John Oliver played the City National Grove of Anaheim tonight. Someone nice gave me two tickets… so I took her. Third row. Well done.
First things first. We fought ridiculous traffic on the 5. It took 45 minutes going, 17 to get home.
City National Grove was originally built as a theme restaurant. Lucky for us it was converted into a live venue. The auditorium seats around 1,700.
One of my Facebook friends asked who John Oliver is?
John Oliver is very funny and very fast. The show has structure, but he is skillful enough to divert when conditions warrant then find his way back.
The first ten minutes, ten funny minutes, were spent riffing on the venue and Anaheim in general. Onto his act, a series of observational essays.
I can’t tell you any jokes he said. I’m not sure there were any jokes. His stuff is funny in context. That’s tougher than telling jokes.
John Oliver is shorter than he looks on TV. Join the club. His nose is… uh… prominent. He’s thin.
“He was on around an hour,” Helaine observed. “I’ve never seen a comedian on that long without water.”
Time and money well spent. It was like a date.
