John Oliver

Armando Iannucci is one of my heroes. As I was growing up, he was probably the most influential comic voice that I had.

The disconnect between America and its military is shocking.

I've said yes to everything that Jon Stewart has asked me to do. That's been a pretty good career decision, I think.

Most stand-ups, once they have done it, think of it as their default job. I'm pretty sure Jon Stewart still feels that way now. You are a stand-up first; other things come and go.

You can write jokes at any point of the day. Jokes are not that hard to write, or they shouldn't be when it is literally your job.

Australia turns out to be a sensational place, albeit one of the most comfortably racist places I've ever been in. They've really settled into their intolerance like an old resentful slipper.

Southern people are bigger-hearted and kinder than I had any right to expect.

As any Brit will understand, things get a little easier when you don't have to be number one any more. Really, the fall of an empire is not as bad as everyone thinks. It's like retirement. People fear retirement, but it can turn out be rather pleasant.

Campaign ads are the backbone of American democracy if American democracy suffered a gigantic spinal injury.

Being a Mets fan is like lending someone a lot of money and you just know that you'll never get paid back.

I'm always interested in audience interaction. Not so much aggressive audience interaction - I'm genuinely interested in how people see things.

Sometimes it's good to remember how bad food can be, so you can enjoy the concept of flavour to the fullest.