John Oliver says the Hollywood writers' strike was no vacation

John Oliver (left) during an interview with host Seth Meyers on October 23, as part of the eleventh season of "Late Night with Seth Meyers."

Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Images

• The Hollywood writers' strike was no vacation for talk show hosts, John Oliver says.
• Oliver discussed the topic on an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" on Monday.
• The strike, which lasted for nearly 150 days, ended on September 27.

John Oliver, the host of "Last Week Tonight," says the Hollywood writers' strike was no vacation.

Oliver made the comment during an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" on Monday.

Meyers kicked off the conversation by saying, "A lot of people just assume when you're not working, that it's a positive."

"Yeah they sure do assume that, don't they?" Oliver responded. "And they assume that reminding you of it might be a pleasant thing for you to hear. It was non-stop, people would say, 'Well at least you get some time off, it must feel like a vacation.'"

Oliver said he usually let such comments slide — but not always.

He recounted a conversation with a fan he met in an elevator, who said, "Yeah well, at least you're getting a nice vacation, that must be nice." Oliver said he followed the fan out of the elevator and blurted out, "You're fucking wrong about that."

The writers' strike ended on September 27 when the Writers Guild of America secured a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for stipulations including better pay, AI safeguards, and minimum staffing.

The nearly-150-day strike was the second-longest in the guild's history, only surpassed by the writers' strike of 1988. In August, Todd Holmes, an entertainment industry professor at California State University, Northridge, estimated the recent strike drained about $3 billion from California's economy in its first 100 days.

While the strike was ongoing, Oliver and Meyers joined up with fellow late night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel for a limited-series podcast called "Strike Force Five," with proceeds going to their out-of-work staff.

Representatives for Oliver did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.

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