John Oliver

[faceless]

Interview: John Oliver and The Tornado of Nonsense
19th November 2010
austinist.com

When Paul Revere rode through the countryside shouting, “The British are coming!” most people took up arms and prepared for battle. These days, it means something entirely different, and apart from a few ultra-right wing militia outposts, it doesn’t cause anyone to start invoking their second amendment rights.

But just to be safe, it couldn’t hurt to be a bit more specific: this Saturday, funnyman John Oliver will be performing his own personal brand of stand up, offering us a glimpse of the world through his unique point of view. If his name doesn’t ring a bell for you, then perhaps you don’t watch a little thing called “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Of course, he’s more than a comedian, or reporter, or even an actor. He’s…well, forget it, we’ll let him tell you.

How are you enjoying your stand-up tour? Any interesting tales from the road?
It’s not really a tour. I try to get away to do stand-up whenever we have a week off at The Daily Show, as I find it calms me down. And in saying that, I do realize that if stand-up is your only way of relaxing, you are asking for a heart attack by the time you’re 50. But to be honest, I didn’t really have anything planned after the next 20 years anyway. 



You're a man of many talents—a reporter on “The Daily Show,” your stand-up, your recurring role on “Community.” Would you consider yourself primarily a stand-up comedian or an actor? Satirist? Political activist?
I would consider myself a comedian. And I’m sure some people would even argue with that qualification. I’m definitely not an activist and I don’t really think I could claim to be an actor, either. I love doing Community, but playing the part of a drunk, lecherous, British professor is not exactly Daniel Day-Louis style re-invention, is it? 



Who are some comedians who influenced you?
I loved Chris Morris and Armando Ianucci when I was growing up. And of course, being British, Monty Python was my Magna Carta. Well, to be honest, the Magna Carta was my Magna Carta, but you get my point. 



How much of your stand-up routine is about politics? How different is it here than back in the UK?


Some of my routine is political, but by no means all. That’s the beauty of stand-up—you can talk about whatever you want. As for political differences, elections in Britain are pretty similar to elections in the US. Candidates in both are moving away from detailed policy platforms and further towards wrestling promos. I guess the only real difference is that we do our elections in slightly less time, and with significantly less balloons. 



How different is the John Oliver character we see on “The Daily Show” from the "real" one?
That depends on which character you ask that question to. 



How has reporting on some of the more inane aspects of our country, its political system, and the—shall we say—"colorful" characters therein affected your impression of us as a collective nation? 


It’s actually made me all the more impressed with the resilience of the American people. That you can live in the middle of this tornado of nonsense and not throw yourselves into the ocean shows superhuman restraint. 


If they need someone to destroy the Bond franchise, they know where to find me.

How different is the English stand-up scene from the one over here? 


It’s very different. Geographically alone, it’s a lot easier to travel in the UK so you can get to gigs without having to fly for 5 hours. If you flew for 5 hours from London, you’d find yourself doing a gig in front of the pyramids. 



You have an English degree from Cambridge. For all those English majors out there, PLEASE, shoot straight with us: how useful has that been? 

Deep down, you know the answer to that—not useful at all. You don’t study English because it’s useful. You study it from a lack of knowing what else to do. 



Your last film role was as "Dick Pants" in The Love Guru. Your follow-up to that is Vanity Smurf?!? Please explain. 


I want to have a career in film that isn’t so much impressive, as it is inexplicable. 



What is your ultimate career goal? Movies? Your own show? You as the next James Bond? 

I’m just trying not to get fired from my current job at the moment. But if they need someone to destroy the Bond franchise, they know where to find me. 



Tell us something surprising about yourself.
I, like all British people, have a tea hump in the small of my back. It means that, like camels, I can survive for weeks in a dry climate. We evolved them while we were annexing India. 



Finally: no hard feelings about that whole "American Revolution" right? That whole tea party thing has sort of come back to bite us on the ass anyway.
We have still not fully accepted the result of that. Don’t be surprised if at some point in the next few years you see a British battleship sailing across the Atlantic, with the Queen strapped to the front, firing a machine gun into the air. She wants her country back.