The final results are in for an auction launched on the 2025 finale of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to benefit public media. As reported by , items including a record-setting Bob Ross painting and a bidet signed by GWAR's Blöthar the Berserker raised a total of nearly $1.54 million dedicated to assisting local public broadcasters by the time bids closed on Monday night.
Since debuting in 2014, Last Week Tonight has slowly refined its format so the heart of every episode is a long segment about a single topic, typically one that mainstream news outlets don't bother covering: carbon offsets, debt-purchasing companies, jury selection, payday loans, mandatory prison sentences. These segments then have afterlives as self-contained YouTube clips and summaries by news outlets all over the world. The Guardian even has a dedicated "John Oliver Recap" column.