John Oliver Begins His Slap-Happy Stint on the Soap Opera ‘Days of Our Lives’

John Oliver’s soap opera summer continues this week, with the Last Week Tonight host donning a truly outrageous wig for a three-episode stint on Days of Our Lives. 

The comedian will debut as Devlin St. John, chief water inspector for the fictional town of Salem, on Tuesday (Aug. 11), with additional appearances slated for Wednesday and Friday. The Days of Our Lives gig comes just over a month after Oliver did a three-episode arc on General Hospital, where he played Z, the head of a shady spy agency called the World Security Bureau. 

A few preview clips from Oliver’s Days of Our Lives arc show Devlin St. John going toe-to-toe with Salem’s mayor Paulina Price (played by sitcom great Jackée Harry), and doing some will-they-won’t-they flirting with Maggie Carney’s Rita Lesley. Elsewhere, he delivers insane lines like, “Please don’t spit on my leg and tell me that it’s a car wash,” and slaps the hell out of Days of Our Lives star Dan Feuerriegel. 

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Slapping and/or being slapped was one of Oliver’s handful of requests for his soap opera appearance, along with playing a character with a ridiculous name, and wearing an equally ridiculous wig. According to Vulture, Oliver even brought the wig he wears as Devlin St. John, which the Days of Our Lives hair-and-makeup team only made a few tweaks to before the cameras rolled. 

Oliver’s soap opera journey dates back to a Last Week Tonight segment from March, in which he pitched himself for guest appearances on whatever soap opera would take him. His request was inspired by the myriad celebrities who’ve popped up on soaps in the past, including Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg, and Stephen A. Smith.