Stephen Hawking, brilliant -- also funny

In case you didn't know already, Stephen Hawking is a genius who happens to be pretty funny. And in case you weren't aware yet, John Oliver is a funny man with a new show, who just so happens to be a genius.

And in case you missed it, Oliver debuted a new segment on his show – Last Week Tonight – titled: "People Who Think Good."

His first guest – you guessed it: Stephen Hawking.

Spoiler alert: It's funny and I love it, and I think you will too.

From talking about the incredibly (read: not gonna happen) long shot of Oliver dating supermodel actresses to some very real fears of artificial intelligence (read: probably gonna happen), Hawking and Oliver provide some of the best seven-minutes of TV (albeit on premium cable channel HBO – but hey, it's free on the Internet!). Most of it is about poking fun at Oliver (next to Hawkin – who in my mind is the smartest man alive – Oliver has to play the role of the idiot, if there's to be one), but Hawking and Oliver drop in awesome little nuggets to chew on, like imaginary time.

Their conversation serves as a reminder that, first, not all TV is bad for you or rots your brain, and second, Hawking is a genius because despite having an IQ somewhere around the score of a perfect game in bowling, he remains accessible and approachable, willing to be on Oliver's show, joking about Charlize Theron in the context of parallel universes so that non-scientist science-enthusiast English majors like me can make sense of it.

And third, it serves as quick glimpse into the future of Oliver, which – after this and his FIFA commentary – looks both very, very bright and brilliant.

Ben Speggen likes imagining imaginary time. If you, too, like to imagine imaginary time, you can contact him at bSpeggen@ErieReader.com and set up real time to talk with him. You can also follow him on Twitter @ERBenSpeggen.