With final exams beginning to loom over us, many students may benefit from a break and a night of laughter. Comedian John Oliver’s performance this weekend may help.
According to Oliver, the show will be him standing on stage, holding a microphone and saying things, and there might be a group of Tuvan throat singers behind him.
“To be honest, I’m leaning towards not at the moment,” Oliver said. “It’s a really long flight to Austin for them, and the air conditioning on planes gives them a sore throat, which kind of defeats the whole point.”
Whether he is accompanied by an exotic musical act or not, Oliver just hopes that the Austin audience finds his jokes funny or, at the very least, is really forgiving. However, Oliver is confident that the student population will enjoy his show, thanks to his background on the popular television show, “The Daily Show.”
“College kids are one of the largest demographics of the ‘Daily Show’ audience, so frankly, if they don’t like my stand-up, no one will,” Oliver said. “Also, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve just used the word demographics in a sentence, so I’m going to have to go to a quiet room and shoot myself.”
After spending so much time working on the television shows that have made him famous, Oliver said he is happy to be back on a stand-up tour.
“I love doing stand-up,” Oliver said. “There’s a freedom to it that you just don’t get with working in television. The only drawback is that when people scream things at you on TV, you can’t hear them; when they’re in the same room as you, you can.”
In addition to his stand-up tour, Oliver is also currently working on a weekly podcast with Andy Zaltzman called “The Bugle,” as well as preparing to do a series of “John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show” for Comedy Central. He is also getting ready for the holiday episode of the television show “Community” which will be filmed in stop-animation.
“I’m planning to try sleeping some time soon as well,” Oliver said. “I’ve heard a lot about this sleep thing. I think I might like it.”
Oliver’s advice for aspiring young comedians is to just get out and make people laugh.
“You just have to do it,” Oliver said. “It’s one of the only jobs that you can’t really train or prepare for. You just have to start doing it, and as time goes by, try to fail less and less. The best advice for aspiring comedians is the same as Nikes chilling mantra for humanity; just do it.”
