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John Oliver sure knows how to make an entrance.
In the final moments of Thursday’s “General Hospital,” the long-running ABC daytime soap opera set in Port Charles, New York, the HBO host — sporting a dark suit, jet black
hair and flanked by armed guards — descends from a helicopter and surveys the aftermath of a firefight. He whips out a Glock and shoots an injured gunman as he’s writhing on the ground, before making a beeline for Josslyn Jacks (played by Eden McCoy).
“Everything’s gonna be OK,” he tells her. “I’m here to help.”
As viewers of the show know by now, Josslyn is the beleaguered daughter of Carly Spencer and has been working as an agent for the World Securities Bureau (WSB), a spy agency preserving order, since the killing of her boyfriend. The WSB is attempting to stop mad scientist Mikkos Cassadine before he uses his freezing machine to destroy the planet.
“General Hospital” airs weekdays on ABC and later streams on Hulu, and in its 64th year, has the twin distinctions of being the longest-running scripted American drama as well as the show with the most Outstanding Daytime Drama Emmy wins (18). Oliver’s episodes will air July 2, 3 and 6 on ABC, and the identity of his character is being kept under wraps.
Laura Wright, the beloved Daytime Emmy-winning actress who’s played Carly Spencer (nee Corinthos) on “General Hospital” since 2005, acted opposite Oliver’s mystery character in his upcoming episodes, and tells Variety that the two had a ball together, and while he took the job seriously, he also had her cracking up during rehearsals.
“We had no idea what to expect,” she says of Oliver’s turn on the series. “A lot of times people like to come on and make fun of what we do, and I’m not a big fan of that. Our job is as important as anyone else’s, and we don’t consider it a different type of acting or anything like that. So, I was so impressed with the writing that honored what he does well while also staying true to what we do, and how he showed up and delivered. It was incredible.”
Wright says she was surprised when Oliver told her he’d never taken acting classes before, since he made specific choices in their scenes that a trained actor would make.
“If he was nervous, you couldn’t tell,” Wright maintains. “He was perfect with his lines. We were in the middle of a very intense storyline that has been building for months, so it’s really funny that he stepped right in and didn’t miss a beat. You would think he’s been on the show!”
Oliver will not only appear in two more episodes of “General Hospital,” but also shot a three-episode arc on another soap, “Days of Our Lives,” that will air in August. He’s said he was inspired by ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith’s decade-long tenure as Brick, a suave security consultant, on “General Hospital.”
“‘General Hospital’ was everything I hoped it would be,” Oliver remarked. “It’s a true honor to be a small stain on the history of this illustrious show.”
