John Oliver calls out St. Paul Saints on "Last Week Tonight," offers rebrand
The St. Paul Saints may be in for a rebrand after comedian John Oliver called out the team on his show "Last Week Tonight."
The final segment of Oliver's most recent episode celebrated the weird, niche and occasionally vulgar world of Minor League Baseball.
Oliver praised teams for their "eye-catching promotions," like the El Paso Chihuahuas' dog-face jerseys or the Lake County Captains replacing an entire row of seats with toilets.
He also praised teams with creative names, like the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and the Eugene Exploding Whales.
Oliver then criticized teams who "aren't really pulling their weight," including "first-thought choices like the Buffalo Bisons and the St. Paul Saints."
But Oliver offered an olive branch — an offer to "use all of our resources and stupidity to give one minor league baseball team a total rebrand."
The rebrand includes a new name, mascot and theme night, with these conditions attached: "You can't ask us any questions, give us any notes and you have to do what we come up with."
On social media, the Saints said they're throwing their ball cap into the ring.
"We have sent a message to the email provided on the show and told them why they should choose us," the team said. "While our name may be 'plain' our fans know that Saints games are the exact opposite."
While Oliver may not be a fan of the team's name, he'd surely appreciate some of the Saints' ballpark promotions, like the team's fan-named ball pig, a 6-foot hot dog loaded with pulled pork, mac and cheese and more or the time they held a stadium-wide food fight.
If the Saints are selected, it wouldn't be the first time Oliver and "Last Week Tonight" helped out a Minnesota business. In 2021, the HBO show's crew wrote a commercial for Zumbrota Ford, which the dealership produced with aplomb.
