John Oliver: Terrifying Times
By Liz Gartley
I was looking forward to John Oliver’s Sunday night stand-up special on Comedy Central all week. John Oliver, for those who don’t know their Daily Show correspondents by name, is the English guy from The Daily Show, and perhaps the only correspondent since Stephen Colbert who can send host Jon Stewart into uncontrollable giggle fits.
I’m not totally sure why an English guy is on a show almost exclusively about American politics (although, in fairness Samantha Bee is Canadian), but it totally works. Maybe it’s his accent.
His Comedy Central stand-up special had a slightly different tone from The Daily Show though. The American political scene and the Bush Administration was certainly a target, but so was the British history of imperialism and Oliver himself. Oliver is so self-deprecating and quintessentially English that no matter how cruel he is when making fun of American culture, I can never take offense – especially since he’s no kinder to his own country.
His biography on the Comedy Central Web site closes with this:
“When The Daily Show with Jon Stewart came knocking at his door, John flung it open and jumped into their arms with a relish which made all parties slightly uncomfortable. He is very pleased to be coming to ply his trade in your country, as to be honest he had all but burnt his bridges in his own.”
Again, maybe it’s just the accent, but always get the sense with John Oliver that he kids because he loves. But regardless, the guy cracks me up every time.
He explained that as a child he wanted to be a football player (not American football, of course), but he could not utter “that word” – because if he did, somewhere in the world, a British person would die.
Watch for encore presentations (generally plentiful) on Comedy Central.
Elizabeth “Liz” Gartley, of Houlton, has a BA in media studies from Emerson College in Boston. She has studied abroad in the Netherlands and Australia, and most recently interned at a production company in Hollywood. She can be reached online at egartley@gmail.com.
