“His earliest Daily Show appearances played almost exclusively on his Britishness most Americans, he points out, hear his distinctively Brummie accent as standard Posh English,' The Guardian's Oliver Burkeman wrote of John Oliver in 2013. This tendency speaks to Oliver's juggling of dual identity, an experience to which many immigrants can relate, yet Oliver's position is unique: he is not simply learning and adapting to the customs and culture of his adopted country he is also one of its most visible critics. To begin to explore this question, let’s take a look at the one America already has.Ī profile that appeared in The Guardian shortly before Oliver took over as interim host of The Daily Show in 2013 references Oliver's tendency to oscillate between “us” and “you” in his segments as a Daily Show correspondent. The debate over whether South African comedian Trevor Noah is a suitable replacement for the venerated Stewart-whether years-old tweets reveal that Noah is anti-Semitic, whether he's even funny, whether Stewart will maybe decide to stay just a few more years now that he’s had time to think about it-have obscured a much more nuanced and more relevant question: will the insights of two foreign-born political commentators and satirists change American discourse?

Stewart’s February announcement that he was leaving The Daily Show generated loud public outcry and mourning. Jon Stewart has been one of the most important voices in American political commentary and satire for years, and in the last few months, John Oliver has assumed a similar role through his show Last Week Tonight.

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