John Oliver: Terrifying Times

Rating NR Formats DVD, HD-DVD Genre comedy Starring John Oliver, Andy Zaltzman Directed by Troy Miller Publisher Comedy Central

In his first American comedy special, John Oliver brings a British perspective to American politics.  What follows is not nearly as confusing as the previous sentence would lead one to believe.  

Mr. Oliver, famous over here for his work on The Daily Show, expertly weaves observations, personal stories, and one liners as he tackles subjects as diverse as U.S. counter terrorism and an embarrassing athletic incident from his childhood.  He starts off comparing the imperialistic methods of the United States and Britain.  His criticisms of the United States are tempered by equally funny criticisms of Britain.  

He stumbles a bit when he starts discussing American politics and George Bush.  His political commentary is simplistic in nature.  Furthermore, he lacks enough material to get through an hour long special.  To solve this problem, he has his friend, Andy Zaltzman, come on and perform dialogues with him.  These are also attempts at political humor that fall flat.

The highlight of the special, with the exception of the imperial jokes, is when Oliver delves into the mentality of political disobedience.  He relates a funny story about him standing up to his mother’s oppression and refusing to eat the food she prepared.  In this section of the show, he reaches a nice balance between intellectual comedy and silliness.  

It’s this balance that makes him so funny on The Daily Show.  At times in his special he seemed to take himself, or his material, too seriously.  Instead of being funny, he simply comes off as foolish.  

Ultimately, this special is entertaining, but inconsistent.  There are parts of the special that are very funny and entertaining, and there are others that are flat and appear to have been written hastily.  If they had edited the special down to a thirty minute program, it would’ve been outstanding.