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
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
Sometimes it’s good to remember how bad food can be, so you can enjoy the concept of flavour to the fullest. – John Oliver
Having a human conversation is not something I’ve had any training in either as a comedian or as, you know, a human being. – John Oliver
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
You can write jokes at any point of the day. Jokes are not that hard to write, or they shouldn’t be when it is literally your job. – John Oliver
There are some people who watch NASCAR for the highly skilled driving – but most people watch it for the crashes. – John Oliver
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
I think puns are not just the lowest form of wit, but the lowest form of human behavior. – John Oliver
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
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
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
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. – John Oliver
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. – John Oliver
Stand-up, for me, is really more of an addiction, so you have to feed the beast whenever you can. – John Oliver
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
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. – John Oliver
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
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 aggression and active aggression. – John Oliver
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
I’m British, so obviously I repress any powerful emotions of any kind in relation to anything. – John Oliver
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
