CHATBOT: [INTRO MUSIC] John Oliver: Welcome, welcome, welcome to "Last Week Tonight!" I'm John Oliver, thank you so much for joining us! And tonight, we have to talk about something a bit like that one relative we all try to ignore at family reunions until they do something so outrageous that we have no choice but to acknowledge their existence: Encyclopedia Dramatica. [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] Yes, the vile, infamous website, which is essentially if Wikipedia went on a bender, got a face tattoo, and then decided to run for public office on a platform of pure, unadulterated shock value. [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] Now, some of you might be tempted to revisit Encyclopedia Dramatica, perhaps out of a misplaced nostalgia for the "good old days" of the internet, where you could be insulted in a myriad of creative ways before you even finished typing your own user name. [AUDIENCE CHUCKLES] But let's remind ourselves why that's a bad idea. It's the equivalent of going back to your ex who's not aging like a fine wine, but more like a potato salad left out at a summer picnic -- it's just not the same, and it's probably going to make you sick. [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] You see, Encyclopedia Dramatica is like a pop-up book of the internet's worst instincts, filled with profanity, obscure references, and the kind of humor that often veers into the realm of the offensive and, let's be real here, wildly outdated. [AUDIENCE NODS] And honestly, you can probably predict what they're going to say about anything. Let's do a little exercise. Think of a topic. Now, imagine the most extreme, unhinged take on that topic, filled with sarcasm so heavy it could give Atlas a herniated disc. That's Encyclopedia Dramatica. [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] But really, at this point, the site has become somewhat irrelevant. Seriously, when it goes down for a week, the internet's response is less "Oh no, what happened?" and more like, "Oh, I didn't even notice. Is 'Friends' still on Netflix? I should rewatch that." [AUDIENCE LAUGHS] The point is, my friends, Encyclopedia Dramatica might seem like a playful dive into the dark humor of yesteryear. But let's remember, the internet has moved on to new, less aggressively toxic ways to disappoint us daily. [AUDIENCE CHUCKLES] So, say no to the urge, and instead, spend that time on literally anything else. Maybe learn a new language, or read a book, or stare at a blank wall contemplating the transient nature of existence. Any of those would be a healthier choice. [AUDIENCE LAUGHS AND APPLAUDS...

CHATBOT: [INTRO MUSIC] JOHN OLIVER: Welcome, welcome, welcome to Last Week Tonight! I'm John Oliver, just a British guy desperately clinging onto your Sunday nights like a koala to a eucalyptus tree in a windstorm. Now, tonight, I'd like to talk about something that many of you, regrettably, might remember: Encyclopedia Dramatica. It's like if Wikipedia went on a bender, got a face tattoo, and then woke up in a ditch reeking of poor decisions and casual bigotry. And yet, some people seem to think, "Hey, let's dive back into that festering cesspool of the Internet." To which I say: really? I mean, I get it. Nostalgia is a powerful drug, like sniffing a Sharpie, but less intellectually stimulating. Encyclopedia Dramatica was, and presumably still is, stuffed--a word I use both figuratively and literally--to the brim with offensive and shocking so-called "humor." Imagine taking the worst parts of 4chan, giving them a thesaurus, and then letting them loose without any adult supervision. That's Encyclopedia Dramatica. Now, let's just pause to consider something. If you're thinking of revisiting that site for old times' sake or to look up something, just stop for a second and ask yourself: "Can I imagine what it will say?" Because I can guarantee that whatever you're thinking is probably the sanitized Disney Plus version of what you'll find there. If you're going to search for something you care about, just predict the outcome. Is it something you love? It will be insulted in a crude, reductive way. Is it something you find serious and important? Oh, my friend, how it will be mocked in ways that not only dance over the line of good taste, they conga line over it, waving their privates at propriety as they pass. And truly, has there ever been a better sign of the site's irrelevance than the collective shrug of the internet when it goes offline? It's as if a tree falls in the woods, but the tree was actually a festering pile of garbage, and all the animals had already moved away because of the smell. Nobody cares or notices. To quote the great Jane Austen, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of not going anywhere near Encyclopedia Dramatica." And I might be paraphrasing slightly there, but the sentiment stands. In a world where we have access to so much information--good, bad, and cat videos--why choose to wade through the Internet equivalent of a Superfund site without any protective gear? As Abraham Li...

CHATBOT: [INT. STUDIO - NIGHT. JOHN OLIVER stands before the audience, a smirk lingering at the corner of his lips. The screen behind him lights up with the words "ENCYCLOPEDIA DRAMATICA." The audience is a mixture of slightly confused and mildly horrified.] JOHN OLIVER: Good evening! Tonight, I'd like to talk about a website, a digital time capsule if you will, that embodies the spirit of a bygone era--an era of unfettered internet provocation and the wild west of online anonymity. I'm speaking, of course, about Encyclopedia Dramatica--a site so offensive that if it were a person, it'd be the uncle everyone pretends isn't part of the family at reunions. [LAUGHTER] Now, for the uninitiated - and I envy you, truly, I do - Encyclopedia Dramatica is a website that serves as a satirical version of Wikipedia. However, where Wikipedia is a stately librarian meticulously organizing the world's knowledge, Encyclopedia Dramatica is its cousin who got kicked out of the library for drawing penises in the margins of a thesaurus. [AUDIENCE GROANS] Encyclopedia Dramatica, or "ED" to those who 'adore' it - which may actually be short for "Erectile Dysfunction," given how dick-obsessed their articles are - is a site that prides itself on being as offensive as humanly possible. If you're thinking, "Well, that can't be that ba--" No. Stop. It's like if the concept of "edgy" 13-year-olds got a website. [CHUCKLE] In fact, going back to ED is like opening a time capsule buried in 2006, only to find it's filled to the brim with racial slurs, sexism, and the sort of humor that makes you say, "Wow, I guess you really could just say anything on the internet back then, couldn't you?" And folks, let me tell you, that capsule did NOT age like a fine wine, rather more like milk... left in the sun... at Chernobyl. [LAUGHTER] You're browsing it, and it's like traveling back in time to a period we all collectively forgot - you remember "Leave Britney Alone"? That's the level of dated we're talking about. [LAUGHTER] But, let's say you throw caution to the wind and dive into the cesspool of Encyclopedia Dramatica. You'd probably be able to predict what they'd say about virtually anything you searched for because the formula is simple: find a subject, any subject, and then sprinkle it with so much offensiveness that even the word 'offensive' would say, "I think you may have misunderstood me." [AUDIENCE CHUCKLES and GROANS] What's truly astonishing is that, despite their best efforts to offend litera...

CHATBOT: [INTRO MUSIC] JOHN OLIVER: Welcome, welcome, welcome to Last Week Tonight! I'm John Oliver, thank you for joining me! Now, tonight, I'd like to talk to you about a dusty corner of the internet, a place that's like the back of your grandma's pantry; you're scared of what you'll find, but morbid curiosity draws you in. I'm talking about Encyclopedia Dramatica, which, if you're not aware, is like Wikipedia if it were raised in a bar, by Reddit, with 4chan as its quirky uncle who never quite learned when jokes stop being funny. Yes, Encyclopedia Dramatica -- or ED, as it's known by its friends, which it should be noted, it has none of. Now, if you're thinking about venturing back to ED after all these years, let me remind you, it's a bit like going to your high school reunion: it's exactly as immature as you remember, and, spoiler alert, probably hasn't aged well. If you took the most offensive, shocking, and downright baffling humor and put it into a blender, the pureed mess you'd get would still be somewhat better organized than ED. I mean, honestly, we could probably play a game called "Predict-o-pedia" where you guess what scurrilous content you'll find about any given subject. Spoiler alert, again: it will involve badly drawn cartoons and language that makes Tarantino films sound like they were written by the teletubbies. And if you're one of those who yearns for the nostalgia of the "good ol' days" of the internet, let me remind you, Encyclopedia Dramatica is to nostalgia what an open sewer is to a water park -- it's wet, it's dizzying, and it'll leave you with an infection. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about ED isn't its content at all. It's the fact that it has become so irrelevant... that when it goes down for a week, the collective reaction of the internet is equivalent to noticing a single popcorn kernel that didn't pop at the bottom of the bowl. You see it, you acknowledge it, but you're not going to lose any sleep over it. Now, there's a very good chance you didn't even KNOW that it went down, because nobody cares. It's like hearing news that a Blockbuster store somewhere finally closed down--your reaction is probably, "Huh, I thought they were already gone." And in that apathy, that dismissive shrug, we find the internet's greatest mercy. It's moving on. Encyclopedia Dramatica's shock value is a currency that the internet bank no longer trades in -- it's the Confederate dollar of the web. You can wave it around all you want, but it won't...

CHATBOT: [INTRO MUSIC] [John Oliver sits at his desk, shuffling papers, a wry smile playing on his lips.] JOHN OLIVER: Welcome, welcome, welcome to Last Week Tonight! I'm John Oliver, just a British guy masquerading as your most trusted American news source since Dick Cheney convinced us all he had a heart. [Laughter] But tonight, we're not talking about Dick Cheney's artificial heart--or his natural one, which we all presume was stolen from a large, cranky bat. No, we're delving into the nostalgic and questionably fragrant underbelly of the internet, a place that smells like your old LiveJournal account and looks like the dumpster behind a Blockbuster Video: Encyclopedia Dramatica. [Audience groans in recognition.] Oh yes, the once-notorious wiki that's like if Wikipedia got drunk at a party, insulted everyone's mother, and then fell asleep in its own sick. It's a site so committed to being offensive, it makes 4chan users say, "Whoa, maybe tone it down a bit?" [Laughter] Now, for those of you who thought Encyclopedia Dramatica was a helpful tool used by theater majors to research Greek tragedies--bless your innocent souls--it's actually a satirical website that documents internet culture and memes with all the subtlety and tact of a sledgehammer wielding an even larger sledgehammer. [Chuckles] But here's the thing: Should you, in a fit of misguided nostalgia, decide to go back there... you'll find that not only is the garden still overgrown with every conceivable variety of toxic weed, you'll discover that--yes--just as you suspected, the offensive and shocking humor is still there, like a '90s comedian trapped in the past, shouting, "Deal with it!" to an empty room. [Smattering of laughs] You could play a disturbing little game called "Predictive Insensitivity Bingo" where you search for anything--anything at all--and just wait for the appalling jokes that somehow manage to connect your innocent search term to Hitler, Stalin, or god forbid... the Star Wars prequels. [Laughter] And yet, my friends, despite its best--or should I say worst--efforts, Encyclopedia Dramatica has become about as relevant as a fax machine or, dare I say, privacy concerns in a Facebook user agreement. In the fast-paced world of the internet, it's experienced the kind of decay that usually only befalls single slices of American cheese forgotten in a bachelor's fridge. [Sniggers] In fact, the website is now so irrelevant that when it recently went down for a week, the world's reaction was o...

CHATBOT: [INTRO MUSIC] [John Oliver stands at the center of the stage with a large screen behind him displaying the words "Encyclopedia Dramatica"] JOHN OLIVER: Good evening, I'm John Oliver, and tonight we need to talk about an internet relic, a digital pandora's box of questionable humor and often outright offensive content, none other than the infamous - and I cannot believe I'm bringing this up in Twenty-whatever year this is - Encyclopedia Dramatica. [The audience chuckles as the screen flashes sarcastically cheery images of the website's logo.] Now, I'm sure some of you know exactly what I'm talking about, while others have that blissful look of the uninitiated. It's like seeing someone who's never tried durian fruit - part of you wants to enlighten them, and the other part wants to spare them a lifetime of trauma. For the unacquainted, Encyclopedia Dramatica - or as I like to call it, the internet dumpster fire you can't look away from - was basically if you gave Wikipedia a bunch of bath salts and left it in a room with 4chan for too long. It was a satirical website with a penchant for... let's call it 'shock humor,' though that's putting it diplomatically. [The audience's mixed reactions are audible. Some chuckles, some groans.] Oh, the entries! It's like opening a box of chocolates, if every chocolate were shaped like something unspeakable and tasted like regret. You could look up anything - from your favorite children's show to a random celebrity - and you could predict with absolute certainty that the page would contain words or images that would have you reaching for the brain bleach. [Oliver puts on a pained smile as the audience laughs.] Now, here's the kicker - the site became less and less relevant over time. It's not that the internet got any less horrible - oh no - but that ED, as it's known to those who refuse to say its full name in polite company, just sort of became old news. It's like the shock rockers of the internet world. At some point, people became desensitized, and the antics that were once so headline-worthy just became another background noise of the web. [Audience reacts with nods and understanding.] And then, when you thought it couldn't get any less relevant - it would occasionally go down. Not in a grand, fiery explosion of controversy or a courtroom drama worthy of a daytime TV movie, no. It would just... not be there. And the public's reaction? The overwhelming outcry? [A dramatic pause as Oliver looks around, feigning confusio...

CHATBOT: Welcome, welcome, welcome to "Last Week Tonight!" I'm your host, John Oliver, coming to you with all the charm of a British nanny, if that nanny had a predilection for discussing the crumbling foundations of American infrastructure. But tonight, we're not digging through the pothole-laden streets of American society. No, tonight we soar into the cloudy realm of the internet, that digital Valhalla where memes are born, and reputations go to die. And speaking of dying online, let's talk about Encyclopedia Dramatica. Ah, yes, Encyclopedia Dramatica, or as I prefer to call it, "The House That Bad Taste Built." For those of you who don't know-- and judging by the site's traffic stats, that's most of you-- Encyclopedia Dramatica is like if Wikipedia and 4chan had a baby, and that baby was raised by the comment section on a LiveLeak video. It's a wiki devoted to satirical and often shockingly offensive content that leans into the dark, sometimes funny, but mostly just the incredibly problematic side of the internet. Now, I know what you're thinking. "John, why are you dragging this relic out of the recesses of dusty internet corners?" Well, because, much like a questionable mole on a part of your body that you really do not want to be contorting to see regularly, it's worth checking on these things before they go from being a harmless blemish to a full-blown, malignant catastrophe. You see, Encyclopedia Dramatica prided itself on being the antithesis of cultural sensitivity. If you've ever had the misfortune of searching for anything on that site, there's a non-zero chance you predicted what would pop up. It would always be something wildly offensive, stuffed to the brim with racism, sexism, homophobia, and basically any other -ism that would make your grandmother clutch her pearls so hard they'd turn into diamond dust. But here's the thing: nobody seems to care about Encyclopedia Dramatica anymore. In fact, when it goes down for a week--which it does with the frequency of a carnival ride operated by a man whose resume is just a crayon drawing of a roller coaster--no one bats an eye. Which is good, because when your site goes down and no one cares, you're essentially the online equivalent of a Sears. The decline of Encyclopedia Dramatica doesn't just highlight the waning tolerance for its particular brand of "comedy," but it also reflects the broader trend of the internet growing up - a little bit. We're talking about the same internet that once embraced a neon-l...