You've seen him before as the Disco DJ in "Starsky and Hutch," and as Spence on "The King of Queens." You'll recognize his face from "I Love the 80s" and "Best Week Ever." You've seen him as the Dungeon Master on "Reno 911" and have heard his voice on "Crank Yankers." But do you know who Patton Oswalt is?
Well, if you don't, you will soon, as Oswalt is featured in a well deserved stand-up special this Sunday at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central. The one-hour special, entitiled "No Reason to Complain," was filmed in September in New York and tackles everything from reality TV to the "Passion of the Christ" to steakhouses. He also takes shots at his friends with babies, the President, and hippies.
Oswalt, was named the "It" comedian for 2002 by "Entertainment Weekly" and is a frequent guest on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." He'll next be seen in "Blade: Trinity," which opens next week. Oswalt was recently gracious enough to answer some questions for The Daily.
Tufts Daily: First, thank you for taking the time out for the interview. I watched the special and it's great.
Patton Oswalt: Oh, well thank you for wanting to do this, and I appreciate that.
TD: How did the Comedy Central special come about?
PO: I put out an album ("Feelin' Kinda Patton") earlier this year in May, and it did pretty well, and they said why don't you do an hour special in September - which was a mixed blessing because I wanted to do a lot of material. So I had to do a lot of writing and performing in two months. There was some stuff from the album that they wanted, and so it was half new stuff and half old stuff, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
TD: What are you working on now?
PO: Promoting the special. I did the tour over the summer and now we're working on a spring tour. It will probably start at South by Southwest [a festival in Austin, Texas] and end in Athens, Georgia.
TD: What's in store for the near future?
PO: I'll stay on the "King of Queens," I'm in "Blade III" that comes out next week, and there are some movies that I might be doing next year, but they are small parts.
TD: I really enjoyed your role in "Starsky and Hutch."
PO: Thanks, I got to riff the whole thing. It was pretty cool.
TD: What do you enjoy most: stand-up, acting, or pop-culture commentary?
PO: All pretty equal. Stand-up is the most fun, acting is the most rewarding and writing is the most satisfying when you do it well.
TD: You talked about reality TV in your special. Are you really afraid we will run out of reality? Are you concerned about the lack of original ideas?
PO: The minute something original comes along, people will pounce on it like mango sharks ...Then again, if there are no new ideas maybe there might be some mutant leap forward. We've been a lot closer to the edge before and things have gotten better.
TD: What's your favorite reality show?
PO: I don't watch them.
TD: What's your favorite TV show in general then?
PO: "Deadwood" on HBO, "The Shield." This season of "Law and Order SVU" has been surprisingly good. "The Daily Show" is great. "South Park," "Reno 911."
TD: I noticed you talked about comics on your Web site, so I conclude that you are a big comic book guy as well?
PO: Oh yeah.
TD: What do you think of all these comics being turned into movies? I mean they've always turned comics into movies, but it seems now they are exploiting every idea.
PO: It's good because there are some really good obscure comics with stronger narratives. If that leads to better movies, then all the better.
TD: Do you have a favorite comic book movie? Or favorites?
PO: "Blade I," "Dick Tracy" I thought was brilliant, and "X-Men Unite"- the second X-Men was pretty fantastic.
TD: So, it must have been a treat being in "Blade III."
PO: Oh yeah. The director [David S. Goyer] is a good friend of mine and he was like, "I wrote this part for you."
TD: Switching gears back to stand-up, how much of the stories you tell [are] actually real?
PO: Everything we say is a lie or embellished.
TD: Do you take other people's stories?
PO: I recount things that I heard from people.
TD: I read about your feelings on "Last Comic Standing" in "Entertainment Weekly."
PO: Yeah, that was a horrible show, I'm so glad it's off the air.
TD: Why?
PO: It brought back that mindset that you have one shot to make it; it hinges on that one thing. You have to have a tight, clean five minutes. Everyone used to prepare that one set for Johnny. You have to have that one moment and you'll either blow it or be huge ... It makes for cowardly comedians...[The contestants on "Last Comic Standing"] should have been allowed to make mistakes and recover from them. It really [messed] with people's heads.
TD: In the special, you voiced your opposition to Bush and said that you think he'll bring the apocalypse, but this was filmed pre-election. Now that he has been re-elected, what are your thoughts on the election and the future of this country?
PO: I was very prophetic. I think the country went in a bad direction.
TD: If the apocalypse came, what would do before you died?
PO: Kill John Ashcroft while [having sex with] Lindsey Lohan ... I would want to see the life leave his eyes. As I watch that I would cum so huge inside of her.
TD: Where is Patton Oswalt in five years?
PO: On board my own jet, strangling John Ashcroft and [having sex with] Lindsey Lohan. And then I wake up.
TD: Do you have time for a quick word association?
PO: Sure.
TD: Burbank.
PO: Chili.
TD: NPR.
PO: Soy.
TD: Hippies.
PO: Sandals.
TD: Puppies.
PO: Cute.
TD: Kevin James.
PO: Burly.
TD: Pepperoni and Bacon Pizza.
PO: Asswater.
