• John Oliver returned to "The Daily Show" to mock America's shift to its "monarchy era."
• Oliver crashed the host Jon Stewart's monologue and said he was there to gloat.
• Oliver told Stewart to embrace being a monarchy because "kings get shit done."

John Oliver surprised audiences by returning to "The Daily Show" on Monday to interrupt Jon Stewart's monologue and gloat about ushering America into a new era.

Stewart's monologue briefly addressed the Super Bowl but primarily focused on jokes about President Donald Trump's recent executive orders, like renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, and his saying that America was at its greatest from 1870 to 1913.

"Well, it's been a good run, America," Stewart said about 16 minutes into the monologue. "It's looking like we're becoming less like the constitutional republic it's been for 250 years and more like the monarchy that we all fought to escape from."

Oliver then appeared onscreen as the audience burst into applause.

"The prodigal son appears to have returned," Oliver said.

Oliver was a senior correspondent on the show from 2006 to 2013. He then landed his own series, "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver," which airs on HBO.

When Stewart asked Oliver if he was here to offer his "wisdom and counsel," Oliver clarified: "Oh, no, no, Jon. I'm here to gloat."

"America had its little fun, didn't you?" he continued. "Experimenting with democracy. You fought so hard to get away from us, acting up, throwing all that tea into the harbor — you still owe us for that, by the way."

Oliver teased America for diverging from British rule and vowing to not be like Britain.

"We let you spend your wild teen years experimenting with your ridiculous ideas of checks and balances because deep down we knew that once you got that nonsense out of your system, you'd be back," Oliver said.

"Let me be the first to welcome America to its monarchy era," he added.

In response, Stewart said America was "having a bit of trouble with democratic governance," but not to the point of wanting to "go full empire."

"Don't fight being a monarchy, Jon. Embrace it!" Oliver said. "Kings get shit done."

Stewart retorted that Britain hadn't turned out much better than America.

"For a country that doesn't want to be an empire, you're doing a pretty fucking good impression of one right now," Oliver said, citing "invasions" and "economic exploitations."

"We really have become our father," Stewart conceded.

• Donald Trump's inauguration was on Monday and late-night hosts used it as ammo.
• Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel all also criticized the Democrats in their monologues.
• Stewart said Michelle Obama, who didn't attend, was the only Democrat with a "consistent ethical stance."

As expected, late-night hosts took aim at President Donald Trump following his inauguration on Monday.

It provided them with plenty to joke about, from Melania Trump's hat to the billionaire CEOs who were given front-row seats.

But they also piled scorn on Democrats who were part of the proceedings, labelling many of them hypocrites in light of their dire warnings about Trump during the election campaign.

John Stewart said on Monday night's "The Daily Show": "Also attending were all those people who warned Americans to shun this wannabe fascist dictator called Trump."

He said: "'Look at me, Ma! Oh, let's go see Hitler and get a quick selfie first! Hello! Look at us! A quick one for the 'gram!' Former President Obama was there. George Bush seemed kind of there. Even Mike Pence showed up, I guess to let the crowd finish the job."

Stewart also noted that Michelle Obama didn't attend with her husband: "Only Michelle Obama seemed to have the consistent ethical stance of saying, 'When they go low, I stay the fuck home.'"

In a statement on Monday, she didn't address the inauguration but instead spoke about MLK Day.

Jimmy Kimmel, who described Trump's address as "ominous," said: "Overall — unlike the last time — there was a lot of respect paid to tradition. Kamala Harris invited JD Vance to the Vice President's residence at the Naval Observatory for a ceremonial humping of the Millard Filmore futon."

He also joked that Karen Pence didn't attend because she "opted not to celebrate the man who was all good with a bunch of yahoos killing her husband."

Meanwhile, Seth Meyers said: "It was even weirder to see Democrats who correctly called Trump an existential threat to democracy, palling around with him," referring to Joe Biden having tea with Trump before sharing a limo with him to the Capitol.

This is in contrast to the somber tone taken by late-night hosts in the days after Trump won the 2016 election, and Kate McKinnon dressed as Hilary Clinton to sing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in an uncharacteristically mournful moment for "Saturday Night Live."