Patton Oswalt

Infobox Comedian
name = Patton Oswalt


imagesize =
caption = Patton Oswalt with Joshua H in Seattle - September 6th, 2008
background = comedian
caption =
pseudonym =
birth_date = birth date and age|1969|01|27
birth_place = Portsmouth, Virginia
death_date =
death_place =
medium = Stand-up, Television, Film
nationality = American
active = 1988 - Present
genre = Observational comedy, Surreal humor, Black comedy
subject = Pop culture, American culture
influences = Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, David Foster Wallace, Pauly Shore, Emo Philips, Louis C.K., Bugs Bunny, Bill Hicks, Blaine Capatch, Bobcat Goldthwait, Jay Leno, Steve Martin [ [http://www.aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1465 The AST Interview: Patton Oswalt, October 2005] ]
influenced =
spouse =
notable_work = Spence Olchin in "The King of Queens"
Remy in "Ratatouille"
Frat Aliens, and Ezekiel in "Aqua Teen Hunger Force"


website = [http://www.pattonoswalt.com/ Official website]
Religion = Atheist

Patton Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, voiceover artist and actor.

Biography

Personal life

Oswalt was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, to Carla and Larry J. Oswalt. 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. [cite web | title = Michelle McNamara, Patton Oswalt | publisher = The New York Times | date = September 25, 2005 | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E2DE1430F936A1575AC0A9639C8B63 | accessdate = 2007-07-05]

Career

Oswalt 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", Pixar's "Ratatouille", ', and as Spence Olchin on "The King of Queens", on CBS. He has appeared on the television shows "Home Movies", "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist", "Seinfeld", "Human Giant", "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 Last 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 ' 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 '. He was also the voice of a reporter on "New World Order", a radio show on VCPR in '.

Oswalt wrote the comic book "JLA: Welcome to the Working Week", a backup story in "Batman" #600, a story for "Dwight T. Albatross's The Goon Noir" #01 and a story for "Masks: Too Hot for TV". He voiced Rémy, the lead character in the Pixar film "Ratatouille" (2007). Also in a connection to Disney, he voices Professor Dementor on the hit Disney Channel animated show "Kim Possible". Expanding his voice artist repertoire, he will voice a character in the upcoming PBS Kids GO! show "The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl".

In 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. In August 2007 he appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav. In 2007, he appeared on an episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants", "The Original Fry Cook," as Jim. He also appears as Carl, the Corndog Hut's mascot in American Hi-Fi's music video for "Another Perfect Day". On June 27, 2007, Oswalt was a special guest on the "Emeril Live" program on the Food Network, where he plugged his new movie, "Ratatouille". He is scheduled to voice Prince Dreamer in the Madagascar sequel, , which is due to be released on November 7, 2008.

Oswald returned to his high school in 2008 to deliver a gripping, yet controversial speech at http://detentionslip.org/2008/07/patton-oswalts-brilliant-politically.html

tand-up comedy

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 glam metal to deeper societal issues like American excess, rampant materialism, Mesopotamian cuneiform script, foreign policy and religion (Oswalt is an avowed atheist himself. [ [http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Patton_Oswalt Patton Oswalt - Celebrity Atheist List ] ] ). 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'?"

He started doing standup in San Francisco. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he began performing at Un-Cabaret.

In 2004, Oswalt released a comedy album entitled "Feelin' Kinda Patton" and later that year a longer, unedited version of the same performance entitled "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 released his latest CD "Werewolves and Lollipops", 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. Recently, Oswalt has appeared as a "lawyer" in Lewis Black's Root of All Evil.

Discography

Albums

*"Feelin' Kinda Patton" (2004)
*"222" (2004) [ [http://www.chunklet.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=15 Chunklet ] ]
*"Werewolves and Lollipops" (2007)

EPs

*"Patton vs. Alcohol vs. Zach vs. Patton" (2005) with Zach Galifianakis [ [http://www.chunklet.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=53 Chunklet ] ]
*"Melvins/Patton Oswalt split 7" (2006) with The Melvins [ [http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=61 Chunklet ] ]
*"Comedians of Comedy Tour 3"CD (2006)
*"The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company" (2006) with Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, and Eugene Mirman [ [http://www.chunklet.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=30 Chunklet ] ]
*"Frankensteins and Gumdrops" (2008) Available during the WFMU pledge drive

Compilation Album Appearances

*"Beth Lapides' Un-Cabaret - [http://www.uncabaret.com/CDstuff.html "The Good, The Bad, and the Drugly"] (2006)
*"Beth Lapides' Un-Cabaret - [http://www.uncabaret.com/CDstuff.html "The Un & Only"] (2002)
*"Comedy Death-Ray (album) (2007) [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UE64T2 Amazon.com: Comedy Death Ray: Music: Various Artists ] ]

DVDs

*"No Reason to Complain" (DVD) (2004)

DVD Appearances

*"Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 DVD (2004) [ [http://wwwp.musicmatch.com/album/album.cgi?ALBUMID=1498200 Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 by Various Artists ] ]
*"The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the El Rey (2005)
*"The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubadour (2007)

TV

tand-up Specials

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

TV Appearances

*"Lewis Black's Root of All Evil
*"The King of Queens
*"Reno 911!
*"Tom Goes To The Mayor
*"Human Giant
*"Reaper (TV Series)
*"Seinfeld"
*"The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner" (2006)
*"The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav" (2007)
*"Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
*"Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate (2008)

Voice Acting Appearances

*"SpongeBob SquarePants"
*"The Fairly OddParents (Cameo at the end of 'Big Superhero Wish')
*"Kim Possible
*"Squidbillies
*"Aqua Teen Hunger Force
*"Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
*"Home Movies (TV series)
*"The Batman (TV series)
*"American Dad
*"Wordgirl

Films

*"Down Periscope" (brief cameo) (1996)
*"Man on the Moon" (brief cameo) (1999)
*"Magnolia" (1999)
*"Zoolander" (brief cameo) (2001)
*"Calendar Girls" (brief cameo) (2003)
*"Taxi" (2004)
*"" (2004)
*"Starsky and Hutch" (2004)
*"Failure to Launch" (2006)
*"" (2007)
*"Wrong Turn 2 (voice)" (2007)
*"Ratatouille (voice)" (2007)
*"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" (2007)
*"Balls of Fury" (2007)
*"Sex and Death 101" (2008)
*" (voice)" (2008)

References

External links

* [http://www.pattonoswalt.com Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/pattonoswalt Patton Oswalt] on MySpace
*imdb|id=0652663|name=Patton Oswalt
* [http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/o/patton_oswalt.jhtml Patton Oswalt] at Comedy Central
* [http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2007/07/podcast-tsoya-patton-oswalt.html Brand new audio interview on The Sound of Young America from PRI.]
* [http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2006/08/podcast-symphony-with-masta-ace-and.html Interview with Oswalt from August 2006] on public radio program The Sound of Young America
* [http://www.avclub.com/content/node/46062 Random Rules: Patton Oswalt] a feature from The A.V. Club
* [http://www.hustlerworld.com/news/2006/03/hustlerworld_interview_patton.html#more Hustler Interview: Patton Oswalt]
* [http://www.imposemagazine.com/mag/?p=1236 IMPOSE interview]
* [http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2007/07/note_books_patt.html Note Books essay on Largehearted Boy]
* [http://www.daytrotter.com/bookery/899/patton-oswalt-recites-a-short-story-explaining-the-stickiness-of-young-love Reading John Collier's "The Chaser" at Daytrotter]
* [http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/comic/patton-oswalt/ Interview by "Rotten.com"]
* [http://petesbigmouth.com/audio.html 'Getting Late' interview by Pete Dominick on Sirius Radio]