After hosting The Daily Show (1996) for eight weeks, John Oliver's reviews were so overwhelmingly positive that he was offered a job by HBO to do a weekly talk show, which they were not planning to do until they saw Oliver host.
HBO initially planned on the program being on five nights a week. However, Oliver thought the pace of a daily program was taxing and thought one night a week would give them a better shot at a higher quality show.
Oliver insisted on 100% creative and editorial control before agreeing to do the program, which HBO granted.
Oliver insisted on no correspondents or co-hosts, as he did not want the show to be a clone of The Daily Show (1996).
The theme song is "Go" by Valley Lodge.