Food Court with John Oliver 

"Who told you about elevenses?" Colbert being tranqued in the background to keep from screaming LOTR trivia

“Mornings are a challenge. An afternoon is to be enjoyed.” -John Oliver

I love how John somehow sounded more English when he started talking about elevenses. It was like his practiced formal accent just evaporated for a moment.

The thing about elevenses has to be seen in context: The British working day starts at around 9. Everyone is busy cooking coffee and tea with little electric kettles hidden in their workplace cupboards, and stand around for around 30 minutes chatting about what they did the evening before. Sometime between 09:30 and 10 they start to organise the work with the intention of really starting it later on. Starting 10:30 everyone is gradually getting ready for elevenses. 10:45 elevenses start. It’s a time everyone gets together in the tea-room and starts to munch on doughnuts or (since we joined the EU) croissants and relaxing with a cuppa. Elevenses finish around 11:30, so everyone gets back to their workplace and starts getting ready for lunch. Winding down the pace of work ready for lunchbreak starts at 12:15, Lunchbreak proper starts at 12:30. Around 2 is when pretty much everyone is back from lunch except those who have gone to the pub for lunch, they’ll be back at around 2:30. Everyone will have slowed down a lot by now, and start looking forward to the afternoon tea break which starts at around 3, but people will be gathering at 2:45 so as to get a good seat. Afternoon tea from 3 to 3:30 is the nicest part of the whole day. Most people get back by about 3:45. Now the working day is nearly over and nobody will be starting anything new because 5 is knocking-off time, and the time from 4 to 5 is really for chatting about the plans for the evening. At 5 everyone goes home, exhausted by a long day slogging away at the office.

The way John speaks of Elevensies like he's remembering a lost lover from his younger days makes me really wonder if I should start drinking tea.

Yes more of this please. John Oliver just explaining/rambling about random topics will always be needed. British food aka getting Indian food got it, so what’s next?

A lot of people have the water first/versus milk first tea argument, but John is the first person to really go into detail about the bag-jabbing, and I appreciate that. You've got to really agitate the bag, ask it uncomfortable questions about what it plans to do with it's degree after stacking up all that student debt only to work in a supermarket for years, or how attractive it's Mum was in it's youth, and how many of it's teabag mates do you think fancied her when they used to come around for birthday parties and such. Really bother the thing, that's the ticket 👌

As a Mexican, let me tell you something: Beans at any time of the day! why would it be madness?? They are delicious! You can make enfrijoladas in the morning, or have some fried beans on the side of your huevos rancheros. Lunch, dinner, for elevenses, it doesn't matter. Don't stop yourselves from achieving greatness, my friends. Just...keep your house well ventilated.

I love Oliver's self cringe as he realized WHY his country would have such high quality Indian food...

"and you would eat custard out of a tub like an animal" - Yes John, yes I would.

John Oliver without a script is the funniest shit. I'd love to see more of this

"Beans? In the morning?" Me, a Mexican: Yeah... specially.

Wow, this guy is funny and charismatic. They should give him a show on HBO.

“Just an absolutely horrendous way to treat an egg” sent me into orbit, what a funny sentence

"just eat custard out of a tub like an animal" 😂

We had elevenses at my girl’s school in the 50’s in California. But we called it “Soup”. It was a little smakerel served at 11am and in addition to tea or coffee, there was a big pot of soup and leftover muffins, toast and bread from breakfast. We LOVED IT! And it kept us nice and chubby too.

"We got through The Blitz, we can get through eating Spotted Dick" is officially the new, "Keep Calm and Carry On."

The "How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?" line now makes sense to me.

To anyone who judges the British for eating beans in the morning, I counter that argument by saying have you not met a Mexican at all. Huevos Rellenos con frijoles is one of my favorites brekfest meals.

"Who told you about elevensies?" - Some other Brit named J.R.R. Tolkien and it was more than 60 years ago. Way to keep up, John.

"Who told you about elevensies?" Fellow named Pippin, kinda short but got taller

John immediately backtracking when he realizes Indian cuisine being his first thought of best food in UK is not a good thing. 🤣🤣🤣

The protectiveness around Elevensies was wonderful.

This is such a great segment, I love John so much, stuff like this really shows how funny he can be when he's not just letting us know about depressing topics lol

"It made me what I am today. Which is 60% sad." Thank you for this whole video, John Oliver.

Love that John is still so British while also being such an American.

1:01 "I think we need to learn to deal with this" LMAO!!!

John Oliver speaking about elevensies has really brought out the British from within

John Oliver's description of what I call 'the impatient brew' is some of his most relatable content.

I enjoyed John repeating “sticky toffee pudding” over and over. 💜

this has made me laugh more than I have laughed combined since November. it was a very rough winter. thank you.

5:34 “Who the f*ck told you about elevenses?” Tolkien. Tolkien told us. It’s all his fault.

"And you would just eat custard out of a tub like an animal!" Thank you Jon. I haven't laughed so hard in ages, but this Canadian did grow up mostly in England, so perhaps that's why. I actually remember being a newly-arrived six year-old (60 years ago) and wondering why they called dessert pudding.

“Who told you about elevenses”? It’s Colbert, I’m pretty sure he has both the LotR books and movies memorized

Hearing and watching him tell that story about his parents and the croissant was genuinely heartwarming.

I love John Oliver. He is simply a good human being. The funny part is just the cherry on top of the cake.

“And don’t get too judgmental about that, I’ve seen your soup in a bread bowl.” PERFECT.

My favorite tea story is when they were making the movie Aliens, and they were in the middle of a "we have to get this in one shot because too expensive special effect to try again" moment and in during the middle of the scene, walks this elderly British woman with a tea cart, opening the big hanger like doors wide, and ignoring the red "we are filming light" because it was time for Afternoon Tea, and everything and was totally shocked and scandalized why the American directors and producers were so verbally abusive at her intrusion.

My late husband was "former Scouser" loved his tea, but never iced tea. His dish was bubble 'n' squeak, I thought was just sausage and cabbage..NO, anything you throw together(left overs) in one pot. Remembering John. :) Thank-you Mr. Oliver

As an Indian, I laughed out loud

"Afternoon tea, i'll have a coffee in the mornings because yaknow mornings are a challenge, and afternoons are to be enjoyed" Yes and hell yes Mr. Oliver!

As a New Zealander, I feel for John. When I was growing up, elevenses was adults drinking at the weekend early! Not a lot of tea involved... but we drink our tea the same way. 😊

Really love seeing John without his camera persona. Seems pretty chill.

“Would you just eat custard out of a tub like some sort of animal” I feel like you just established that the answer to that is YES, and it is AMAZING

"I was going to say- we have the best Indian food in the world- but I stopped myself because that kind of imperial assertion with British accent is riot inducing" 😂😂😂

I am of the same generation, with parents who remember rations. When she was a little girl post WWII, my mom and her friends would trade ration coupons for fruit they had picked off trees (not implying they were stealing, just rural life in Normandie). I remember clearly the counting and distribution of the strawberries that my dad liked to do. I never thought about it as a result of a rationing of treats in childhood.

Who the fuck told you about elevensies - LOL Crying laughing at this. XD

for some reason, John Oliver is always so much funnier, when he hasnt had time to prepare.

We need more of these! this was great. Need all the old world countries on this.

I watched this all the way til the end and went “why are they suddenly showing Stephen’s face?” Love seeing these two interact.

This was phenomenal. I laughed so hard at your reaction to non-Brits knowing about elevenses. 😉😂

Love this so much! Him reacting in real time 😂 please do Australian food with Kate McKinnon next!!!!!!

As an Australian (culture closer to Britain than the US) this had me crying, so good

I want more of john &Stephen.

I love how when given the chance John Oliver expresses his hate for the Royalty at every opportunity.

Please make this a recurring segment. One of the most enjoyable RU-vid videos I have seen all year

This is brilliant. Thank you, John, you represent us better than anyone else could. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing I’ll leave up to you to decide. For my money you’re a national treasure :)

One of my most disappointing experiences I've ever had was when, while I was traveling around England with my family as a small child, I ordered pudding from a dessert menu and instead got cake.

As an American living in Britain, YES to beans for breakfast.

"And you would just eat _ Custard out of a Tub like an animal." 😂

Sticky toffee pudding with *real* custard (different to the "custard" that you find in a Boston cream donut) is wonderful! And YES, baked beans for brekky!!

I do believe that elevenses is one of Pippin’s favorite meal times. He questioned Strider/Aragorn in the Fellowship as he was it was shocking to him that this man never heard of elevenses, nor any of the other meal times for hobbits.

5:23 i was playing this out loud and my roommate was like "what the hell kinda bop it instructions are those"

He got extra British when they brought up Elevenses like it was some special secret and cherished memory that no one was supposed to remind him of ever 😂

Beans in the morning? I'm pretty sure every person in Central America agrees on the fact that if you have breakfast without beans you're either on a diet or you've lost your love of living

*John Oliver* "Who told you about elevenses!" *Me* Hides Agatha Christie collection "nobody.."

I like when he talks about the UK, and is in touch with his British self

"Not like you hate it, just like you're trying to send a message!" 🤣

"Mornings are a challenge, and afternoon is to be enjoyed." I'll have that as my epitaph, please and thank you.

I can never get enough John Oliver!

This is every single thing I need right now. Thank you.

I love Yorkshire pudding, you left out the best part where it is cooked in the drippings of the roast, and has a lot of egg in it.

John Oliver is one of the funniest on the planet.

Love this!! As a Canadian living in Scotland for the past 10 years I totally agree on Yorkshire pudding, and sticky toffee pudding. Also black pudding can be really nice if you give it a try from the butchers made the right way. I'm a convert for sure! The pudding debate - angel delight, opinion? Love you John Oliver you are such a delight!

It doesn't get any more British than this. 😂 And that bit about elevenses was especially funny.

And you would just eat custard out of a tub like an animal! 🤣 I love this. He is a joy.

Papa was from New Hampshire and would cook definitely British dishes. His steak and kidney pie was a lovely thing. Yorkshire pudding, the way he made it, in a pan, was mildly savory, and both moist inside and leathery on top, rather like a good Southern cornbread. And the man truly knew how to make a wonderful roast beef.

2:18 Sticky Toffee Pudding is fantastic! One of my favorite memories from one of my trips to London is enjoying Sticky Toffee Pudding.

This was great! So many things explained about the British culture! Thank you!

What's riot inducing is how John says "yogurt"

John, your beautiful words brought me close to tears. Having lived in the Netherlands for 16 years I can now say, FOR SURE, that England has diversified it's menus to the point of guruness. Most, if not all, Chinese and Indian food, here is Holland is cooked by Indonesians and thus tastes like it was all made from the same cookbook. Yes, England does Indian like a beast and without our Indian and Pakistani friends opting for our cold tiny island and bringing their A game - England would also have mono flavored food. Immigration fookin' ROCKS BALLS!!!!

My day is survivable now. John Oliver truly is my spirit animal.

An absolute treat! He just makes everything so much more funny!

I'm not even English (in fact I'm quite incredibly Dutch) but I'm going to break a lance for the Black Pudding, I actually like it a lot when cooked well (i.e. not too dry) the taste is pretty non-offensive and I find the ingredients of the avarage McNugget a lot scarier than a bit of blood in some saussage casing.

If things ever crap out on HBO, John Oliver could always find a home at Paramount +, thanks to his friends....

I would listen to John Oliver read the ingredients on a cereal box. I miss the daily show 😭

That was fantastic and I would LOVE to see more Food Court!

I didn't know how much I needed to watch this. He's delightful 😊

When you read a lot of old cook books from the colonial period it's clear that even back in the old days pudding was usually not custard. Custard was what accompanied the pudding.

In the beginning of the seventies I spent a summer in mostly Oxford taking a summer course in English. Lived on fish and chips and sandwiches. Made the mistake to go to a cheap diner frequented by taxi drivers and lory drivers thinking they would know better. Ordered a meat pie of some kind. It was the worst I have ever eaten. Learned later that roast beef was great. Indian food I didn't know about. Somebody compares Danish food to British. Regular home cooking in Denmark is great. Forget about Swedish food.

just casually quotes Omar Little while explaining pudding. my kind of guy.

That was great! More tea vicar!

My faith for America has been at an all-time low the last few years, but we got John Oliver as a US citizen now, so we must be doing something right.

Thank you for six fantastic minutes of "John Oliver painfully trying not to do an imperialism"!

Sticky toffee pudding hands down the best dessert of all time 🤤

I love that John, while talking about British food, says "If you are going to Britain, and you're going to order one thing...uh...go and have some Indian food." I understand what he meant, but it sounds a lot like saying, "If you go to France, and you're only going to eat their once, try the sushi."

I love how we got to see a bit of the actual British part of John when he talked about elevenses.

I've been watching a lot of Brit television lately and this is more hilarious now that I understand their food and tea proclivities (yes, I said proclivities) :)

Oh my goodness this is the best thing ever.

Loved this, John!! Ty!!😘