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John Oliver goes to Russia for Snowden interview

I'll admit I felt a twinge of regret that John Oliver was no longer at Comedy Central when Jon Stewart announced in February that he'd be leaving "The Daily Show" sometime this year.

I'll admit I felt a twinge of regret that John Oliver was no longer at Comedy Central when Jon Stewart announced in February that he'd be leaving "The Daily Show" sometime this year.

We had the summer of 2013 to see what Oliver could do in Stewart's chair -- he kept it sizzling hot most nights -- and as much as I've loved what he's been doing since on HBO as the host of "Last Week Tonight," I wouldn't have minded seeing a lot more of him.

This Sunday, though, showed that Oliver had made the smarter move, as he unveiled a surprise interview -- in Russia -- with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. And somewhere between asking if Snowden missed Hot Pockets (yes) and talking about how the government can see pictures of penises belonging to U.S. citizens, he pulled off a tough interview, at one point calling Snowden on his culpability in a New York Times error that allowed access to redacted material related to U.S. efforts against al-Quaeda.

All this started out as a reminder that the Patriot Act is up for renewal, with Oliver contending -- and supporting with some man-in-the-street videos that would have been funny if they weren't so frightening -- that Americans aren't nearly informed enough about threats to privacy to know if this is a good idea or not.

HBO has money and time that "The Daily Show" probably doesn't, allowing Oliver, for instance, to add three more researchers to his staff before this season began, quadruple the number he said worked at "The Daily Show" when he was there.

And since it's also willing to make Oliver's work available to everyone with access to YouTube, you don't even need HBO to see this.

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