John Oliver Terrifying Times 2008 (DSR-aAF)

john oliver is great, thanks!

john oliver: terrifying times” serves mainly to demonstrate the huge gulf
between “the daily show with jon stewart,” to which mr. oliver contributes
funny bits, and traditional stand-up comedy. watching mr. oliver pose clueless
questions to serious people on “the daily show” can be painfully funny.
watching him onstage for an hour is more like anesthesia.

“terrifying times” has the feel of a vanity production or a contractual
obligation: it’s being shown on sunday night by comedy central, also home
of “the daily show.” the live audience at symphony space in manhattan, most
likely hand-picked and no doubt appropriately cued, still doesn’t manage to
muster much enthusiasm.

mr. oliver is a british comedian of the currently popular aggressive-nerd
variety, distinguishable from his american counterparts by his accent, smaller
frame and floppier hair. one of his funnier lines comes at the very
beginning: “i am going to be speaking to you this evening with a british
accent, so do be prepared for the words you hear to come with a little more
authority than you’re used to.”

he works familiar anti-bush, antiwar, pro-can’t-we-all-just-get-along
territory. there’s nothing exactly wrong with a set piece on how america
has “taken the baton of imperialism” from the british and is about to hand it
off to the chinese, but the material has a wonky writers’ room quality rather
than the naturalness of something worked out onstage. (note to mr.
oliver: “infrastructure” is not a funny word.)

the best joke from that section imagines third-world nostalgia for british
rule: “they long once more to be treated that badly that politely.” he strays
from such political-cultural commentary only once, to tell a story about his
adolescent athletic inadequacy that involves his own funny bits’ falling out
of his running shorts.

mr. oliver is safest when he sticks to mocking britain, which he says proved
its green bona fides by being “the first nation to use catholics as fuel.” my
favorite line: he won’t utter the american term for the world’s most popular
sport because “if i ever do say that word, somewhere in the world a british
person dies.”

john oliver

terrifying times

comedy central, sunday night at 10, eastern and pacific times; 9, central
time.

troy miller, director; john oliver, tracey baird and mr. miller, executive
producers; anna dokoza, producer; dakota pictures; sixteen string jack
productions.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/arts/television/19hale.html?
ex=1366344000&en=5d6683350bdb7862&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

i had a minor glitch in this one, at 15:01 the screen goes black but audio
continous...it then resumes at 15:06..it doesnt really ruin anything since the
sound is still running

im guessing the guy from ny times wich is referenced in the post above me is
either pro bush or catholic or maybe even both since his review of the show
comes off as somewhat negative around these 2 areas of the show.

i am none of the above and i found the show to be quite amusing, allthough you
can tell that doing standup is not something he is used to.

while i haven't watched this yet, this review has a stench of a "get 'er done"
and "you might be a redneck" loving author. i read the first sentence about 10
times to see if it made sense - and it didn't. the punctuation is mind-boggling
and confusing. in fact the whole thing frankly sucks.

source: my brain... pissed off and hungover.

after seeing the show, i can tell you the nyt guy does not have to be pro-bush,
catholic, redneck, ect..

the nyt journalist summery is spot on. the shows critique is bad, the jokes is
bad, everthing about this show is bad.

i agree johns jokes weren't top notch, actually i heard half of them already
here and there.
nonetheless, i had good fun with some of the more articulate jokes and his
overall foreign view on america. i get the sense the nyt review guy has more of
a problem with olivers explanation on how the usa at the moment is merely a
rip-off of the european middle ages than the quality of his jokes. who does that
tea lurking, queen adoring, biscuit fucker think he is talking shit about my
country!!

i think the first half was funny (i liked it better than most of his sketches on
the daily show) but after that it lost momentum somewhat. i also saw
the mentioned small video glitch.

i'm english and i cringe when he's on the daily show. he seems okay but he's not
very funny. then again, not many of the daily show team are actually that funny.

no way i'd download this.

seriously, people, a pro-bush guy in the new york times? that will never happen.
he likely mentioned that because jokes about bush and iraq are completely
overdone and are starting to lose their humor, except for the few comedians that
can really take a new perspective on it. either way, the journalist was spot-on
(and there is nothing grammatically incorrect in that review). his comedy is
better left to the daily show. i'm sure he's funny, but this whole thing had
that pre-produced vibe to it that the reviewer mentioned, and which ruined it in
my opinion. a few funny moments, but overall not worth spending the time to
watch it, imo.

never say never - didn't rupert murdoch just buy nyt (i.e. owner of fox "news")?

heh that was wall street journal not nyt!!

i've seen john oliver live before at the edinburgh fringe (as part of a double
act with andy zaltman (sp?)) and it was a similar vein to this. i remember a
coversation between an englishmen and a croissant featuring and being quite
funny. overall it was a good gig.

i think maybe his jokes don't cross the atlantic as well as some of his other
daily show style sketches.

apparently, i\'m the only one who found it funny! so, the show wasn\'t a complete
loss then.

yes, there were a couple of bits that didn\'t work, but on the whole, very funny,
and well-worth the download.

@ synaesthesia

no you were not the only one!

i found that funny as hell!

a pro-bush guy at the nyt? ever heard of david brooks? guess not. ya dummy.

i actually rather liked it.

"by hoisting the oreo pizza up a flag pole what you are essentially saying is
there is nothing you can do to us we are not already doing to ourselves."

so true!