Says Daily Show's John Oliver

Britain doesn’t have an equivalent to America’s Daily show because TV executives are ‘cowards’, John Oliver has claimed.

The comic is a regular on the Jon Stewart-fronted show on Comedy Central – which More 4 used to air daily in the UK before dropping it in the face of disappointing ratings.

And speaking on the Today Programme on Radio 4 today, Oliver said: ‘It’s been easier for me to work doing political comedy here [in the US] than in England, which is not something you would ordinary consider.

‘There is absolutely no reason why there should not be a version of the Daily Show, a UK version of it, other than just cowardice on the part of television executives in England.’

He added that broadcasters in Britain were scared of tackling big issues, saying that when he was working on a satirical show in the UK at the start of the Iraq war, he was warned away from tackling the subject.

‘We were told, ‘Now is not the time to be making jokes about the Iraq War”,’ he said.

But he also said he missed the ‘rambunctiousness’ of Britain’s live stand-up audiences.

Click here to hear the full interview.

Published: 22 Jul 2011