John Oliver at Bailey Hall

John Oliver, writer and performer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart performed for a sold out Bailey Hall last night, Saturday, September 8th. After an opener who made the audience squirm with discomfort and distasteful jokes, Oliver’s stand up bits sparkled like well-polished diamonds. In a performance that lasted slightly over an hour, Oliver took complete control of the stage, played off the crowd’s responses to his jokes and didn’t stray far from his politically themed show.

Oliver started with a bit about a pigeon bringing people together. He explained that while waiting at an airport terminal, a pigeon was walking around inside the airport. Suddenly, a room of irritated passengers began to laugh together as they noticed this pigeon being in the wrong place. Oliver drew laughs from the crowd as he began to strut across the stage, imitating the pigeon in a meeting with the prime minister of Israel, saying, “This is somewhere I’m not supposed to be! There’s got to be a two state solution, chaps, seems like the only way forward, but let’s table that discussion…which one of you wants to see me peck a Dorito?” Not ready to let this pigeon go, Oliver kept the theme of bringing people together despite their differences in the jokes that came after.

Oliver also focused on the cultural differences between the British and Americans, as he has done in past stand up gigs of his. He joked a lot about “keeping an empire” but noted that he, as a Brit, wasn’t necessarily the best man to be giving advice. While he didn’t talk about his experiences at the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention, he did mention his experience watching Clint Eastwood talk at an empty chair. Oliver said, “It was an out-of-body experience. I mean when you see things happen in front of you with what felt like 6000 people screaming in enthusiasm saying, ‘this is incredible!’ I’d be the one person going ‘this might be a f*cking disaster.’”

Just as Jon Stewart did last year, Oliver spoke to the Cornell student body like adults and pushed the message that we are the future. He managed to weave humor in with serious subject matters and, unlike his opener, didn’t rely on any lewd imagery or crude humor. Instead, his blend of pop culture, politics, and just funny situations was poignant and meaningful, leaving Cornell students not only laughing in their seats but also with a message to think about long after the show was over.