Most people’s passwords are laughably bad and remarkably easy for computers and hackers to crack in matter of seconds. On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver asked NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for advice on choosing the best new password for his accounts.
Most of Oliver’s suggestions had Snowden in near giggles, especially gems like “passwerd” and “onetwothreefour,” both of which, Oliver points out, are clever because the first one is misspelled and the second one is numbers written out. Snowden points out that eight-character passwords are always easy to figure out, so neither of Oliver’s brilliant suggestions would work too well.
The comedian then suggested “limpbuiscuit4eva,” which combines a correctly spelled name with a misspelled word and a number. Snowden was not impressed, so Oliver went all out with his best password idea: “admiralalonzoghostpenis420YOLO.” Snowden cracked a smile for that one, and said it would get his stamp of approval. Of course, now all of America knows that password, so Oliver can’t use it — much to his dismay.
Finally, Oliver gave up and asked Snowden for his best recommendation. The NSA leaker, who is typically considered somewhat shy and occasionally dry to those who aren’t riveted by the debate, came up with a password that was tailor-made for Oliver: “margaretthatcheris110%SEXY.” He said it with the most perfect poker face and not a single trace of irony, proving that if this whole being an internationally wanted man doesn’t work out, Snowden would make an excellent straight man in thoughtful comedy routines.
Oliver, was naturally thrilled by the idea of calling Thatcher sexy in his passwords. After all, what proper Brit wouldn’t love to have such an absurd and patriotic password?
