Patton Oswalt

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Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt (born January 27, 1969, in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA) is a comedian, actor and writer who first began headlining comedy clubs in 1996. After writing for MADtv and starring in his own 1997 comedy special for HBO, he went on to garner notable roles in films and television shows including Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and as Spence Olchin on The King of Queens on CBS.

Oswalt's style of stand-up comedy is often described as acerbic and sarcastic, and it covers topics ranging from pop culture frivolity such as comic book supervillains and 1980s hair metal to deeper societal issues like American excess, rampant materialism, foreign policy, and religion (Oswalt is an avowed atheist himself). Quite a few of his routines are about vice, especially pornography and alcohol. A famous line: "Do you think you have a problem when you refer to all alcohol as 'pain-go-bye-bye-juice'?"

Oswalt has described himself as a "man without a country" in that he hates both George W. Bush and hippies. In February 2004, some jokes critical of hippies got him booed off the stage in San Francisco, while a diatribe against president George W. Bush got him booed off in Pittsburgh.^[1] In a subsequent tour with The Comedians of Comedy he returned to Pittsburgh and was well received.^[2]

In 2004 Oswalt released a comedy album entitled Feelin' Kinda Patton and later that year a longer, unedited version of the same recording called 222, both through the United Musicians collective, and a stand-up special "No Reason to Complain". He is also on a split EP called Patton vs. Alcohol vs. Zach vs. Patton with Zach Galifianakis. On July 10, 2007 Patton will release his latest CD Lollipops and Werewolves on Sub Pop records.

Looking for a way to bring cutting-edge comedy to a different audience, Oswalt put together the Comedians of Comedy tour in 2004, using indie rock venues instead of traditional (and expensive) comedy clubs. The tour featured Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn, and Maria Bamford. The fall 2004 tour was documented in a 2005 film of the same name; it was followed by a six-episode Comedy Central series based on the summer 2005 tour. This tour featured special guest appearances from comedians such as Blaine Capatch, Bobby Tisdale and Todd Barry. Subsequent incarnations of the tour have included Eugene Mirman and Morgan Murphy.

He has appeared on the television shows Home Movies, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I Love the '80s, Static Shock, The Weird Al Show, Crank Yankers, Reno 911!, The Batman, Comedy Central's Laugh '06, and The Fairly OddParents as the writer of the Crimson Chin comics. He lent his voice as in the Playstation 2 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a caller on the WTCR show, "The Tight End Zone," where he states incredibly obvious things about sports, and was the voice of a caller on "Chatterbox" on LCFR in the PlayStation Portable game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. He was also the voice of a reporter on New World Order, a radio show on VCPR in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. He also wrote the comic book JLA: Welcome to the Working Week and a backup story in Batman #600. He voiced Rémy, the lead character in the upcoming Pixar film Ratatouille (2007). He's also an uncredited writer on Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

He is a 1987 graduate of Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Virginia, and attended the College of William and Mary, where he majored in English and was initiated into the Alpha Theta Chapter of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity.

Oswalt married writer Michelle McNamara on September 24, 2005 [1].

July 2006, Oswalt's comic script "Fruit Pies!" was turned into a short film available at YouTube and MySpace. He also appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner.

[edit] Discography

-DVDs-

No Reason to Complain (DVD) (2004)

-Albums-

Feelin' Kinda Patton (2004)
222 (2004)
Lollipops and Werewolves (to be released July 10th, 2007)

-EPs-

Patton Vs. Alcohol Vs. Zach Vs. Patton (2005) - With Zach Galifianakis
Melvins/Patton Oswalt split 7" (2006) - With The Melvins
Comedians of Comedy Tour 3"CD (2006)
The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (2006) - with Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, and Eugene Mirman

-Appears on-

The Good, The Bad, And The Drugly
Beth Lapides' UN-Cabaret - The Un & Only (2002)
Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 DVD (2004)

-TV Specials-

HBO Comedy Half Hour (1997)
Comedy Central Presents (1999)
No Reason to Complain (2004)

[edit] References

^ Oswalt [interview on XM radio, March 6, 2007]
^ Oswalt mentioned the warm welcome he received in Pittsburgh in April 2006 on his website's diary area "Spew."