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" People in Britain see Richard Quest as a kind of an offensive cartoon character. "
John Oliver
Character
Kind
See
Related Quotes:
" I find it hard in my general life to think further than the week ahead. "
John Oliver
Find
Life
Hard
" I do one accent - my own. I can make it louder or quieter. That is the sum total of my vocal range. I thought I could do an American accent until I tried it in front of an American - the expression of horror is still burnt onto my retinas. "
John Oliver
American
I Can
Horror
" 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. "
John Oliver
Fall
Retirement
You
" Sometimes it's good to remember how bad food can be, so you can enjoy the concept of flavour to the fullest. "
John Oliver
Good
You
Remember
" Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury. "
John Oliver
Campaign
Injury
American
" 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
" You don't really know when stand-up material is TV ready; it's just at what point you're willing to let it go and not work on it anymore. I'm not sure there is a point at which you think: 'And that is finished.' "
John Oliver
Go
Know
Ready
" 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
" 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
" You just try to be true to your idea of what is funny and what is also interesting. "
John Oliver
Interesting
Be True
You
" I realize how desperate it sounds for me, as a comedian, to ask you to laugh at my jokes. "
John Oliver
Jokes
Me
Ask
" I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. "
John Oliver
Always
Been
Comedy
" I know I'd be an absolutely horrendous politician. "
John Oliver
Horrendous
Absolutely
Know
" I get nostalgic for British negativity. There is an inherent hope and positive drive to New Yorkers. When you go back to Britain, everybody is just running everything down. It's like whatever the opposite of a hug is. "
John Oliver
Negativity
Positive
You
" 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
" There are two kinds of hecklers: the destructive and constructive hecklers. "
John Oliver
Destructive
Constructive
Kinds
" I'm British, so obviously I repress any powerful emotions of any kind in relation to anything. "
John Oliver
Anything
Powerful
Kind
" People are always going to say stupid things, and you're always going to be able to make jokes about that, but it should be the last thing you add in, because it's the easiest thing. "
John Oliver
You
Always
Say
" There's never any time I think I'm a real journalist, because I don't have any of the qualifications or the intentions for that. "
John Oliver
Intentions
Never
Real
" 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
" Stand-up, for me, is really more of an addiction, so you have to feed the beast whenever you can. "
John Oliver
Beast
You
More
" Armando Iannucci is one of my heroes. As I was growing up, he was probably the most influential comic voice that I had. "
John Oliver
Growing Up
Voice
Heroes
" Americans just don't understand dry wit. "
John Oliver
Wit
Understand
Just
" I wanted to be a soccer player. I knew that couldn't happen. "
John Oliver
Knew
Happen
Wanted
" The British media is sinking down, as the American news media has lowered the bar for all of humanity. British news media is definitely trying to stoop down to that level. Everyone is stooping to the lowest common denominator. "
John Oliver
American
Media
Humanity
" I can't relax. I find vacations problematic. "
John Oliver
Problematic
Find
Relax
" I think puns are not just the lowest form of wit, but the lowest form of human behavior. "
John Oliver
Think
Human Behavior
Human
" People, I guess, generally come to see me do stand-up with a working knowledge of my broad sense of humor on 'The Daily Show'... I don't think anyone would mistake me as an actual anchor. "
John Oliver
Mistake
People
Daily
" 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. "
John Oliver
Deep
Think
Long
" 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. "
John Oliver
People
Green
Daily