John Oliver on Being a Part of "Community"
by Joel Keller
posted Mar 23rd 2011


John Oliver plays Ian Duncan, Greendale's most apathetic professor on "Community".

We were able to talk with him for a little bit last month about his sitcom role:



How many more episodes of "Community" are we going to see you on this season?

I don't know. I've done 8 this season. So I think maybe another 2 or 3 I've recorded.











What is your favorite part about playing Duncan, who just doesn't really care about the people he teaches, or the subject, or anything like that?

Yeah. It makes everything much easier when you're basically, [Laughs] when your character has some psychotic traits: deeply self-destructive and almost pathologically uninterested in the job that he's supposed to be doing.

It's a lot of fun. It's just such a fun thing to do, to go over there and just mess around. Because so much of it is, with us talking around the lines anyway...











Right. They joke around on the set a lot over there...

Yeah, a lot. A lot. And they must be a nightmare to edit. Because you can get through takes that have very little to do with what you're supposed to be saying. Especially after you finish the words he's supposed to be saying.

Takes usually go on for quite significantly longer after that. And then they just patch together what they can. But it's a great show. Really ambitious. I wish more people watched it. But it's really great.











And you'll be back on for a third season, no problem, right?

Yeah! I would love to. If they'll have me.

I mean, they've been so good about working around my "Daily Show" schedule. I owe them big. It's really, really good fun.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/03/23/john-oliver-interview/