Comedian and “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver is headed to the Met Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve to perform a stand-up set as part of his four-city tour to close out the year.
Tickets for the Dec. 31 show will be available on Wednesday starting with local presales via Ticketmaster. The general sale opens Friday at 10 a.m.
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Before Oliver landed his breakout gig as a correspondent on “The Daily Show” and then parlayed that into his hit HBO series — now in its 12th season — he got his start in stand-up comedy at Scotland’s annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In an interview on “60 Minutes” earlier this year, Oliver described his introduction to stand-up as “addictive” and talked about his early humiliations on stage.
At Edinburgh’s Pleasance Below theater, Oliver described doing a set in front of four people who all left before he could finish his hourlong act — a moment he described as his “comedic Waterloo.” Three of the four people walked out within 15 minutes, leaving one woman in the theater.
“I saw her hand slowly move down to her bag, and I said to her, ‘Are you leaving?'” Oliver said in the interview. “And she said, ‘Yeah, I think I’m going to.’ (She) got up, walked out, and it’s just me and a sound technician in a room. And he said, ‘Do you want to keep going?’ I said, ‘No, I think we’re done here. And also, when you say do you want to keep going, do you mean this show or this career?'”
Oliver’s low point inspired him to sharpen and expand his comedic range to cover social and political issues.
“It felt like a risk worth taking,” Oliver said.
On “Last Week Tonight” — which Oliver has earned 23 Emmy awards for hosting — he has frequently delved into topics with ties to the area. He’s roasted FOX29 anchor Mike Jerrick, made fun of Philly’s infamous destruction of hitchBOT and went out of his way to acquire rat erotica paintings made by a Pennsylvania artist, among other references to the city.
The New Year’s Eve show will mark a return to the Met for Oliver, who performed three sets there when the renovated opera house reopened in December 2018. At one show, he brought out a fake version of Flyers mascot Gritty and told jokes about the city’s Mummers Parade tradition. Oliver last performed at the Met in September 2023.
Oliver’s mini-tour in December also will include stops in Boston on Dec 27; Wallingford, Connecticut, on Dec. 29; and Baltimore on Dec. 30.
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