John Oliver

Wed., Aug. 26, 7:30 p.m., $20, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.

by Chelsea Calhoun

[ comedy ]

In John Oliver's time as British correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, he's visited the White House Press Corps, interviewed one of the scientists behind the Large Hadron Collider and may or may not have gotten it on with an orangutan. But before he found comedy, Oliver says he wasn't sure he was "qualified to do anything — and doing this seemed like the next logical step."

"I started doing [standup] straight after I left college in 1998, as I thought it would be a terrifying thing to try," he says. "Turned out, it was like being frightened to try heroin — trying it, and then getting hooked on it for the rest of your life."

And Oliver's not (entirely) kidding. Before he signed on to The Daily Show in 2006, he had plenty of funny stuff going on across the pond, as co-host of satirical comedy shows for BBC Radio 4, Political Animal and The Department. And he, along with comedic partner and fellow Brit Andy Zaltzman, still hosts The Bugle, a series of political commentary podcasts for the U.K.'s Times Online.

As for his standup, Oliver entertains U.S. audiences like a true Briton, opening routines with jokes about his accent and refusing to utter the word "soccer." But he isn't quick to offer up details of his Helium show: "It's a man talking through a microphone and pausing whenever he anticipates laughter," says Oliver. "I hope that isn't giving too much away."

Wed., Aug. 26, 7:30 p.m., $20, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.