John Oliver follows Game of Thrones with a grisly explainer on the horrors of lethal injection

John Oliver takles lethal injections
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Last Week Tonight)

With just three episode left of "the greatest lead-in modern television history," Game of Thrones, "I'm burning one of them on lethal injections," John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. "And the reason I'm doing that is it's a subject that doesn't come up very much, because, frankly, no one wants it to." From his description of lethal injections, it wouldn't be out of place on Game of Thrones.

Oliver conceded that there are sharp — sometimes odd — differences in opinion on the death penalty, and he explained why he believes it shouldn't exist, using a NSFW example. But "let's say you support the death penalty — there's still the question of how you do it," he said. "Lethal injection came into vogue because it was seen as a humane and painless method," at least compared with "the horrors inflicted by the electric chair." It isn't.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.