Here’s a change of topic for you: a collection of interviews that the peripatetic John Oliver has given lately. Having just had the privilege of seeing John’s stand-up yet again last night (and if you ever need to smack down an obnoxious lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, John could teach a class on how to do it), I’m sure you all will forgive my indulging in a little cheerleading for him. If you’re in Philly, Boston or Delaware and are free on the nights of his remaining gigs this week, you really owe it to yourself to check him out.
- Item from Helium Comedy (PA), on his set for tonight: “It’s a man talking through a microphone and pausing whenever he anticipates laughter,” says Oliver. “I hope that isn’t giving too much away.”
- Q&A with Phillyist: We like to blow our journalistic credibility right off the bat: What’s it like to be adorable and British? Is it difficult for you?
I can only claim ownership of one of those—and it’s the geographical one. If you want to know what it like to be both British AND adorable, I think you’ll have to ask Daniel Craig. Or maybe that boy who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films. - Interview from Boston Comedy: “What’s your sense of how America is perceived abroad since the election? Have you spent so much of your time here now that it’s harder to get a sense of that?
Well, there is no doubt that the very election of Barack Obama challenged the lazy prejudices of anti-Americanism overnight. The key thing now, is for him to behave in a way which will not re-sow those seeds of resentment, and fertilize them with disappointment.”
UPDATED TO ADD: Here’s another interview, this one from the Boston Phoenix.
- “Speaking of Glen Beck, what sort of outrageous thing would you have to say on-air in order for 36 companies to decide to boycott the Daily Show?
We can’t compete with him. He’s out on his own now. He is the Usain Bolt of whackjobs.”
Why do I find it adorable that he used Ron Weasley as the example of adorable?
Any more details on the API lobbyist you can share?
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
Oh, several. But they’re probably not “family friendly”. I’ll give it a go, though. :)
See, John is so brilliant at mixing it up and playing with the audience (in a way that is truly beautiful to behold) that I could watch him all day. But at last night’s show, there was this completely uptight … person in the audience — at a table in the front row, no less! — who was sitting there, in all his judgmental glory, scowling at John stonily for about the first forty minutes of the set, then PULLING OUT HIS BLACKBERRY AND STARTING A TEXT MESSAGE!! As management tried to get him to put away the BB, John sauntered over to a stool near this man, waving off the venue’s personnel while musing on the Jiminy Cricket sitting on one of his shoulders telling him to ignore the man and the second Jiminy Cricket telling him the opposite. Of course, John took the latter’s advice. The guy actually made the mistake of refusing to stop texting, self-importantly and sourly telling John that he was engaged in something more important than what John was doing, and John quite politely asked him what had happened to him in the sixties to make him into the person he was today. HAH!
The massive jerk mouthed off before continuing to text through John’s next couple of jokes, even as John directed running asides in his direction (observing that “Geppetto” was still texting, must be getting into novel territory, had to be a story requiring third-person narration, etc.). I swear, it could NOT have been funnier. Truly, the rest of the sold-out place was eating out of his hand even as that guy sat there oozing disapproval like an aged Tucker Carlson. He finally got up and left early, and John apologized to the rest of the guy’s table before pointing out that the guy was a total douchebag. And they AGREED! AND told John that the guy was a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Industry!! Which was even better, because John said that up until then, he’d felt “about 5%” guilty for disliking the man, but after hearing his profession, he felt totally vindicated. There were continued and beautiful asides throughout the few remaining “bits” in the set, but my God, just seeing John’s amazing ability to handle that utter turd was about the best thing EVER.
There were a ton of other brilliant things that John wrote and performed last night, but I don’t want to be accused of ruining any punchlines, so … you get the API lobbyist story instead. :)
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
That’s hysterical – thanks for sharing it with us.
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
I had so much fun! And his other material was even better. You know, I’d never really considered that our national anthem was really just a run-on sentence before last night. Or that Canada’s was so, er, climactic. :)
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
Great show last night!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Oh, I wish I could keep him in my pocket to pull out whenever I encounter a jerk.
A Pocket Oliver, wouldn’t that be fabulous?? Adorable, even :)
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
That sounds like an AMAZING set. J.O. had great audience interaction when I saw him at Comix (NYC)—there was a guy from Romania—but that story is pure win. And this:
“… that guy sat there oozing disapproval like an aged Tucker Carlson.”
Earns you a golf clap.
And! I can’t remember if I ever thanked you properly for recommending Laura Miller’s The Magician’s Notebook. It was DEEPLY awesome. Thank you! (I finished and enjoyed the Hobbit. Have now started on the LOTR.)
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Glad you liked it! I’ve been gorging myself lately on the piles of unread books that result from my compulsive trips to bookstores, and it’s been wonderful. I love the humor and history, drive, depravity and pathos — in short, the whole wide range of humanity and experience that can be compressed into small packets of pages between two flat covers. What a treat it is to be a bookworm in this day and age!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
hey! I was at Comix the same night…unless there was another guy from Romania later in the weekend. I was completely impressed with his audience interaction that night as well. the best part was when the guy was trying to describe what he was doing here and John reassured him with “don’t worry, I’m not from immigration!”
the API story is just wild though. it makes me smile!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Thanks, MsI, for the great story and your great storytelling. (“…like an aged Turcker Carlson” rofl) And I certainly appreciate not wanting to spoil the show for others yet to see it – besides, written material is only half the fun of watching a great comedian on stage.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
The way he handled that lobbyist was sublime. And learning who he was AFTER he’d stormed out in a “cloud of disapproval that hangs over all of us” was even better.
Even if that’s the only thing the audience remembers from that show, it was well worth it!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Wow, great story! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Arrrrrrrrgh!!!!!!! He’s in Philly tonight, but I can’t go! :(
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
i could totally go to the boston show for less than fifty bucks total, but i dont have any buddies here in beverly that watch TDS and i havent time to convert them BECAUSE THEY’RE ON BREAK FOR SEEMINGLY FOREVER.
eternal crying.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
“He is the Usain Bolt of whackjobs.”
ROFL!!! And that’s why John is so amazingly funny.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
John is, indeed, fantastic at audience interaction, and tends to pull unbelievable laughs out of whomever he spars with.
Well Zoners, those who know me know that I have a bit of a “thing” for John Oliver since I met him in NYC in March after the Purim show, that I saw him in Nashville, and at Bonnaroo, where I gave him (& the other Daily Show folks) Mardi Gras beads. And I won’t go into great detail here, but long story short…
I took my 13 yr old son Devon to see John in Chicago last Saturday (cuz it was an all ages show). And we sat in the front row. And… would anyone like to guess what happened?
Devon is now — to quote John — “my new favourite kid.”
Shout Out (Hey!):
0