Oliver Twist

There are lots of modern ways to be old-fashioned. You can lodge your sartorial aesthetic in the corsets-and-bordello finery of another era, you can eschew cars for a horse-drawn cart, or if you’re John Oliver, you can (facetiously) fan the flames of animosity between the United States and Britain. But Oliver’s material isn’t limited to mining his own accent for laughs. As a writer and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Oliver brings his brand of incredulous buffoonery to varying debates, from the dangers of the Hadron Collider to White House pet selection. Call it anachronistic, but explaining Britain’s history of rapacious exploits to a crowd of New Jersey income tax protesters -- in order to illustrate how the system has improved -- is clever near-slapstick. An evening of stand-up comedy with John Oliver can only be an essential addition to any fan’s collection of experiences, right along with either churning butter or buying a hybrid.
May 28-30, 8 & 10:15 p.m., 2009