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Last Week Tonight Puts a Presidential Wax Statue in an Oscar-Bait Biopic

“Sometimes the best way to lift your spirits it to see something monumentally stupid,” tweets Last Week Tonight host John Oliver, “This is that. Please enjoy…” In a more light-hearted segment to last night’s show, which focused on the Sinclair Broadcast Group and the way political views are injected into local news, Oliver talked about the Hall of Presidents & First Ladies Wax Museum putting up their figures for auction.

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If you’re asking yourself, who would want a creepy figure of President Eisenhower, the answer is Rachel Maddow. If you’re wondering who would want the definitely-cursed likeness of Zachary Taylor, the answer is Stephen Colbert. Finally, if you’re wondering who would be cruel enough to rob Colbert of his first choice Martin Van Buren, the answer is Jon Stewart. “Presumably to add to his ever-expanding mannequin sex dungeon,” says Oliver.

Not to be beat by all the other hosts, Last Week Tonight followed suit to obtain five figures: Nixon, Clinton, Carter, Harrison, and his personal favorite, Harding. Additionally, because this personal hall of wax figures that will no doubt come to life on the next full moon for an uprising wasn’t enough to show they had too much time and money on their hands, Oliver also debuts a trailer for Harding, the biopic he felt the 29th President always deserved.

The result is a beautiful film that looks like something that’d be up for an Oscar nomination. Performing with full earnestness around this figure that occasionally falls over is Campbell Scott, Anna Kendrick, Michael McKean, James Cromwell, and Laura fucking Linney. 

As Oliver says, sometimes you just need something monumentally ridiculous to lift your spirits. What did you think of the trailer?

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