BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – John Oliver told reporters Wednesday that he’s put a stopwatch on Donald Trump.
“He’s the gift that keeps on giving the way a fire hose keeps on giving, and you wish it would stop occasionally,” he told journalists gathered for the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour.
Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” says he’s ever wary of Trump “cannibalizing the show” and limits his reporting on the president.
But he also feels the escalating trade war between Canada and the United States “is of concern to everyone” so he will be watching the fallout.
WATCH: Trump harps on Canadian trade deficit
As for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the comedian was quick to pounce on the leader’s trouble-plagued trip to India in February, which has been criticized for its cost, reception guest list, and photo-ops in which the Trudeau family wore traditional Indian clothing.
“It was ridiculous,” was Oliver’s take on the trip.
The U.K.-born comedian felt that Trudeau had “overshot the runway of his own popularity. It felt like, for the first time, he singed his fingertips on people going, ‘You’re not quite that charismatic to pull off a trip like that.”‘
READ MORE: Trudeau’s contested trip to India cost upwards of $1.5 million, documents show
The current political climate has provided a lot of material for late-night hosts, but Oliver says he doesn’t usually keep a close eye on his competition.
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“I generally don’t watch other shows just because it’s so hard to tend our own garden I tend not to look at what’s in other people’s.”
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” was one of several shows presented at TCA by HBO Wednesday.
WATCH: John Oliver slams NRA TV, says it plays like a ‘deranged letter from a serial killer’
Jane Fonda also took questions regarding the documentary “Jane Fonda in Five Acts,” premiering Sept. 24 on HBO Canada. The 80-year-old Hollywood legend says she and friends Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton will all be in the upcoming remake of their 1980 movie hit “9 to 5.”
“Camping,” an adaptation of the British comedy of the same name by Julia Davis, premieres Oct. 14. It stars Jennifer Garner and David Tennant as a couple whose over-organized camping trip with friends turns into tent-loads of trouble. The eight-episode series is from the team of Jenni Konner and Lena Dunham (“Girls”).
Scheduled to appear at TCA via satellite, Dunham was a last-minute no-show at the “Camping” session.
HBO president Casey Bloys made several announcements, including news that a movie based on the adult western “Deadwood” has been ordered. Original series creator David Milch is behind it, and Bloys says production could start as early as October. Rounding up the original cast, however, “has been a logistics nightmare.”
WATCH: John Oliver praises Florida kids for gun control efforts
Bloys came close to announcing a premiere date for the final season of “Game of Thrones,” suggesting fans can look forward to the series return in the “first half” of 2019.
As for updates on the long-teased “Game of Thrones” prequel, Bloys says a script has been written, the cast and director are being chosen and “we hope to be shooting sometime in the New Year.”
Also confirmed are plans at HBO to push ahead with a third season of “True Detective”; that John Malkovich will join Jude Law on “The New Pope”; and that Meryl Streep shines in the second season of “Big Little Lies.”
There will be another season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Bloys added, even if critics weren’t so enthusiastic about the recent episodes.
The TCA press tour continues for two weeks.
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