John Oliver raised $1.5 million for public media by auctioning off the wildest TV props
A bidet signed by a costumed metal band? Sure! All for a great cause.
John Oliver raised over $1.5 million through a silly and sweet auction.
During the Season 12 finale of his rapid-fire deep-dive HBO series, Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver took a 35-minute look at the state of public media in 2025. It all culminated in a signature wash of absurdity and thoughtfulness: The comedian announced an online auction, pledging the proceeds from dozens of hilariously wacky show props and nifty fan experiences to Public Media Bridge Fund, which serves at-risk communities. According to Variety, that initiative earned over $1.5 million—an amazing figure, especially given the weirdness of many of these auctioned items.
Before we dive into that, it’s worth noting the cultural backdrop: a recent law slashing a reported $1.1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through the 2027 fiscal year. Throughout the episode, Oliver spent a half-hour diving into the history of public media, the impact these budget cuts could have on everyday Americans, and—in a signature slice of Oliver silliness—the wonders of Mr. Bean. Then he unveiled the auction, hosted at a site amazingly called JohnOliversJunk.com.
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A Bob Ross painting was auctioned for big money
That $1.5 million auction figure is impressive, and a massive chunk of it comes from "Cabin at Sunset," an original Bob Ross painting created during a 1986 episode of his beloved PBS series, The Joy of Painting. Per Variety’s final tallies, the characteristically serene landscape fetched "around $1,044,000 after 35 bids." As an impressive sidebar, per NBC News, this follows the $600,000-plus total earned from three Ross originals auctioned only weeks earlier in a similar effort to aid public broadcasting.
Now here’s where the bizarre stuff comes in. Numerous items from Last Week Tonight’s auction were actually featured in comedic asides, miniature sketches, and running bits from the show—including a jock strap apparently "worn by [actor] Russell Crowe in the major motion picture Cinderella Man (2005) and later purchased by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver during season 5 of the show." Naturally, it earned $21,000.
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Absurd(ly funny) items from the Last Week Tonight auction
Other highlights include a massive "sculpture of President Lyndon B. Johnson's scrotum" ($25,500), numerous wax figures of various U.S. presidents (the Bill Clinton was sold for $6,000), and "Mrs. Cabbage Oliver." (The latter—well, you need to watch the episode in question to understand, but it involves Steve Buscemi officiating a wedding between Oliver and a cabbage as part of a Season 9 piece about AI-generated art. Really. It sold for $11,111.)
The funniest piece could well be a bidet signed by Blöthar the Berserker, singer of the famously costumed metal band GWAR. While the final numbers are no longer viewable on the auction site, Consequence reports that they viewed a winning bid of $6,000 "the last time [they] checked."
Last Week Tonight also auctioned off a number of fan experiences, including two VIP tickets to attend an in-person taping and appear on the show as an "over the shoulder" graphic ($100,025, per Variety). If you’re an Oliver superfan—or just someone who wants to support the overall mission—you can always donate directly through the Public Media site, which outlines their overall mission to "secure local public media service across the country, with an early focus on rural and underserved communities where public media organizations face the greatest risks."
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