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John Oliver: 'I'm excited and terrified' about new HBO show

John Oliver is a veteran correspondent when it comes to delivering the latest news for laughs, thanks to his tenure on Comedy Central's "Daily Show." But on HBO's "Last Week Tonight," Oliver won't just be one of the gang supporting a comedy anchor, like Jon Stewart. He'll be the leading man behind the news desk — and that's scary stuff."I'm excited and terrified," Oliver told TODAY's Matt Lauer

John Oliver is a veteran correspondent when it comes to delivering the latest news for laughs, thanks to his tenure on Comedy Central's "Daily Show." But on HBO's "Last Week Tonight," Oliver won't just be one of the gang supporting a comedy anchor, like Jon Stewart. He'll be the leading man behind the news desk — and that's scary stuff.

"I'm excited and terrified," Oliver told TODAY's Matt Lauer of his new gig. "I'm the appropriate amount of terrified and excited."

He's also a little horrified, at least after getting an up-close look at his own face on a billboard promoting the show.

"It's horrible," he said. "(This) is not a face that benefits from being inflated to billboard size. I imagine, if you have a different, more well-structured face, you would look past and think, 'Oh, look, it's great. All the contours look good up there.' For me? Horrifying. I don't even like it (actual) size."

There+is+absolutely+nothing+that+is+not+weird+about+this+photo.+Nothing.+pic.twitter.com/w6OTXbVLv0

—+John+Oliver+(@iamjohnoliver)+April+12,+2014+

But Oliver is hoping viewers like seeing him on the small screen again on his Sunday night show, delivering what he calls "breaking news on a weekly basis."

"I think we might look more internationally (for stories)," he explained. "We might look slightly deeper because we have kind of the burden of more time. … I'm used to the grind of doing things very quickly, working at 'The Daily Show.' So I'm hoping it's going to be a good thing, not a terrible thing, having more time."

But there's one sort of story he doesn't plan to cover on the new series, no matter how much time he has to look into the details: stories about teen boys who ask out pageant queens, movie stars or supermodels, like the recent headline-grabber involving a young man who asked out Miss America.

"I don't care about that story," Oliver insisted. "I don't care about that boy or what he's done. … I think high school boys have to stop asking out supermodels on camera. And, crucially, supermodels have to stop saying 'yes.' … You can't say 'no,' like 'Oh, my travel schedule conflicts.' You need to say 'No, because you're a child and even if you were older, you are physically repellent to me.' You just need to burn one child to send a message. This has to stop."

Expect more of that attitude, but none of that story, to show up on "Last Week Tonight," which premieres April 27 at 11 p.m. on HBO.

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