The Hollywood Reporter
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.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
