DVD Review: John Oliver - Terrifying Times
Bruce Dancis - Sacramento Bee
Aug 25, 2008
"These are the greatest days for exaggeration in the history of the world," says John Oliver, the British-born regular on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." And Oliver shows off his gifts in the arts of overstatement, hyperbole and satire in his stand-up comedy special "John Oliver: Terrifying Times," out this week on an "extended and uncensored" DVD (Comedy Central/Paramount Home Entertainment, $19.99, not rated).
Oliver joined the "Daily Show" cast in 2006 and quickly became one of Stewart's most consistently hilarious correspondents, easing the pain of the departures of Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, Ed Helms and Steve Carell. Like Colbert, but with a British accent and faux gentility, Oliver delights in presenting absurd viewpoints with the utmost sincerity, deep-seated knowledge and unassailable conviction.
He makes a perfect foil for Stewart, as can be seen in four "Daily Show" sketches included as bonus features on the DVD. He's at his sharpest in the "Tortured Logic" segment, in which "senior interrogation analyst" Oliver explains to Stewart why "torture of prisoners" is illegal but "enhanced interrogation of detainees" is just fine.
The heart of "Terrifying Times" is a live stand-up show Oliver recorded in New York City's Symphony Space Theatre that was televised on Comedy Central last April. Beginning with a history of the British Empire ("like Godzilla in a necktie, rampaging our way across Africa") and a tip of the hat to America for "taking the baton of imperialism from us and running with it quite impressively," Oliver resembles Eddie Izzard but without the dress, makeup and stream- of-consciousness style.
In short order, Oliver casts his sardonic eye on serious issues such as global warming and the energy crisis ("wind has been over-farmed" and, in Alaska, "don't stop drilling until you reach kangaroos"), evolution, religious intolerance and the presidency of George W. Bush ("a conceptual artist whose thought-provoking, eight-year installation entitled '43rd Presidency' is supposed to make us consider how terrible it would be if a man like him was ever really elected").
But he also has some fun with American consumerism (the "Oreo pizza" is "the single most patriotic item I have ever seen in my life") and the tear-jerking power of sports videos set to '80s rock ballads.
Oliver, a graduate of England's Cambridge University, gets onstage assistance from his former British comedy partner Andy Zaltzman, introduced by Oliver as "Professor of Fact at the University of Great Britain."
Zaltzman is especially educational when informing the audience that the two nations most heavily involved in fighting the war against terror the United States and Great Britain also have the highest rates of teen pregnancies in the world. One of Zaltzman's explanations: "We get overexcited about the prospect of an easy conquest without thinking of the long-term consequences."
Zaltzman also shows up in some very funny bonus bits featuring Oliver and him riffing on democracy, "sincerity," "the queen's face" and other crucial matters facing the world.
Oliver's attention to humorous detail on his first DVD can even be seen in the opening menu. If viewers let it run for a while, they'll be in for some funny material. And if a viewer follows this instruction "Click Here If You Didn't Mean To Buy This DVD" he or she will receive "a sincere apology" from Oliver, among other things.
For fans of "The Daily Show's" style of satire and its penchant for puncturing the heart of hypocrisy, John Oliver's "Terrifying Times" will leave you laughing all the way to the apocalypse.
John Oliver: Terrifying Times (extended & unsensored)
3 1/2 stars
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