Edit: Sorry, still on my first cup of coffee. Here it goes: the purpose of news is to objectively inform you of facts. The purpose of these comedy shows is to make you laugh, often by distorting or exaggerating the facts. By getting your news from comedy shows, you are receiving a distorted view of reality, which you seem to admit in your post. However, I see this as a greater problem with some youth.
"the purpose of news is to objectively inform you of facts"
Which news source does that? Fox News? the NYT? Al Jazeera? the WSJ? Democracy Now? the Washington Post? RT? The Guardian? Der Spiegel? No matter which one you pick, others will point out failures.
No news source can give you all the news. As commenters have long noted, the selection of facts to present is itself subject to bias.
For example, during a contract negotiation between a company and a union, does the news source report the facts as management sees it? Or as the union sees it? If it presents both sides, but one side is likely lying, does the news source report the lie, or let the reader decide, or interview a third party to have that third party point out the lie?
"Last Week Tonight" is a commentary news show that also happens to be funny. Its content is entirely factual and has way more in common with "60 Minutes" than with "Saturday Night Live". I'd argue that the purpose of the show is in fact to make you cry. Sometimes laughing makes that easier.
"Last Week Tonight" is satire. It says so on its web site. Satire involves the use of humor to exaggerate or ridicule. It is not serious news and if that is your source of news, you are foolish.
The irony here is comedians speak the truth while politicians lie. If John Oliver, George Carlin (my favorite), et al were serious in their monologues hardly anyone would listen to them.
Edit: Sorry, still on my first cup of coffee. Here it goes: the purpose of news is to objectively inform you of facts. The purpose of these comedy shows is to make you laugh, often by distorting or exaggerating the facts. By getting your news from comedy shows, you are receiving a distorted view of reality, which you seem to admit in your post. However, I see this as a greater problem with some youth.