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" I really love stand-up. I'm more than happy to do it for nothing. I've come to America to do it for nothing. It's the American Dream: Work for free. "
John Oliver
Free
American Dream
Love
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" The only thing I'm nervous about is talking to guests like human beings, because all of my interviews so far have been attacking people. I have a genuine concern about sitting across from an actor whose movies I obviously haven't seen. "
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Movies
" My family are from Liverpool, so I have some twang there - I have a Midlands accent, and I was raised about an hour north of London, so my voice is a mess. Although, to American ears, it sounds like the crisp language of a queen's butler. "
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" I realize how desperate it sounds for me, as a comedian, to ask you to laugh at my jokes. "
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" Here in America, people come out to see what they've known you to do. In England, it's like everyone comes out to tell you exactly how well they think you're doing. "
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" If I wanted to take a more activist or journalistic slant in work, I should probably just go be an activist or a journalist. But I'm happy being a comedian. "
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" We invented words; we'll tell you how they're supposed to sound. "
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How
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" 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. "
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People
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Daily
" I'm British; pessimism is my wheelhouse. "
John Oliver
British
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" I know I'd be an absolutely horrendous politician. "
John Oliver
Horrendous
Absolutely
Know
" I can't relax. I find vacations problematic. "
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Problematic
Find
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" Australia turns out to be a sensational place, albeit one of the most comfortably racist places I've ever been in. They've really settled into their intolerance like an old resentful slipper. "
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" There is an inherent hope and positive drive to New Yorkers. "
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Hope
New Yorkers
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" I wanted to be a soccer player. I knew that couldn't happen. "
John Oliver
Knew
Happen
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" I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. "
John Oliver
Always
Been
Comedy
" Most stand-ups, once they have done it, think of it as their default job. I'm pretty sure Jon Stewart still feels that way now. You are a stand-up first; other things come and go. "
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You
Done
Job
" I'm British, so obviously I repress any powerful emotions of any kind in relation to anything. "
John Oliver
Anything
Powerful
Kind
" If you work on a comedy show, your basic form of communication is teasing. That's generally how we speak to each other: you communicate the information between the lines of insulting sentences. "
John Oliver
Speak
Work
Information
" When you're doing stand-up, you want to stand onstage and, to the extent that you can, uncomplicatedly entertain. "
John Oliver
Want
You
Stand
" You just try to be true to your idea of what is funny and what is also interesting. "
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Interesting
Be True
You
" Being a Mets fan is like lending someone a lot of money and you just know that you'll never get paid back. "
John Oliver
You
Someone
Back
" There is so much cross-pollination between the U.S. and Britain in terms of comedians. British TV comedies work well in the U.S. American stand-ups make it big in Britain. "
John Oliver
Comedians
American
Well
" People are friendlier in New York than London. "
John Oliver
New York
Than
People
" I knew I was going to go into the field and make fun of people to their faces. I knew what I was getting into. "
John Oliver
Go
Field
Fun
" I think Americans still can't help but respond to the natural authority of this voice. Deep down they long to be told what to do by a British accent. That's why so many infomercials have British people. "
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Deep
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Long
" Stand-up comedy seems like a terrifying thing. Objectively. Before anyone has done it, it seems like one of the most frightening things you could conceive, and there's just no shortcut - you just have to do it. "
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You
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" When you've married someone who's been at war, there is nothing you can do that compares to that level of selflessness and bravery. "
John Oliver
War
You
Bravery
" The British press are a group of unremitting scumbags. And sometimes they use that scumbaggery to good ends, and often not. "
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Sometimes
Press
Group
" Politicians don't really bring up religion in England. "
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" In improv, the whole thing is that it is a relationship between the two people, as a back and forth. In standup, you don't really want to be listening to what somebody is saying; you want to project your jokes into their face. And that's really not a good instinct with a 'Daily Show' field piece, where it's supposed to be an interview. "
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" I find it hard in my general life to think further than the week ahead. "
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