John Oliver
John Oliver
John William Oliver is an English comedian, political commentator, television host, and occasional actor. He is widely known in the United States for hosting HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and for his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He co-hosted the satirical comedy podcast The Bugle and hosted John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show on Comedy Central...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth23 April 1977
trying dignity ends
When you do stand-up, you're just concerned with trying to leave with some semblance of human dignity at the end of your performance.
ideas interesting trying
You just try to be true to your idea of what is funny and what is also interesting.
trying actors authority
I'm not really much of an actor, so when I started on 'The Daily Show', I was just trying to adopt the faux authority of a newsperson.
media humanity trying
The British media is sinking down, as the American news media has lowered the bar for all of humanity. British news media is definitely trying to stoop down to that level. Everyone is stooping to the lowest common denominator.
home knowing trying
I feel more at home knowing I'm not really at home. It takes all the pressure off you trying to fit in!
across bunch came caught full smoke spinning street tires trying wrong yard
Full throttle -- like something was wrong and he was trying to get out of here quick. He came out in reverse, barreled across the street and curbs and came up through the yard like he is now. (He) started spinning his tires. A whole bunch of smoke and then the tires caught fire.
confident quite time
You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well. It was probably years before I was confident enough in stand-up that I was able to talk about the things I wanted to talk about, the way I wanted to talk about them.
time
You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well.
exciting five four gone involved space students wait work
Some of my students have gone off to be involved in these space missions. They work on it for four or five years, then wait four or five years more for it to come back. It's so exciting if it works, and so disappointing if it doesn't.
creditors despite regard
The creditors have made their decision, despite what we regard as a very competitive offer.
difficult interviews pocket quick realize stressed war worth
I have occasionally - if ever I do interviews that are difficult or nerve-wracking - I take my wife's dog tags and have them in my pocket because it's a very quick way to realize that what I'm doing is not that important. It's not really worth getting stressed about because it's not, you know, war.
card gotten green immigrant lawyer level months penn piece pretending station talk terrible three understood
My first 'Daily Show' piece was pretending I had this terrible immigrant journey, so I went to talk to an immigration lawyer who would help out people, and I ran into him in Penn Station about three months after I'd gotten the green card. I said, 'I got my green card yesterday.' And he hugged me because he understood that level of relief.
social statement wrote
When he (Shaw) wrote 'Pygmalion,' he was really making a statement about social classes.
change count postal reasonable service universal
If we're all going to count on universal service at reasonable rates, the Postal Service has to change with the times.