You Can Relate To John Oliver's Election Feelings

The 2016 election, if nothing else, has been extremely long-lived. On the Oct. 30 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the British funnyman said what we've all been thinking: that death or being punted into outer space seems preferable to another several days of the hell that is this election cycle. Ultimately, Oliver's plea for the election to be over is how you're probably feeling just about now, and as usual, he hit the nail right on the head.

Using his expertly-crafted trademark mix of absurdity and realism, Oliver began the episode describing how he'd intended to not discuss the election, because with it looming ever nearer, a break would have been nice. He then dove right in, explaining that not only is Hillary Clinton once again embroiled in her infamous email scandal, but that this time it was all started by Anthony Weiner's penis. He then delivered a monologue as excellent as any he's ever given:

A month ago when Donald Trump tweeted that we should check out a sex tape of a former Miss Universe contestant, I said if you looked up you would see rock bottom. Well if you look up now you will see absolutely nothing. ... We have burrowed through, not just rock bottom, but through the core of the earth and we've come bursting out the other side, startling kangaroos. And we're currently hurtling toward outer space where there is no up, down, light or darkness — just an endless void in which death comes as sweet, sweet relief. Please let this thing be over soon.

As hilarious and hyperbolic as Oliver's imploring cry may seem, it's not a far cry from what many of us are feeling. And sure, we're all hawkishly watching the rapidly unfolding trainwreck that is the 2016 presidential election. But it's more-so out of a Black Mirror-esque sense of fascination with the macabre display we've all been subjected to at length than any sense of genuine enjoyment. Oliver's admitted desire to cover anything other than the election, while perhaps tongue-in-cheek, echoes a strong need for an escape from the very real and unhealthy anxiety that this election seems to have induced in the psyches of Americans. When the entire political realm seems to have gone mad, we have to redefine rock bottom, and sometimes, absurdism is the only way to do it.