John Oliver is celebrating a civic first.
During a virtual appearance on The Late Show Monday, the Last Week Tonight host reflected on his first time voting in a United States presidential election this year after becoming an American citizen in December 2019.
“It was honestly, it was amazing,” Oliver told Colbert. “Putting [the candidates] aside, as an immigrant who had just got his citizenship in December of last year, I was waiting for that to feel real—when you worry about your immigration status all the time and even getting your passport still doesn’t feel real because you haven’t tested it against a system.”
Originally, Oliver thought he would feel the impact of his citizenship when he traveled. “I had thought this will feel real when I leave America and I come back and I’m treated differently by the system,” he explained. However, that time didn’t really come until a more recent moment in the voting process.