Television

Britain may have conquered much of the globe in its heyday, but at least it did so with a certain flair.

So says The Daily Show's British correspondent, John Oliver, in his frequently engaging stand-up comedy special, John Oliver: Terrifying Times (9 p.m. CDT Sunday, Comedy Central), which should appeal to fans of his sardonic, intellectual brand of humor.

"I think deep down, this planet yearns for the days of the British Empire again. They long once more to be treated that badly, that politely," notes Oliver. "We did far worse things than you can possibly dream of, but we did it with that certainly gentlemanly swagger."

The Cambridge-educated comic imagines a proper English gentleman courteously stomping through Africa a few hundred years ago: "Dreadfully sorry, but we seem to have crushed your entire continent's infrastructure," he says in polite-conquerer mode. "Allow me to make it up to you by offering you a job 4,000 miles away. No, no, I insist."

Oliver's on less solid ground when he riffs on America's rampant consumer culture, which has resulted in bizarre "food" items such as the Oreo pizza. This is pretty well-trodden ground, and comedians such as Patton Oswalt have exploited the topic to much better effect.

Regarding his material on American politics, Oliver could stand to show a little more old-school, British Empire-style brutality when it comes to cutting weak and predictable jokes.

Still, the special exudes the appealingly smart snarkiness that Oliver brings to The Daily Show, where he's the strongest of a relatively new batch of correspondents. In the Comedy Central special, he's in fine form when he shares funny memories from his humiliating grade-school days.

But some of the best segments are his opening riffs on Britain's imperial past and China's rise as the world's next powerful nation.

One day the U.S. will hand off the superpower baton to China, which will then "sprint toward Armageddon," Oliver predicts. "Spoiler alert!"