TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. – Comedian John Oliver’s show bought kitchen equipment and furniture that once graced the now-closed Miron Lane Red Lobster restaurant at auction.
Oliver announced the equipment purchase during a final segment of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
“We f***ing won everything inside it,” Oliver told his audience about the auction’s result, showing a photo of the former town of Ulster seafood eatery, although Oliver identifies it as a Kingston one.
That purchase included the lobster tank.
“The frustrating thing is, it seems just about any random idiot could run a Red Lobster better than these companies have done,” Oliver pronounced. “But there’s really only one way to put that to the test.”
that it had closed the Miron Lane restaurant.
And while the site said that the closure was “temporary,” had already started auctioning the equipment. The auction ran until May 16. The auction site said, “These auctions are WINNER TAKES ALL – meaning, each winner will receive the ENTIRE contents of the Red Lobster location they bid on.”
The town of Ulster auction was one of nearly 50 from Red Lobster restaurants across the county, according to the auction site. late Sunday, May 19.
During his monologue, Oliver stood up from his desk and then walked to a Red Lobster look-a-like setting, complete with the tank, booths, and hostess station, all purchased from the town of Ulster location.
But at Oliver’s Red Lobster, all that is offered are biscuits. The comedian showed film clips of patrons gushing about the biscuits.
“What we do want to do is give people the single item that they want most from Red Lobster and that is the biscuits,” Oliver said. “It is the only item this location will sell.”
Oliver said his Red Lobster featured a promotion.
“For just one dollar, you can get one biscuit and that it is it,” Oliver said. “It is a limited-time promotion for the duration of this taping.”
Of the lobster tank, Oliver said the crustaceans were not there for feasting on.
“Those lobsters are really only there so that they can watch you eat biscuits,” Oliver said
Red Lobster, which opened in 1968, helped popularize seafood among Americans. The first restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, boasted a menu including a half a dozen oysters for 65 cents and platters with frog legs and hush puppies for $2.50.
As it suffered sales declines, executives blamed a variety of factors, including a refusal among customers to swallow price increases. In 2012, for instance, executives cited a $1 price hike for its “Festival of Shrimp” special in explaining a quarterly decline in sales.