John Oliver (comedian)

Infobox Comedian
name = John Oliver

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birth_date = 1977
birth_place = England
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nationality = British
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genre = Political comedy
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website = [http://www.mrjohnoliver.com mrjohnoliver.com]
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John Oliver (born 1977) is a British comedian, correspondent and writer for "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart". His previous credits include "The Department" with Chris Addison and Andy Zaltzman, "Political Animal", "Fighting Talk" and "Mock the Week".

Biography

Born in Liverpool, England, Oliver attended Mark Rutherford Upper School in Bedford, England and is a graduate of Cambridge University, where he studied English and was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights. [cite news|title=1997-1998|url=http://www.footlights.org/1990.html|accessdate=2007-10-20] According to his biography on Comedy Central's website, his passport lists his occupation as "comedian" and a passport "never lies". Oliver is a fan of English association football club Liverpool. [cite web| url=http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/04/john_oliver_fears_the_end_times.html| title=‘Daily Show’ Correspondent John Oliver Fears We're in the End Times| date=2007-04-10| accessdate=2008-04-19]

Oliver also wrote and presented the current BBC America campaign to have viewers use closed captioning (subtitles). Shown in brief segments before shows, "The following program contains accents you would have heard a lot more if you hadn't thrown our fucking tea into Boston Harbor," says one. "Not even British people can follow the British accent 100 percent of the time. Therefore you, like me, might want to use closed-captioning." Oliver has begun using some of these jokes in his current stand up routine. [cite web| url=http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/blink/2007/05/translated_from_the_british.php| title=Translated from the British| date=2007-05-21| accessdate=2008-04-19| publisher=TVWeek]

In 2008 Oliver was given his first motion picture role, playing Dick Pants in "The Love Guru". [cite web|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2007/09/05/5749/olivers_movie_break|title=Oliver's movie break|publisher=Chortle.co.uk|language=English|date=2007-09-05|accessdate=2007-09-05]

Oliver currently hosts "The Times"' weekly comedy podcast "The Bugle" with Andy Zaltzman. [cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/audio_video/podcasts/the_bugle/ |title=The Bugle - Audio Newspaper For A Visual World| |publisher=timesonline.co.uk]

Oliver was one of the many writers on the picket lines during the Writer's Guild strike which brought "The Daily Show" to a halt, [cite web| url=http://gothamist.com/2007/11/15/john_oliver_wri.php| title=John Oliver, Writer| date=2007-10-15| accessdate=2008-04-19] but he appeared on the show upon its resuming production on January 7. During a sketch, he pointed out that he is in the U.S. on a visa which requires him not to strike while the show is in production and violation of the terms of the visa would be grounds for deportation.

Oliver's individual stand-up special entitled "John Oliver: Terrifying Times" debuted on Comedy Central on 20 April, 2008. [cite web| url=http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/media/article/daily-correspondent-john-oliver-stars-firstever-comedy-centralr-original_555623_15.html| title='Daily Show' Correspondent John Oliver Stars in His First-Ever COMEDY CENTRAL(R) Original Stand-Up Special| date=2008-04-09| accessdate=2008-04-19]

References

External links

* [http://www.mrjohnoliver.com Official Site]
*imdb name|id=1056659|name=John Oliver
* [http://www.thedailyshow.com/castBio.jhtml?castId=74954 John Oliver] at Comedy Central
* [http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/o/john_oliver.jhtml John Oliver] at Comedy Central (Comedians)