John Oliver Responds to Elon Musk Calling Him 'Woke' Weak Sauce

John Oliver and Elon Musk have been in a little back and forth lately -- and with the ball technically in JO's court ... he's now picking it up and giving his response to us.

We got the comedian Monday at LAX and asked about this new feud he seems to find himself in with the Tesla chief -- who recently labeled him "woke" ... not to mention calling him "weak sauce." Of course, Elon appeared to be responding to John highlighting him on his show last month.

Here's what Elon had to say in response to an article that basically trashed John's 'Last Week Tonight' segment -- which picked Elon apart in great detail. EM wrote, "It is rather tragic to see an otherwise capable comedian like @iamjohnoliver become weak sauce."

He added, "The reason he is not very funny these days is because he is too keen to pander to wokeness, which is fundamentally a lie, whereas great humor requires revealed truth."

Welp, now John's weighing in on Elon's gripe with him -- namely, accusing him of going "woke" ... which is basically EM's favorite word these days. In our walk-and-chat with JO ... he basically shrugged his shoulders on what it is he thinks Elon thinks of him.

The one thing John knows for sure about Elon is that he's thin-skinned as hell -- but as far as what Elon's getting at with his "woke" argument ... John says he can't play psychologist for a dude like Mr. Musk. In fact, he says he's not sure Elon knows what he means!

Our photog asked one big question -- do you think your feud will continue on??? John has a hilarious response ... and to us, it kinda proves Elon wrong in his assessment of humor.