John Oliver gleefully mocked Matthew McConaughey’s recent virtual motivational seminar, titled The Art of Livin’, on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight.
McConaughey hosted the free virtual event April 24 that drew a reported 2 million viewers from around the world and featured guests including Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, Marie Forleo and Trent Shelton. It turned out to be the launch of a (not-free) “immersive learning experience” dubbed “Roadtrip: The Highway to More” that costs $397 for viewers who tuned in and is now priced at the non-promotional offer of $497.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the seminar featured, among other things, McConaughey sharing stories from his memoir, Greenlights, and playing a bongo.
“A couple times, McConaughey took to the drum while he read out comments from viewers spilling their secret shames and desires,” the American-Statesman reported. “He paced back and forth toward the camera, often placing himself in extreme Norma Desmond closeup. His hands gesticulated wildly. He cut through his own chicken-fried fortune cookies with that signature smooth-talk snicker. His eyebrows must have logged enough sky-high miles to get their pilot’s license.”
Of course, Oliver couldn’t let this slip past his radar. On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, the HBO host showed a slip from the seminar, which he noted was five-and-a-half hours long.
In the clip, McConaughey shares a personal story: “In 1999, I’d just had a dream that I was floating down a river naked, wrapped up in anaconda sharks, piranhas and crocodiles. And lined along the ridge of the river, there were thousands of African tribesmen each holding a shield and a spear. And it wasn’t a nightmare. Actually, it was a wet dream.”
Replied Oliver: “Wow! What a twist at the end there.”
Speaking and gesturing as McConaughey did in the video, Oliver continued: “I know my dream might have contained some pretty dicey racial imagery there, but would it help to know that at the end of it, I ejaculated.”
The Last Week Tonight host then summed up his confusion over the whole thing thusly: “I’m not sure what lesson you’re supposed to learn from it other than if you try to do drugs with Matthew McConaughey, you will die.”
