'Last Week Tonight With John Oliver' & Sarah Silverman Get It Wrong (Video)

As a comedian, it's easy to get so caught up in a good joke that you lost track of the reality behind the humor. It's easy to forget that otherwise rational people can make decisions based on desperation and not because they're just too stupid or naive to understand the consequences of their actions.

The usually impressive "Last Night Tonight With John Oliver" fell into that trap on its last show, when it took aim at the insidious payday loan industry. In the segment above, Oliver rightfully highlights the many misdeeds of the industry and pokes fun at the many unsuccessful efforts by states hoping to curb the payday loan industry.

But he gets it wrong when he ends the segment with a spoof commercial hosted by Sarah Silverman. She advises people to "Do Anything" other than take out a payday loan, including theft, fraud and convincing someone to pay you to pee on them. Sure, it's modestly funny. But it also illustrates how comedy can lost track of its target in search of a funny line.

Most people who take out a payday loan aren't doing it because they're too dense to understand the consequences of their actions or because they have other options and think a payday loan is an "easier way out." Most people who take out a payday loan know they're getting screwed. But if your car suddenly needs a transmission and you need it to get to work, you'll do whatever it takes to get it back on the road. Sure, you know you'll be paying a lot more in the long run. But you need that car running now, not in a week following a search for moneymaking sexual opportunities on Craigslist.

Silverman's bit has some laughs, but they're jokes aimed at the one target in this story that can't fight back. The people desperate enough to need a payday loan. But ones who also don't consider bad (or possibly illegal) behavior to be a viable option.