Oliver expands comedic brilliance at Miller High Life Theatre
Watching John Oliver at Milwaukee’s Miller High Life Theatre Sunday night, I kept thinking to myself, “Where on earth is the stand-up special?”
Not that the 46-year-old host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” hasn’t been incredibly busy and successful, securing 14 Emmys for the show, with more to come.
Given the demands of that main gig, it’d be understandable if Oliver — who described stand-up as “relaxing” in a 2012 Journal Sentinel interview (and humorously likened it to heroin) — didn’t have the time, or the capacity, to orchestrate his first stand-up special since 2008. Even his stand-up bookings are relatively rare; Sunday was his first time on a Milwaukee stage in 11 years.
But what a special it would be. Oliver’s stand-up set Sunday may have been relaxing for him, but it was still masterfully crafted and expertly executed, showing no sign of fatigue across 91 minutes and showcasing sharp comic skills rarely seen in his Emmy-generating talk-show duties.
There were sharp topical takedowns like the ones that Oliver dishes out regularly on “Last Week,” from an acidic condemnation of Florida’s controversial slavery curriculum in schools; to relishing Elon Musk’s frequently bungled takeover of Twitter; to making the case that the unstoppable Nickelodeon cartoon “PAW Patrol” was preschool propaganda, citing as evidence his 4-year-old’s understanding of what a “surveillance drone” was because of the show.
But what makes “Last Week” such a standout show in a crowded comedy news analysis space are not the quick hit punchlines — although Oliver throws them with aplomb. It’s how Oliver connects the dots to paint a broader picture on any given topic.
In Milwaukee, he had even more space to establish theories and draw conclusions, which in turn often sharpened his observations’ impact.
America, he suggested, was more divided than ever — something we could all agree on, a dry, satisfying, slow-burning gag that probably would not work in the fast-paced “Last Week” environment. A native Brit who became an American citizen in 2019, Oliver analyzed some factors behind the nation’s troubled times with deeper, big-picture insights that his show may not always allow.
There’s a desire by some to alter our history so we can feel good about ourselves instead of learning from it, Oliver suggested. Some Americans have a sense of overconfidence that devalues expertise, he said, mulling over a survey where one out of eight men actually believed they could score a point on Serena Williams in a tennis match.
Americans, Oliver argued, could be defiant “in the face of everything, from a threat to a fact,” suggesting the country couldn’t move on from the archaic notion of Daylight Saving Time because of a stubborn resistance to change — which inevitably will lead to embarrassed bafflement from our descendants.
Unlike the quick-hit jokes about Musk or “PAW Patrol,” or the kind of meaty, idea-and-fact stuffed monologues on “Last Week,” Oliver frequently came to these conclusions with a calmer — indeed, relaxed — air, his voice shifting from his go-to exasperated bafflement to softly spoken ruminations. The approach let jokes linger, and in turn made killer observations sting a little harder, cut a little deeper.
Oliver’s observations on his homeland are something the America-focused “Last Week” has little room or use for, but they worked wonders Sunday, thanks to his sharp storytelling and wit.
Some topics were easy for this Milwaukee
audience to entertain — the reality-show-like dysfunction of the royal family, for instance. Most were unexpected and hit just as hard, like the audaciousness of the British Museum’s collection, which he likened to “an active crime scene,” or his pain as a native Brit watching fellow repressed countrymen driven to the breaking point on “The Great British Baking Show.”
And Oliver gave his audience a greater understanding of who he was, with a hysterical story about a mortifying childhood incident, when as an 11year-old he was running a 400-meter race. Maintaining a strong lead for the first half of the run, Oliver described what felt like a gush of air, the kind you may feel when someone rigorously opens a shower curtain — only to realize his shorts had split wide open. Using his arm to hilariously mimic the motion of his unfortunately exposed body part, Oliver recalled the audible gasp of the crowd as he defiantly sprinted toward the finish — only to end up in fourth place.
That humiliating episode confirmed to Oliver that his childhood dreams of being a celebrated athlete weren’t meant to be. As a comedian, though, Sunday’s set reaffirmed he’s a champ. Which is why it would be a shame, busy as he is, if Oliver didn’t commit to a stand-up special in the near future.
Who knows? There might even be another Emmy in it for him.