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Face Time with John Oliver and Rob Riggle: Two of the Men Who’ve Helped Make Jon Stewart Even Funnier

Once upon another time, Saturday Night Live was the be all to end all when it came to breaking comics. But we’re in another century now and perhaps none has done as much for new comedy as The Daily Show. Stephen Colbert, of course, most infamously used Jon Stewart’s non-news newscast to spin off into his own stratosphere. But he’s not the only correspondent to break big. Rob Riggle, for instance, (who also appeared on SNL) turned his two-year stint into an onslaught of hit motion pictures, including Talledega Nights, Step Brothers and The Hangover. And John Oliver, who’s still with the program and doesn’t seem to have any intention of leaving, recently found time to appear alongside Joel McHale in four episodes of Community and had his own six-episode series, John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show, airing this month on Comedy Central.

Coincidentally both Riggle and Oliver will be in town for this year’s South Beach Comedy Festival, making for one hot ticket on January 23. Joining them at The Fillmore will be Daily Show executive producer Rory Albanese, who’s reportedly quite the funnyman himself. The night’s titled “The Daily Show & Friends,” and if previous outings are any indication, it’ll be hysterical.

944 got with the two quick-quipping funnymen by phone before the holiday break. Here’s what they had to say:

JOHN OLIVER

944: First off, why The Daily Show?
JOHN OLIVER: You’d probably have to ask my employer rather than me. That’s not a question I can answer. It was two and a half years ago I was writing and doing stand-up in England, and then I got offered this job and everything changed. I can only tell you the how, not the why.

944: How did it happen then?
JO: That was it. I was doing stand-up and writing in England.

944: You were in a club and he saw you and boom!, that was it?
JO: I was kicking a can down the street with my chimney sweeping equipment, and he rolled up in a Bentley, and his window rolled down and he invited me. No, I think Rickey Gervais recommended me.

944: It’s almost like a Schwab Drug Store kind of story. You get discovered and brought over, and everything changes overnight.
JO: Exactly. I was standing on the corner of the street, satirizing things.

944: Did you have a sign saying, “Satirist Available?”
JO: That’s right, “Will Satirize.”

944: I read that you’ve got a six-episode Comedy Central series set to debut early next January. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that, please?
JO: Well, it starts on January 8 and it’s me hosting a new stand-up series for them. It should be fun. [There’s] some great stand-ups. Slightly or significantly more high-profile comics than they would normally have on Live at Gotham. I’ve always been interested in how to make stand-up work on TV.

944: The comedians whom you chose, you basically knew them already, right?
JO: Yeah. I knew almost all of them and certainly admired all of them. Janeane Garofalo, Kristen Schall, Maria Bamford, who is a personal friend of mine. Hannibal Burress, who is a new guy that I like very much. There are some very good people.

944: No one has actually taken a slug at you?
JO: No, we actually did a piece recently in Philadelphia with some Eagles and Giants fans. [I think] that was probably as close as I’ve got to being punched. Those Philly fans are a rare breed.

944: You recently did four episodes of Community, so things can’t be that bad. Was that your first TV series in America?
JO: I guess other than The Daily Show, yes.

944: Cliché question of the interview: What’s the difference between the U.S. and UK comedy crowds when you’re doing stand-up?
JO: Less than you think. It’s a mere question of pronunciation.

ROB RIGGLE

944: Where are you, New York or Vegas?
ROB RIGGLE: I’m shooting a movie in New York right now. I flew out here to Vegas just for tonight, because I’m doing The Hangover DVD release party, and I fly back to New York tomorrow.

944: Congratulations. What are you shooting, The Killers?
RR: No, I’m shooting a movie called The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

944: Is The Killers already shot?
RR: Yes, we shot that this summer down in Atlanta.

944: OK, I know you’re not there any longer, but I’ve got to ask. Why The Daily Show? Please don’t say why not.
RR: I loved it. I loved The Daily Show. I loved the people. I got to share an office with John Oliver for almost three years, and that was fun and hilarious every single day. It’s current, it was hip, it was awesome. It was all good.

944: Why did you leave?
RR: I left for a couple of reasons: I wanted to be closer to my family. I was commuting the whole time I was on The Daily Show. The other reason was that I got a deal with CBS to develop my own show.

944: You’re still on the Marine Corps Reserves, right?
RR: That’s correct.

944: What about USO stuff, did you do any of that stuff?
RR: I went to Iraq in the summer of 2007. I took Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer with me, and we went and we did shows in Kuwait, tons of shows in Iraq. All over Iraq, at all these forward operating bases. It was a very dangerous time to be there, but we went.

944: You obviously had an inkling of how dangerous it would be and what the setting would be. Your colleagues perhaps did not. Were they alarmed?
RR: No. I was very honest with them. I told them where we’d be going and what we’d be doing. They didn’t bat an eye. They were all like, “We’re going. When?”

944: That’s cool. So everybody manned up. Are there any new comics coming up that you dig, maybe that people haven’t heard of yet?
RR: I guess someone that no one knows about yet would be Adam Devine. He’s a funny guy. I’d also say Adam Lowitt. They are the two up-and-comers that people don’t know about. Of course, I can’t get enough Nick Schwarzen and Craig Robinson.

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