First off, it is odd and a little disconcerting to see comedian John Oliver — a regular correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show — without his jacket and tie. On the stage at the Wellmont last night, a considerably scruffier-than-usual Oliver paced the bare stage, sporting a red plaid shirt, gray chinos, a bit of facial stubble and a much less prominent bangs-line than his TV followers are used to. In fact, he looked quite like a regular stand-up comic, and the stage, adorned only with one stool, looked quite a like a regular comedy club stage — or at least a regular comedy stage on steroids.
As usual, the British comic had grand fun in his de Toquevillesque role of interpreting those zany United States. He praised our national anthem while disparaging our grammar (“Your national anthem is inspiring. Yes, it’s one long sentence, but what a sentence! Try a semi-colon; you might like it.”) He talked about the terrors of visiting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (“I have seen your whack jobs”). And Americans’ absurd desire for achievement (“Do you think any other country could put a man on the moon? Why? It’s a f—ing stupid thing to do.”) He had a long funny riff on some of the stranger accomplishments recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records, almost always accomplished by Americans — like the guy who holds the record for dangling the most rattlesnakes from his mouth (10). And of course he had to take some swipes at American politics.
“Only America could elect, for the entertainment of itself and, yes, for the rest of the planet — why not? — a person like Rod Blagojevich.”
But Oliver also poked fun at his homeland. Among other things he admitted, “We in Britain stopped evolving gastronomically in 1631.” And he was fabulous at indignation. “I’m amazed by people who are offended by language,” he said. “If you don’t swear, what are you waiting for?” He did a brilliant impression of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launching into a litany of expletives as his morning coffee is interrupted by the first international crisis of the day.
Like any good performer, Oliver had fun toying with his audience. After a long set piece involving whether everybody has seen their father’s penis (“You’re lying! You have seen it!”) he declared “Montclair, let me make this clear, we have not stumbled on my catchphrase.”
And at the end of the evening, when Oliver entertained questions from the crowd, he appeared mock-spooked by how well-researched, arcane and personal the questions were. “Montclair has the creepiest stand-up audience in the world,” he declared. He suggested that the audience might even be perpetrating the “ultimate heckle” by burglarizing his apartment while he was onstage. But then, in the voice of the typical Montclairion, he reconsidered: “I don’t think any of this stuff would fit in our house. We have nice stuff here.”
I haven’t seen any other comedy acts the Wellmont has brought in, so I don’t know how the room usually plays for comedy. It’s always easier to get laughs from a tightly-packed house than a half-filled one; in this case, the house was just a little too big, with lots of empty seats in the balcony. I wonder whether the Wellmont would do better ushering everybody downstairs for a show like this.
Nevertheless, Oliver delivered, gaining momentum as he went along. He exited the stage with a nice little jumping foot-tap worthy of Charlie Chaplin. It was the perfect bit of stage business: a nod to the crowd along with the teensiest bit of self-congratulation.
“If it’s not utterly tasteless and wrapped in something resembling a pie crust, we (British) don’t feel it’s worth the risk of ingesting.”
Apparently he’s going to perform again exactly a year from now, since on Baristanet’s home page there’s a big red ad announcing a “Friday, Oct 1″ performance.
Doesn’t Oct 1, 2011 fall on the Thursday?
Your journalistic ethics are abysmal. You keep writing “stories” about your advertisers — you sell you news coverage and news judgement!