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" When you're dealing with serious subjects, there is a pressure to be absolutely sure that you know what you're doing. "
John Oliver
Serious
You
Know
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" Americans just don't understand dry wit. "
John Oliver
Wit
Understand
Just
" 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
" The disconnect between America and its military is shocking. "
John Oliver
Military
America
Shocking
" Congress never loses its capacity to disappoint you. "
John Oliver
Congress
You
Never
" I did sketch comedy, but I never did improv. So I've just tried to learn as I go. "
John Oliver
Go
Just
Sketch
" If you're asking me, would I have voted for Mitt Romney, the answer is absolutely not. Emphatically not. I cannot envision a world in which I would have voted for Mitt Romney unless I sustained a massive concussion. "
John Oliver
Me
You
Cannot
" 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
" 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
" Veterans' issues are quite close to my heart. I find it quite hard to talk about, actually. "
John Oliver
Talk
Close
Find
" I would hate to meet myself at 15. "
John Oliver
Would
Hate
Meet
" It really helps a comedian to be an outsider. "
John Oliver
Helps
Outsider
Comedian
" 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
" Politicians don't really bring up religion in England. "
John Oliver
Bring
Politicians
Up
" 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. "
John Oliver
Intolerance
Place
Places
" I feel more at home knowing I'm not really at home. It takes all the pressure off you trying to fit in! "
John Oliver
More
Pressure
Trying
" Attending a Sarah Palin rally was simultaneously one of the strangest and most chilling events of my life. "
John Oliver
Life
Most
My Life
" 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. "
John Oliver
You
Done
Job
" 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
" 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
" 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
" 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
" I find it hard in my general life to think further than the week ahead. "
John Oliver
Find
Life
Hard
" 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've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. "
John Oliver
Always
Been
Comedy
" 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
" Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury. "
John Oliver
Campaign
Injury
American
" 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 puns are not just the lowest form of wit, but the lowest form of human behavior. "
John Oliver
Think
Human Behavior
Human