You just try to be true to your idea of what is funny and what is also interesting. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
I did sketch comedy, but I never did improv. So I've just tried to learn as I go. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
There are two kinds of hecklers: the destructive and constructive hecklers. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
I realize how desperate it sounds for me, as a comedian, to ask you to laugh at my jokes. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
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.… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
If I wanted to take a more activist or journalistic slant in work, I should probably just go be an activist or… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. And I guess I've always liked to channel some kind of… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
When you do stand-up, you're just concerned with trying to leave with some semblance of human dignity at the end of your… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
Teenagers falling off skateboards - funny. Nut shots - funny. Breaking wind - funny. The world cannot change those. Those three things… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
Having a human conversation is not something I've had any training in either as a comedian or as, you know, a human… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
Once you learn how to make people laugh, then you get to choose exactly how you want to make them laugh. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
I was definitely prepared for it to be slower, and it has not worked out that way in any shape or form.… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
There are so many low points with stand-up. You are perpetually humiliated, so it doesn't really matter anymore. I don't have any… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
Stand-up comedy seems like a terrifying thing. Objectively. Before anyone has done it, it seems like one of the most frightening things… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
I think being an outsider in general always helps you in comedy. I think it helps to have an outsider's eye. And… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
If you work on a comedy show, your basic form of communication is teasing. That's generally how we speak to each other:… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well. It was probably years before… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
People, I guess, generally come to see me do stand-up with a working knowledge of my broad sense of humor on 'The… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
People really have come for a dialogue when they go to a stand-up show in the U.K. They say, 'I understand that… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
The moment I accept that there's an artistic, redeeming quality in puns, I have a horrible feeling I'll get hooked. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
Stand-up, for me, is really more of an addiction, so you have to feed the beast whenever you can. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
When you're doing stand-up, you want to stand onstage and, to the extent that you can, uncomplicatedly entertain. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
I guess the tone of jokes is often, at best, irreverent, but it always comes from a place of deep love. — John Oliver Copy Share Image
You can write jokes at any point of the day. Jokes are not that hard to write, or they shouldn't be when… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
In improv, the whole thing is that it is a relationship between the two people, as a back and forth. In standup,… — John Oliver Copy Share Image
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… — John Oliver Copy Share
I knew I was going to go into the field and make fun of people to their faces. I knew what I was getting… — John Oliver Copy Share
Once you learn how to make people laugh, then you get to choose exactly how you want to make them laugh. — John Oliver Copy Share
When you see people say crazy things on our show, they mean this stuff,and that's easy to forget: They're not joking. — John Oliver Copy Share
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… — John Oliver Copy Share
I guess the tone of jokes is often, at best, irreverent, but it always comes from a place of deep love. — John Oliver Copy Share
I'm always interested in audience interaction. Not so much aggressive audience interaction - I'm genuinely interested in how people see things. — John Oliver Copy Share
I do one accent - my own. I can make it louder or quieter. That is the sum total of my vocal range. I… — John Oliver Copy Share
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… — John Oliver Copy Share
Anybody who claims to be excited for April Fools' Day is probably a sociopath. — John Oliver Copy Share
I've made so many people angry that they kind of blur into one unpleasant memory of people staring at you with somewhere between passive… — John Oliver Copy Share
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 Copy Share
