John Oliver Quotes
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Armando Iannucci is one of my heroes. As I was growing up, he was probably the most influential comic voice that I had.
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John Oliver: You've stated that you believe there could be an infinite number of parallel universes. Does that mean that there is a universe out there where I am smarter than you?Stephen Hawking: Yes. And also a universe where you're funny.
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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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You just try to be true to your idea of what is funny and what is also interesting.
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You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well. 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.
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I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. And I guess I've always liked to channel some kind of personal element to that.
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It really helps a comedian to be an outsider.
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I think puns are not just the lowest form of wit, but the lowest form of human behavior.
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Stand-up, for me, is really more of an addiction, so you have to feed the beast whenever you can.
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Lest we forget, when Europe goes far right, they go far right through Belgium.
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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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The disconnect between America and its military is shocking.
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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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Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury.
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I'm British, so obviously I repress any powerful emotions of any kind in relation to anything.
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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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It's exciting to have a role in anything that's Claymation, just because you're always intrigued by what a clay wizard version of yourself would be.
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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.
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Veterans' issues are quite close to my heart. I find it quite hard to talk about, actually.
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I'm always interested in audience interaction. Not so much aggressive audience interaction - I'm genuinely interested in how people see things.
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I have exactly as much rhythm as you think I have.
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Having a human conversation is not something I've had any training in either as a comedian or as, you know, a human being.
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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.
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I would hate to meet myself at 15.