Patton Oswalt

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Patton Oswalt
Born	January 27, 1969 (1969-01-27) (age 39) Portsmouth, Virginia
Medium	Stand-up, Television, Film
Nationality	American
Years active	1988 - Present
Genres	Observational comedy, Surreal humor, Black comedy
Subject(s)	Pop culture, American culture
Influences	Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, Emo Philips, Louis C.K., Bugs Bunny, Bill Hicks, Blaine Capatch, Bobcat Goldthwait, Jay Leno, Steve Martin[1]
Notable works and roles	Spence Olchin in The King of Queens Remy in Ratatouille Frat Aliens, and Ezekiel in Aqua Teen Hunger Force Prince Dreamer in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
Website	Official website

Patton Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American actor, writer, voiceover artist, and professional comedian.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Personal life 1.2 Career 1.3 Stand-up comedy 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 EPs 2.3 Complilation Album Appearances 2.4 DVDs 2.5 DVD Appearances 3 TV 3.1 Stand-up Specials 3.2 TV Appearances 3.3 Voice Acting Appearances 4 Films 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Oswalt was born in Portsmouth, Virginia to a Marine colonel father. 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.^[2]

[edit] 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, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, 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 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.

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. He's also an uncredited writer on Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.^{[citation needed]}

In July of 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.

On October 9, 2008, Patton voiced Prince Dreamer in the Madagascar sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

[edit] Stand-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, foreign policy, and religion (Oswalt is an avowed atheist himself^[3]). 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 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 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 in Lewis Black's Root of All Evil.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Feelin' Kinda Patton (2004)
• 222 (2004) ^[4]
• Werewolves and Lollipops (2007)

[edit] EPs

• Patton vs. Alcohol vs. Zach vs. Patton (2005) with Zach Galifianakis^[5]
• Melvins/Patton Oswalt split 7" (2006) with The Melvins ^[6]
• Comedians of Comedy Tour 3"CD (2006)
• The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (2006) with Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, and Eugene Mirman ^[7]
• Frankensteins and Gumdrops (2008) Available during the WFMU pledge drive

[edit] Complilation Album Appearances

• Beth Lapides' Un-Cabaret - The Good, The Bad, and the Drugly (2006)
• Beth Lapides' Un-Cabaret - The Un & Only (2002)
• Comedy Death-Ray (album) (2007)^[8]

[edit] DVDs

• No Reason to Complain (DVD) (2004)

[edit] DVD Appearances

• Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 DVD (2004) ^[9]
• The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the El Rey (2005)
• The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubadour (2007)

[edit] TV

[edit] Stand-up Specials

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

[edit] TV Appearances

• 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!
• Lewis Black's Root of All Evil
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate(2008)

[edit] 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

[edit] Films

• Down Periscope (brief cameo) (1996)
• Man on the Moon(brief cameo) (1999)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Zoolander (2001)
• Calendar Girls (brief cameo) (2003)
• Taxi (2004)
• Blade: Trinity (2004)
• Starsky and Hutch (2004)
• Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
• Failure to Launch (2006)
• Reno 911!: Miami (2007)
• Wrong Turn 2 (voice) (2007)
• Ratatouille (voice) (2007)
• Balls of Fury (2007)
• Sex and Death 101 (2008)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Patton Oswalt on MySpace
• Patton Oswalt at the Internet Movie Database
• Patton Oswalt at Comedy Central
• Brand new audio interview on The Sound of Young America from PRI.
• Interview with Oswalt from August 2006 on public radio program The Sound of Young America
• Random Rules: Patton Oswalt a feature from The A.V. Club
• Hustler Interview: Patton Oswalt
• IMPOSE interview
• Note Books essay on Largehearted Boy
• Reading John Collier's "The Chaser" at Daytrotter
• Interview by "Rotten.com"
• 'Getting Late' interview by Pete Dominick on Sirius Radio