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John Oliver

Daily Show Star on GOP 2012 Field: 'Very Gifted at Inspiring Comedy from Abject Despair'

By Tim Graham | October 28, 2011 | 05:47

The Washington Post's Express tabloid profiled British-accented Daily Show star John Oliver on Thursday, reveling in how he covered Sarah Palin's "flag-draped liberty coach" bus tour and told Jon Stewart on the Rupert Murdoch-harming News of the World phone-hacking scandal "I'm about to give you a schadenfraude-gasm, Jon."

He's no fan of the Republican presidential field: "I think all the candidates [are] very gifted at inspiring comedy from abject despair. Michele Bachmann certainly has a special quality to her. Her speeches are like semantic palindromes; they make exactly as much sense when you read them backward as when you read them forward." The paper didn't ask for Obama jokes.

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NPR Lets Daily Show Regular, WaPo's Milbank Knock GOP Presidential Field

By Matthew Balan | June 16, 2011 | 21:15

On Wednesday's All Things Considered, NPR's Ari Shapiro let The Daily Show's John Oliver and The Washington Post's Dana Milbank cast aspersions on some of the declared 2012 Republican presidential candidates and their surrogates. Oliver mocked the talking points of a Ron Paul spokesman as "pointless" and "meaningless," while Milbank derided the candidacy of Herman Cain.

Host Melissa Block introduced Shapiro's report about the White House correspondent's first visit to a post-presidential debate spin room, and gave a hint of its overall mocking tone: "The spin room might be a good name for an amusement park ride or part of a fun house. That makes it a perfect fit for a presidential campaign, which can get a bit wacky even in these early days."

'Daily Show' Heals Clinton Supporters With Child Psychology

By Noel Sheppard | August 27, 2008 | 13:25

Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" is clearly doing its part to create unity within the Democrat party.

On Tuesday, TDS's John Oliver spoke with a group of Clinton supporters who aren't giving up the fight to get Hillary the presidential nomination.

Not understanding their anguish, Oliver sought the assistance of a child psychologist to not only explain the mental malady, but also put the afflicted guests through some exercises that will hopefully cure them in time to allow Barack Obama to defeat John McCain in November (video embedded after the fold, mild vulgarity):