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" It really helps a comedian to be an outsider. "
John Oliver
Helps
Outsider
Comedian
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" 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. "
John Oliver
Know
You
Wife
" 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
" I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. "
John Oliver
Always
Been
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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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Daily
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Good
" Every empire has to get sucked down the drain. As a British person, I know how it feels. "
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Person
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Down
" I would never heckle someone. That's why I think I'm so interested in someone that would. "
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Interested
Never
Someone
" I find it hard in my general life to think further than the week ahead. "
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Find
Life
Hard
" The disconnect between America and its military is shocking. "
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Military
America
Shocking
" 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. "
John Oliver
Language
Family
Queen
" 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. "
John Oliver
Talk
Years
Way
" 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. "
John Oliver
You
Like
Done
" 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
" There is an inherent hope and positive drive to New Yorkers. "
John Oliver
Hope
New Yorkers
Positive
" As any Brit will understand, things get a little easier when you don't have to be number one any more. Really, the fall of an empire is not as bad as everyone thinks. It's like retirement. People fear retirement, but it can turn out be rather pleasant. "
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Fall
Retirement
You
" I did sketch comedy, but I never did improv. So I've just tried to learn as I go. "
John Oliver
Go
Just
Sketch
" People are friendlier in New York than London. "
John Oliver
New York
Than
People
" My family is from Liverpool, so I have some of those vowel sounds, I've got the slack tone of someone from Birmingham, and then I was raised in Bedford, which is just north of London. So my accent, if it's possible, makes even less sense to a Brit than to an American. "
John Oliver
Family
Possible
Someone
" I know I'd be an absolutely horrendous politician. "
John Oliver
Horrendous
Absolutely
Know
" Attending a Sarah Palin rally was simultaneously one of the strangest and most chilling events of my life. "
John Oliver
Life
Most
My Life
" It's pretty physically unsettling, living life on a visa. "
John Oliver
Pretty
Visa
Living Life
" A Southern accent is not a club in my bag. "
John Oliver
Bag
Southern
Accent
" People really have come for a dialogue when they go to a stand-up show in the U.K. They say, 'I understand that you have now finished your little comedy monologue; now I have something to say regarding what I've just heard. "
John Oliver
Say
You
Understand
" 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. Having a British accent definitely gave me a sonic leg up on that because there is a faux authority to the British accent in and of itself. "
John Oliver
Up
Actor
Authority
" 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
" Veterans' issues are quite close to my heart. I find it quite hard to talk about, actually. "
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Talk
Close
Find
" Politics has become infused with narcissism in America. "
John Oliver
Become
America
Narcissism
" I'm British; pessimism is my wheelhouse. "
John Oliver
British
Pessimism
" 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
Green
Daily
" 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. "
John Oliver
More
Go
Happy