“Politics is sports for nerds” was cited on Twitter on September 1, 2010. The expression was seldom used until NBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver said on March 6, 2016:
 
“Our main story tonight concerns government—sports for nerds.”
 
The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner is frequently called the “nerd prom.” “Politics is show business for ugly people” is a similar comparative saying.
 
 
Twitter
Rachel Linn
‏@CapGirl0827
Politics is sports for nerds
2:03 AM - 1 Sep 2010
   
Twitter
WA Democrats
‏@washdems
@gerryoliver Yeah, I know. 😊 Some people call politics sports for nerds if that helps.
1:53 AM - 12 Aug 2011
 
Democratic Underground
RZM
Thu Oct-06-11 08:50 PM
8. I’ve often said that politics is ‘sports for nerds’
I love the horse race stories. I don’t follow sports for the most part, so politics fills that gap.
   
Politico Magazine
Time Bomb
238 years after its first birthday, America is in deep denial.
By JEDEDIAH PURDY
July 03, 2014
(...)
Politics becomes a form of middle-class entertainment: a highbrow soap opera, sports for nerds, Hollywood for ugly people.
 
Brown Political Review
Should Politics Be Fun?
By Emma Axelrod FEBRUARY 24, 2016
Politics, it has long been said, is sports for nerds. Debates and primaries are the big games, with political junkies quick to look up the score in haste if they don’t have time to watch it in real time. And for many, the stakes are as high and replete with tension during Super Bowl season as they are during a presidential election year.
 
YouTube
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Special Districts (HBO)
LastWeekTonight
Published on Mar 6, 2016
Special districts spend more public money than all city governments combined. That’s odd considering most of us don’t know they exist.
“Our main story tonight concerns government—sports for nerds.”
 
Twitter
Harvey Thornton
‏@LanceVandergras
“Government, sports for nerds” #LastWeekTonight sounds about right to me
10:27 PM - 6 Mar 2016
Trotwood, OH