There’s no Last Week Tonight this week, so instead of posting an episode of Last Week Tonight tonight about last week, here’s an episode of That Was the Week That Was. Tonight’s That Was the Week That Was isn’t from tonight, however, it’s from April 20, 1963, a night that hasn’t been “tonight” for many, many weeks. Like Last Week Tonight, new episodes of That Was the Week That Was aired weekly, with each week’s episode covering the last week that was, so the subject of the episode of That Was the Week That Was that we’ve put up tonight was “last week” the night That Was the Week That Was originally aired, which was not tonight.
But even though tonight’s episode of That Was the Week That Was isn’t about last week like Last Week Tonight would have been if there were a new Last Week Tonight tonight, the week that was “the week that was” the night they made tonight’s episode of That Was the Week That Was was a pretty funny week! Like Last Week Tonight, That Was the Week That Was took aim at politicians and celebrities, although if there were a new Last Week Tonight tonight, it would probably not focus on Harold Macmillan or Conrad Hilton the way this week’s That Was the Week That Was does, because both men died many weeks ago. But Last Week Tonight fans will find the segment in tonight’s That Was the Week That Was in which Bernard Levin quizzes celebrity hairdresser Raymond Bessone about his decision to stand for Parliament very familiar—it’s an ambush interview straight out of The Daily Show. Not The Daily Show as it exists today, though—The Daily Show of weeks that were, before The Daily Show’s daily show spawned weekly shows like Last Week Tonight. What’s more, Last Week Tonight scholars searching for the origins of the show’s celebrity cameos and obsession with wax figures will learn a lot tonight from Michael Redgrave’s appearance on That Was The Week That Was, reading a poem about Madame Tussauds’ decision to melt down statues of Marilyn Monroe and Vivian Leigh for a new wax figure of James Hanratty, the A6 Murderer. Plus the host is a pre-Nixon David Frost.
So tonight, since there’s no new Last Week Tonight this week, we hope you enjoy watching That Was the Week That Was cover a week that was a long time ago, instead of Last Week Tonight covering last week. Next week there will be a new Last Week Tonight, by which point “last week” will refer to this week and “tonight” will refer to a day that, as of tonight, is still nearly a week in our future. Good night, and have a great week!
