Soap Opera
John Oliver Reveals Who He Really Wanted to Play On ‘General Hospital’
John Oliver wraps up his ‘General Hospital’ guest star role as Z, a WSB director, while revealing his fantasy soap opera twin brother storyline that never came to be.
Late-night comedian John Oliver wraps up his short guest star stint on General Hospital this week, playing the type of character he described when he made his March plea to appear on a soap opera. However, he did have a fantasy role and scenario in mind when he got the call from the soap that wasn’t meant to be.
John Oliver’s Fantasy Soap Opera Scenario
Back in March, Oliver told his Last Week Tonight audience that he dreamed of having a role on a soap opera.
“I want to be a character and I want his name to be ridiculous,” he said. “Also, I want to do something juicy, like murder, or slapping, or being slapped, or being someone’s long-lost something. And ideally, I’d like a dramatic close-up of my face. But in return, trust me, I will give my all to this performance.”
GH delivered first, casting Oliver as Z, the mysterious WSB director Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) went in search of to save the day on Spoon Island. And Z, he of the ridiculous name, did just that. Oliver’s character arrived by helicopter and swooped into the scene, getting hostages and gunshot victims to safety. He even got a dramatic close-up of his face as he told Josslyn (Eden McCoy) he was there to help. As of this writing, that slap is still to come on Monday.
While Oliver loved every moment on GH, he admitted he had his own character (or two) and story cooked up.
“What we were asking for was a lot of work from General Hospital‘s production [team] to get me here and to write me in in a way that makes sense,” Oliver said in a behind-the-scenes video promoting his appearance. That didn’t mean he didn’t have his own fantasies when his soap opera chance for fame arrived, as he explained: “I would love a twin brother and one of us to die and then that one to then come back to life and kill the other one.”
As it stands now, Z doesn’t have a back story, so maybe there is an evil twin out there somewhere who will die and come back to kill the other after all. For a soap opera, it’s not very far-fetched.
