John Oliver backs ‘weird, puking’ pūteketeke as he takes New Zealand’s bird of century poll global

Comedian John Oliver has waded into New Zealand’s bird of the century poll, launching a campaign for the pūteketeke. Photograph: Greg Allen/Invision/AP

British comedian and US talkshow host John Oliver exploded into New Zealand’s bird of the century competition with a global campaign in support of the threatened pūteketeke.

The annual two-week contest normally attracts a total of about 60,000 votes. So far, that same number of votes have come in overnight since Oliver announced himself as the official campaign manager for the pūteketeke during Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight in the US.