John Oliver and Steve Gelbs during Mets broadcast Photo credit: WPIX

John Oliver’s interview during the New York Mets TV broadcast appealed to an audience that probably doesn’t include Keith Hernandez.

Last Week Tonight may have been off this week, but Oliver’s fans were still able to catch him Sunday afternoon during the Mets’ 7-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. With Oliver in attendance, field reporter Steve Gelbs interviewed the comedian for nearly four minutes during the game being called by Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling. Gelbs referred to Oliver as “one of my favorite comedians on the planet” before noting his Mets fandom, which began in 2006 when he joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

During the interview, Gelbs complimented Oliver for “deep diving” into topics that can take weeks or months to research on his HBO show. Gelbs also asked whether the fast-paced media landscape altered the show’s ability to take time on some of those stories.

“It has changed it a little bit,” Oliver admitted. “Because I think in slower news times, we can do that slower cooking, we’re still trying to do that. But when things – hypothetically speaking – are happening like a president suggesting sending American citizens overseas to foreign gulags, yeah, that probably feels like something you need to address as soon as possible.”

Oliver referenced the recent White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. During which, Trump floated the idea of deporting United States citizens with violent criminal records to El Salvador.

It may not have been the wholesome content some Mets fans expected to hear on an Easter Sunday afternoon. But Oliver gave a fair response to a valid question from Gelbs. It’s just too bad we couldn’t get a camera on Hernandez, who hasn’t been shy about his conservative leanings or Trump support in the past.

Cohen thanked Gelbs and Oliver after the interview, with Darling chiming in to note the slew of comedians who are Mets fans. But when it was time for Hernandez to speak, the Cardinals made their third out, and the broadcast went to commercial before the outspoken analyst had an opportunity to offer his opinion of John Oliver or foreign gulags.

About Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com