“The Daily Show” with John Oliver Begins

It’s weird. It’s definitely weird. And John Oliver — who for the summer will serve as host of “The Daily Show” while Jon Stewart is away directing a film — admitted as much. In fact, it’s the first thing he said.

“Welcome to ‘The Daily Show,’ and I am John Oliver,” he said in his very British accent. “Let’s all just acknowledge for a moment that this is weird. This looks weird, it feels weird, and it even sounds weird. It even sounds weird to me — and this is my actual voice.”

Oliver read a note from Stewart assuring him that no big stories break during the summer. That’s a relief!

So what’s in the news lately? Oh! That’s right! The controversy over the National Security Administration’s secret digital surveillance program.

“Not only is the government tracking everyone’s phone calls,” said Oliver, “but that’s just the tip of the sh--berg.”

The NSA’s snooping goes beyond phone records — to Internet records and foreigners' email.

“So it turns out the government is monitoring vastly more information than even George Orwell wet the bed over,” said Oliver.

In a new segment called “Good News: You’re Not Paranoid” — brought to you by tinfoil — Oliver went on to criticize the logo of the government’s surveillance program, PRISM, pointing out that it looks like a bad Chinese bootleg of the Pink Floyd album “Dark Side of the Moon.”

The government program was, of course, a secret until 29-year-old Edward Snowden, a computer network security technician for NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, cried foul. And thanks to him, said Oliver, “We now know that the government has been actively collecting an unprecedented amount of information on that small, select group of us who either make phone calls or use the Internet.”

Check out the clips below, courtesy of Comedy Central: 

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