Comedian John Oliver on Sunday brought his popular American TV show Last Week Tonight to Moscow for an interview with famed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Speaking on the topic of U.S. government surveillance, Oliver announced he had traveled to Russia for “48 paranoid hours” to talk to Snowden the previous week.
The program showed Oliver walking across Moscow's iconic Red Square and setting up for the interview in a room directly opposite the former headquarters of the Soviet-era secret police, the KGB, at Lubyanka Square, which now houses the FSB security services.
As Snowden failed to show up for their appointment on time, a strained Oliver grabbed the microphone and said: “If the Russian KGB is listening, ring the fire alarm if [Snowden] is not coming.”
But Snowden ultimately arrived, apologizing for the delay, after which the two men discussed Snowden's leaking of mass government surveillance tactics in June 2013, the consequences of the scandal and ... naked pictures.
Snowden has been living in exile in Russia since the summer of 2013, seeking refuge from the espionage charges he faces in the U.S. Last year, Russian authorities issued Snowden a three-year residency permit.
Watch the full interview here:
