a look at how our favorite TV shows—from \"Game of Thrones\" to \"Scandal\" and \"Breaking Bad\"—keep us coming back for more.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2RqNgPrk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-01-16T20:47:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2RqNgPrk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3920764/john-oliver-helen-mirren-report-torture/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3920764/john-oliver-helen-mirren-report-torture/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```