Line #66 Creator/PattonOswalt


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patton_oswalt_02.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:Pictured: A drunken [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings halfling]].]]
3
4	->''"Bring forth my doom-spawn from your stink-crevice AND PROVE THE GYPSY WRONG!"''
5	-->-- '''Patton Oswalt''''s way of announcing his wife's pregnancy to an audience.
6
7	Patton Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comic and actor, known for his "nerd-philosopher" comedic style, and working with fellow alternative comedians such as Creator/BrianPosehn, Creator/DavidCross, Creator/ZachGalifianakis, Maria Bamford, and Blaine Capatch. He has a daughter named Alice, and was married to crime writer Michelle [=McNamara=], until she suddenly passed away in April 2016. In 2017 he married actress Creator/MeredithSalenger.
8
9	----
10	[[foldercontrol]]
11	!!Discography
12	[[folder:Comedy albums]]
13	* ''222'' (2003)
14	* ''Feelin' Kinda Patton'' (2004)
15	* ''Werewolves and Lollipops'' (2007)
16	* ''My Weakness Is Strong'' (2009)
17	* ''Finest Hour'' (2011)
18	* ''Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time'' (2014)
19	* ''Talking for Clapping'' (2016)
20	[[/folder]]
21
22	[[folder:Comedy specials]]
23	* ''HBO Half Hour Comedy Hour'' (1997)
24	* ''Comedy Central Presents'' (1999)
25	* ''Patton Oswalt: No Reason to Complain'' (2006)
26	* ''Patton Oswalt: My Weakness Is Strong'' (2009)
27	* ''Patton Oswalt: Finest Hour'' (2011)
28	* ''Patton Oswalt: Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time'' (2014)
29	* ''Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping'' (2016)
30	* ''Patton Oswalt: Annihilation'' (2017)
31	* ''Patton Oswalt: I Love Everything'' (2020)
32	* ''Patton Oswalt: We All Scream'' (2022)
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	!!Filmography
36	[[folder:Film and television roles]]
37	* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' as Agent Eric Koenig, his brothers Billy, Sam and Thurston Koenig, and their grandfather Ernest Koenig.
38	* ''WesternAnimation/AxeCop'': Sockarang, Axe Cop's overenthusiastic friend and ally.
39	* ''Film/BigFan'': Paul Aufiero, a lonely Giants fan who is beaten up by one of his favorite players in a nightclub. A good example of TomHanksSyndrome.
40	* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'': Mr. Sparkles, a crazy and obnoxious show host and a regular Season 2 antagonist.
41	* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Pinky Penguin, plus multiple one-shot roles.
42	* ''Series/{{Caprica}}'': Baxter Sarno, an {{Expy}} of both Jay Leno and Creator/JonStewart (ItMakesSenseInContext.)
43	* ''Film/{{The Circle\|2017}}'' as Tom Stenton
44	* ''Film/TheConfirmation'': As an AddledAddict and would be AmateurSleuth.
45	* ''Film/{{Eternals}}'': As Pip the Troll, Eros' assistant and hype man.
46	* ''Series/TheGoldbergs'': The narrator.
47	* ''Series/{{Happy}}'': Happy, the titular imaginary friend of Hailey, who resembles a small blue unicorn with wings.
48	* ''Series/TheHeartSheHoller'': Hurlan Heartshe, a [[WildChild feral man]] made mayor of an isolated Southern hamlet.
49	* ''Series/HomeMovieThePrincessBride'': Vizzini
50	* ''Film/ILoveMyDad'': Chuck
51	* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'': Space Cabbie, a taxi driver in space.
52	* ''Series/{{Justified}}'': Constable Bob Sweeney, an underpaid, small-town constable with a big ego.
53	* ''Film/KeepingUpWithTheJoneses'': Bruce Springstine/Scorpion, an office drone turned terrorist.
54	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Professor Dementor, a MadScientist with a NapoleonComplex.
55	** ''Film/KimPossible'': Professor Dementor, reprising his role in live action.
56	* ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'': Spence Olchin, Doug's nerdy friend.
57	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie4DANewAdventure'': Risky Business, President Business's brother and owner of Brick World.
58	* ''Film/{{Magnolia}}'': Pops up as Delmer Darrion the blackjack dealer in one of the opening vignettes.
59	* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyAndTheRoadsterRacers'': Mr. [=McSnorter=]
60	* ''WesternAnimation/MilesFromTomorrowland'': Hubie the robot
61	* ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'': Jesse (male), the main character.
62	* ''WesternAnimation/MuneGuardianOfTheMoon'' (2017 English dub): Mox
63	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Quibble Pants, an in-universe [[FanDumb obsessive, nitpicky fan]] of ''JustForFun/DaringDo'' books.
64	* ''WesternAnimation/MODOK2021'': M.O.D.O.K. himself.
65	* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': TV's Son of TV's Frank, a MadScientist.
66	* ''Film/OddThomas'': Ozzie
67	* ''Film/PleaseStandBy'': Officer Frank
68	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'': Rémy, the protagonist; a rat who isn't content with eating garbage, and yearns to become a professional French chef.
69	* ''[[Series/Reno911 Reno 911 Miami]]'': Jeff Spode, the acting mayor of UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}, who has to oversee the Reno sheriffs, and has a DarkSecret.
70	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}'': Thrasher, a slim, [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]], teenage robot from the planet Insanus.
71	* ''Series/TheSandman2022'': The voice of Matthew the Raven
72	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretLifeOfPets2'': Max, replacing Creator/LouisCK
73	* ''Film/SeeThisMovie'': Felix
74	* ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'': Uncle Ben, The Chameleon
75	* ''Film/SpaceCop'': Space Police Chief
76	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Jim the original fry cook
77	* ''WesternAnimation/StorybotsAnswerTime'': Mr. Super Snowy Icy Cone Guy
78	* ''Series/{{Veep}}'': Teddy Sykes, [[DepravedBisexual unabashedly]] [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale perverted]] Chief of Staff for VP Andrew Doyle.
79	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'': The Atom
80	* ''Series/VeronicaMars'': Penn Epner
81	* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'': [[{{Jerkass}} Nom Nom]].
82	* ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'': Theodore "Tobey" [=McCallister=] III, a ten-year-old supervillain.
83	* ''Film/YoungAdult'': Matt Freehauf, the nerdy former classmate of Mavis (Creator/CharlizeTheron) whom he forms an unusual bond with.
84	* ''Film/GhostbustersFrozenEmpire''
85	* ''Series/Manhunt2024''': General Lafeyette Baker
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Video game roles]]
89	* ''The X-Fools: The Spoof Is Out There'': No roles (served as writer)
90	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'': Radio Station Caller ({{uncredited\|Role}})
91	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories'': Radio Caller
92	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories'': New World Order Caller, Reporter
93	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible: What's the Switch?'': Professor Dementor
94	* ''VideoGame/{{Ratatouille}}'': Remy
95	* ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am'': DP, Skeeter
96	* ''VideoGame/KinectRushADisneyPixarAdventure'': [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]]
97	* ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'': Jesse (Male), Romeo (Male Jesse)
98	* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} VR: Now Hiring'': Mooglie
99	* ''VideoGame/DisneyDreamlightValley'': [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]]
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Theme park attraction roles]]
103	* ''[[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Remy's Ratatouille Adventure]]'': [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]]
104	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie: [[Ride/{{LEGOLAND}} 4D – A New Adventure]]'': Risky Business
105	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretLifeOfPets: Off the Leash'': Max
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	----
109	!!This comedian's material contains examples of the following tropes:
110	* AbominableAuditorium: Once recounted an incident in which he and his brother got drunk and decided to see Jerry Maguire at the (now closed) Galaxy Multiplex, which he refers to as "The Crappiest Theatre in LA," featuring such things as choppy prints, meth addicts and public urination. On Christmas Eve, there were only eight other customers in the building - and because of this, nothing went wrong... right up until Patton's brother lost his temper and screamed "FUCK YOU!" at Tom Cruise.
111	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: One segment of ''My Weakness Is Strong'' has him talk about people who are "b-word" fat, meaning you can just hear it in their voice when they say words that start with 'b', then goes into a sentence that qualifies for this trope.
112	* TheAlcoholic: Tends to be drunk on his comedy albums, and often does bits about drinking and being drunk. He stops a bit to have the server refill his Merlot and opens one album by saying: "I'm drunk. Here we go."
113	-->"REFILL THE '''FLAGON OF CHUCKLES!'''"
114	* TheAntiNihilist: Patton talks about his first wife developing this mentality in ''Annihilation''. As a true crime writer, one of the things [[BerserkButton that absolutely annoyed her]] was the phrase "everything happens for a reason." According to Patton, she insisted that the world was pure chaos, and that good or bad things were mostly just luck; the only way to stave off some of the darkness was to be kind to everyone. She later condensed it into a SurvivalMantra: "it's chaos, be kind." Patton points out that she won the argument "in the shittiest way possible" by unexpectedly dying.
115	* ApocalypseWow: One bit about how much cooler people who died in the apocalypse would be compared to those that died more mundane deaths in heaven.
116	* AscendedFanboy:
117	** He got to write a ''Justice League'' one-shot comic called ''JLA: Welcome to the Working Week'', and it's pure background-reference continuity porn.
118	** He absolutely leaped at the offer to play TV's son of TV's Frank on the revival of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', telling Joel Hodgson on Website/{{Twitter}} that "I am ready to push the button."
119	* TheAtoner: After a lifetime of making fun of and sneering at people who wear sweatpants in public, he had a kid. Suddenly he totally understood, and dedicated a bit to how wonderful sweatpants are.
120	* AwfulWeddedLife: His take on two characters in a Stella D'Oro breakfast treats commercial is of a married couple who bitterly hate each other. The wife is cheating on the husband with the pool boy, and the husband says his wife's vagina is "a baby's coffin".
121	* BaitAndSwitchComparison: Brilliantly done in this [[http://www.avclub.com/article/patton-oswalt-won-twitter-over-the-weekend-with-a--101788 series of]] [[Website/{{Twitter}} tweets]].
122	* BerserkButton:
123	** Plagiarism. In 2010, he had bits of his stolen by both an upstart comedian and a Columbia University valedictorian. Internet based smackdowns ensued.
124	** Also, do not call him a "SadClown." He really hates the distinction.
125	** Also, don't interrupt his set - you might find yourself on the receiving end of an OverlyLongGag if you do.
126	** On a less funny note, insulting or dismissing his late wife Michelle [=McNamara=] is a good way to make Patton genuinely mad, to the point that he's threatened legal retribution against people who take it too far.
127	* BigFatFuture: A side joke in his bit about time-traveling to visit himself ten years ago and what his past reaction would be.
128	-->"''Look, you can't eat fried rice for breakfast every day.''"
129	* BlackComedy: Quite often.
130	** A particular example is his "Uncle Touchy's Naked Puzzle Basement" song: ''"You won't wear a shirt and you'll cry."''
131	** And who can forget this line from his Stella D'oro Breakfast Treats joke:
132	--->''"Your twat smells like a baby's coffin!"''
133	** In ''Annihilation'', he visits his wife's gravestone to try and talk to her, only to be interrupted by an arguing Armenian family and another group blasting "My Heart Will Go On" by Music/CelineDion with all treble. From the same special, he talks about how his wife insisted that the world was completely chaotic and random, "an argument that she won in the shittiest way possible" by unexpectedly dying.
134	* CallBack: To his infamous KFC bowls bit below. The president of KFC actually commented on it and attempted to defend the product, and he made a whole second bit out of it.
135	* CessationOfExistence: As an atheist, he's talked about how this is his belief, to the point that he doesn't care at all what happens to his body and anyone can have any piece of it they want.
136	* CloudCuckoolander: Patton sent in over-the-top movie reviews to Ain't It Cool News under the pen name "Neill Cumpston." No one figured out who it was until Oswalt admitted it months later. It was definitely SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike, and you only wish they printed his quotes on the posters.
137	-->'''Neill:''' (in a review of ''Film/ThreeHundred'') I can't spoil the plot because THANK GOD THERE ISN'T ONE. Just ass kicking that kicks ass that, while said ass is getting kicked, is kicking yet more ass that's hitting someone's balls with a hammer made of ice but the ice is frozen whiskey.
138	* CompositeCharacter: Suggests that if only because of his ability to [[{{Necromancer}} raise the dead]], ResurrectiveImmortality [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and then]] [[MundaneUtility multiplying food]], the {{UsefulNotes/Jesus}} we read about in Literature/TheBible must have been combined with other contemporary miracle workers or his disciples.[[note]]TruthInTelevision: While the bit is not identical, the idea of 'multiple sources' combining into the Gospel portraits of Jesus is directly tied to the '[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_source Q source]]' hypothesis.[[/note]]
139	* CurbStompBattle: [[https://youtu.be/Rh9Y1CXmBbg He describes witnessing one]] in ''Annihilation'' where [[StoutStrength a power lifter]] dealt with an angry drunk by simply picking the drunk guy up and dropping him on his face.
140	-->And he didn't put his cigar down to do this, which ''haunts'' me to this day.
141	* {{Defictionalization}}: The ridiculous list of food offered in his Black Angus bit? A fan had the entire menu served up for a friend's bachelor party. Also included a gravy pipe, and a name tag with "Peaches" written on it for the bachelor. No word on whether the doors were locked from the outside.
142	* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Patton's increasingly tortured efforts to explain how "barn-full of clown pubes" isn't kink-shaming in the ''We All Scream'' special.
143	* DramaticIrony: Deconstructed; when discussing what will be the [[CallForward "little ironic moment"]] in a biopic of his life (such as Music/PaulMcCartney looking at a guitar in a pawn shop window), Patton hopes it'll be someone sarcastically saying he's a comedian, rather than him drawing a rhino with a huge boner as a kid, and then, as an adult, [[BlackComedyRape falling into the rhino enclosure at the zoo and getting humped to death]].
144	* DrivenToSuicide:
145	** From ''Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time'': Being in a nearly empty grocery store at 11:00 AM on a Tuesday, looking at the Lean Cuisines? Perfectly fine. Being in a nearly empty grocery store at 11:00 AM on a Tuesday, looking at the Lean Cuisines, as Music/{{Toto}}'s "Africa" starts playing over the speakers? [[https://youtu.be/h-X60hmn_lA He'd have put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger]] if he had one, without even feeling any despair or sadness. Also, he feels that the cops would understand ''exactly'' why he did it, in a "[[SeenItAll oh yeah, we see this all the time]]" kind of way.
146	--->'''Oswalt:''' I have never felt more... peacefully, effortless, joyously suicidal and-- and it wasn't even despair. If I had a gun right here, I would've just brought it up, one smooth movement. Just like "Oh, they have French bread-crust pizza. Blam!"
147	** In college he took a class called "[[https://youtu.be/XSo4sxQGqT4 Physics for Poets]]," where the head of the science department struggled through his hatred of the liberal arts students to get them the minimum science credits. Patton angrily correcting a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' based word problem on the final exam apparently pushed him over the edge: "I'm going home and slitting my wrists, because I don't want to be on the same planet with you people anymore."
148	* EverythingIsRacist: Discussed in his Creator/{{Netflix}} special ''Talking for Clapping'' in which he recounts a story about his formerly closeted friend, who finally came out after years of internalized homophobia and self-loathing due to attending a very anti-gay high school. As a result, he was very [[PapaWolf overly protective]] of his openly gay nephew, who was attending the same school. When he asked the nephew if the school was still as oppressive as he remembered it, the nephew's eyes filled up with tears and said that it was: "My LGBT group was trying to book the gay prom the same night at the straight prom, and we just found out that it's being pushed to two weeks later, and it just feels really oppressive, y'know?"
149	-->'''Patton''': And my friend told me later that "At that point I was really struggling with the urge to tell him '[[FirstWorldProblems You need to shut the fuck up, because I don't think you know what oppression is]].'"
150	* FillingTheSilence:
151	** Lampshaded in "Wackity Schmackity Doo." He relates how script doctoring for animated movies usually involves this, and shows the absurdity of it by applying it to [[CrossesTheLineTwice The Holocaust and the destruction of the World Trade Center.]][[invoked]]
152	** An audience member inserts one of these during [[MoodKiller a quiet moment]] in ''Werewolves and Lollipops.'' [[AuthorFilibuster He does not get away with it.]]
153	* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: In ''Annihilation'', he talks about taking his daughter Alice to school the Monday after his wife died. Alice's classmates all came up to Patton to ask questions, which revealed more about their home life than Patton wanted to know.
154	-->'''Kindergartner:''' Is Alice going to get a step-mom? 'Cause after my mommy moved out, I got a step-mom right away.\
155	'''Patton:''' I'll bet you did! Is she teaching you Russian right now? Because I'll bet she's not teaching your old mom Pilates anymore.
156	* GeniusDitz: His view of subcontractors in ''I Love Everything'', who seem to have focused on getting incredibly skilled at one specific thing to compensate for serious mental problems. One guy Patton hired to redo the wallpaper in his home spent the whole day yelling at a nonexistent person named Kirby, but the wallpaper the guy put up was done to perfection.
157	* GermanicDepressives: Patton claims that this stereotype is true, based on the people he met during his own trip to Germany. He theorizes that Germans act this way on purpose, because they feel like if they don't stamp out all attempts at humour as quickly as possible, ''someone'' will eventually break out the AllGermansAreNazis jokes.
158	-->'''Patton:''' ''[seeing a nightclub with red laser pointers shining on the outside walls]'' Oh, [[LaserSight looks like the snipers are out tonight]].\
159	'''German Cab Driver:''' No, zose are not sniper rifles, vhat zey have done is zey have pointed many small laser pointers at zee outside of zee nightclub to create a sort of visual effect. ''[{{beat}}]'' But even if zey ''vere'' sniper rifles, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial you vill notice zat zey are in no way pointed at any Jews]]!
160	* HeAlsoDid:
161	** Naturally, as a geeky comic, he would be writing geeky comic books.
162	** He also was a writer for the first two seasons of ''Series/MADtv''.
163	** He was hired as an ([[UncreditedRole uncredited]]) script doctor for ''Film/Transformers2007''. Plans were to also have him play Glenn, but scheduling conflicts prevented this.
164	* Patton talks about an Evil God in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq10bz3PxyY Christmas Shoes]] routine. Also one with the [[JesusWasWayCool Jesus isn't evil]] variety.
165	-->'''God:''' What's this? Someone in a bad mood on my son's birthday? Bullshit! [[MoralEventHorizon Give that kid's mom cancer!]] Make sure he's in front of him in line, make him seven cents short for the shoes! This guy'll buy them, then he'll be in a good mood!\
166	'''Jesus:''' I don't think we need to give the mother cancer...\
167	'''God:''' You shut the fuck up! This is gonna be the best birthday you ever had!
168	* HeavyMeta: Has a few bits about stand-up comedy, including one famous bit where he reenacts a heroin addict's open mic act. "Doctor Pepper" was so high, he would pass out mid-sentence...only to wake up and pick up in the middle of the routine, alternating between three different stories, completely out of sequence. The irony being, it ''killed'', and if he had did so intentionally, Oswalt would have considered him a genius on the level of Creator/AndyKaufman.
169	** In ''Werewolves and Lollipops'', he starts off by making fun of comedians who brag how "edgy" they're going to be in their act and then proceed to do the same tired material that's been done 100 times.
170	** His story about headlining a week of gigs in Canada early in his career as chronicled in his book ''Zombie Spaceship Wasteland'' is all about this.
171	** In his ''Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time'' special, he recounts being hired by a casino to do a gig for an insane amount of money, and ''didn't get to tell a single joke'' in his entire half-hour set, because the incredibly drunk audience kept interrupting him by yelling out the names of TV shows and movies they recognized him from. Pretty much all he did was say "yes, I was in that" over and over again for half an hour, and when his half hour was up, he got a roaring standing ovation. According to him, he has ''never'' made an audience happier than he did at that show, and the casino said he could come back and do a show there ''whenever he wanted'', for the same insane amount of money.
172	* HypocrisyNod:
173	** During his second bit about the KFC Famous Bowls, [[https://youtu.be/0h0J1sphPu4?t=149 he stops himself mid-setup]] because he'd said "I don't know why". He immediately acknowledges that he'd spent ''ten minutes'' talking about the product the last time around, so there's a damned good reason he's tied to it.
174	** When his daughter got just as into ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' as he was into ''Franchise/StarWars'' at her age, he claims to have decided to not try to get into it himself, saying that he simply can't cram a single other extensive fantasy setting into his head at this point. He then proceeds to give a detailed and completely accurate description of the show, revealing how much supporting her fandom really has rubbed off on him. This then became HilariousInHindsight when he made two guest appearances on the show, including one where his daughter also played a character.[[invoked]]
175	* ImmediateSelfContradiction: In ''Talking for Clapping'', he describes how his daughter is getting into ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' the same way that he got into ''Franchise/StarWars'', describing it as "her own thing" that he simply doesn't have time to watch or absorb. Patton then spends a good two minutes describing the premise of the show. [[HilariousInHindsight He eventually guest starred in]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E14StrangerThanFanFiction two]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E6CommonGround episodes]], the latter of which also involved his daughter.[[invoked]]
176	* JustJokingJustification: With a bit of {{Lampshade Hanging}} and {{Refuge In Audacity}} thrown in.[[invoked]]
177	-->"''Yeah, boo robot I just made up!''"
178	* TheLostLenore: Detailed in his special ''Annihilation,'' where he talks about his wife's death, trying to help his young daughter through the loss, and his moving on from the trauma.
179	* LyricalDissonance: Oswalt deconstructs the lyrical dissonance of "Christmas Shoes" by New Song in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq10bz3PxyY this comedy skit.]]
180	* MistakenForRacist: Discusses in ''Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time'' how his toddler daughter, after seeing a black man while at Starbucks, yelled "Monkey"! Turns out she was referring to Rafiki from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. He then picked up his daughter, put her in front of his face and ran out, which, from a distance, isn't any better. [[DiggingYourselfDeeper In fact it might be much worse]], as it looks like he's "protecting" his daughter from a black man.
181	* MoneyDearBoy: He talks about how he once performed at a casino for a "sacrilegious" amount of money, also saying it was the most money he'd ever been offered to do anything. Even then, the audience was so drunk that all he did was listen while they shouted his past roles at him.
182	** That said, Patton openly admits he only takes acting and voice-over roles for the money. His stand-up is something he won't let be encroached on, even turning down corporate sponsorship for his tours. And that's not to say he doesn't have limits for gigs he takes. He and his manager returned money for a gig when they found out Creator/ParisHilton was going to be there; Patton had a LOT of Paris Hilton jokes at the time.
183	* MoralGuardians: He hates them. He even has a sequence about how replacing 'adult' words with euphemisms results in a sentence even creepier than the original [[note]]possibly because using language suitable for children implies that you're speaking ''to'' a child.[[/note]] (see it under Narrative Profanity Filer, below).
184	* NarrativeProfanityFilter: {{Discussed}} in "[[https://youtu.be/pd_EA9VKOR8 Clean Filth]]". Patton says that, under the right context, G-rated filth can actually be more disturbing that what it's censoring.
185	-->'''Patton:''' What's more disturbing? "I'm gonna shove my hard cock in your wet pussy," or ''"I'm gonna fill your hoo-ha with goof juice!"''
186	* NostalgiaFilter: He mocks this when discussing how his "Whole Foods" friends kept telling him to have a home birth because "that's how the pioneers did it". He says that it wasn't that great back then, and if they're going to say that, they might as well go all the way and have the baby outside in a "birthing trench" during a hailstorm, and to make sure to have at least nine children, since five of them will die of rickets.
187	* OldShame: ''Film/BladeTrinity''. Though he's also said that given the film's TroubledProduction, the fact that it even exists should qualify it for an A+.
188	* OverlyLongGag: He tends to combine this with GeniusBonus for some truly hilarious bits; i.e. his bit about the [[ApocalypseHow Apocalypse]]. His impression of Dr. Pepper the heroin addict comedian goes on for quite a while. The audience gives a big applause towards the end, assuming that he's reached the punchline, but it keeps going.[[invoked]]
189	* PetHomosexual: Mocked in ''Finest Hour'', where he relays the experience of being offered to play the role of the "gay best friend" in a romantic comedy. As written, the character was basically every walking cliché of gay people. Patton hated it, saying that the stereotype had become [[DeadHorseTrope so old hat and worthy of mockery, he couldn't simply play it straight]]. Patton offered to do it only if he could portray the character as really stupid, which made the director turn him away.
190	--> "I might as well put on {{blackface}} and tap-dance, that's how old [the gay best friend] cliché is now."
191	* PlatonicProstitution: In ''Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time'', he mentions he wound up doing this by accident during a tour. A madame (or [[InsistentTerminology web administrator of an online escort service]]) offered him a prostitute. He accepted, then took the [[strike: hooker]] escort to lunch because he wasn't aware one could go straight to having sex, but ultimately didn't have the nerve to go through with it. Mostly because she told him her life of horrific domestic abuse and drug addiction. "She went from fake name to Creator/WernerHerzog film."
192	* PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil:
193	** [[http://www.avclub.com/article/patton-oswalt-wrote-53-masterful-tweets-welcoming--217368 "Welcome to comedy in 2015, Trevor Noah!"]]
194	** He's ranted about people who attack the slightest cases of non-PC behavior, even from people like him who are genuinely trying to not offend anyone and simply can't keep up with what feels like a whole new set of rules every week. He also had some choice words for the people who attacked Creator/RuPaul for using the word "tranny," since if ''[[TropeCodifier anyone]]'' deserves NWordPrivileges on that one...
195	* PromotedFanboy:
196	** He got a role voicing a character on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' after he met the show's creators at a convention and told them what a huge fan he was.
197	** His appearance in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' reboot is also largely due to him being a huge fan of the original show.
198	** He invoked this with his second appearance on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. While he reprised his role as Quibble Pants, he also got his daughter Alice to voice a character in the episode, who was a huge fan of the show at the time.
199	* ARareSentence: In the prelude to the CurbStompBattle, the drunken cowboy said "That's it, motherfucker. The fuckin' boots are coming off!" To which ''everyone'' in the area "instantly became friends" simply because of the douchebag that made that absurd statement.
200	* RefugeInAudacity: The track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kw4IE8Sr1Q Wackity Schmackity Doo!]]" on ''Werewolves And Lollipops'', where he talks about [[ItMakesSenseInContext adding jokes to footage of the Holocaust and 9/11]].
201	* SelfDeprecation: He frequently says that he looks like a lesbian.
202	* ShellShockedVeteran: In his analysis of "The Christmas Shoes," Patton theorizes that the little boy is tricking strangers into buying women's shoes for the boy. His father was a Vietnam vet who gets off on women's shoes a stranger was tricked into buying because "that's what [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]] did to me!"
203	* SoMyKidsCanWatch:
204	** His turn as [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]]. He actually has a routine about how much the movie has affected his day-to-day life, and how jarring it is to realize that he now has child fans.
205	** Once he found out that his daughter was into ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' the same way that he used to be into ''Franchise/StarWars'', he took a guest role on [=FiM=] as Quibble Pants.
206	* SophisticatedAsHell: Intellectual alternative comedy peppered with swear words.
207	* StoutStrength: As seen under CurbStompBattle, he witnessed one where a "roly-poly butterball" simply lifts up a drunk guy and drops him in one smooth motion.
208	-->'Cause real powerlifters, the serious ones, their bodies, they look like these little chubby guys. It's like their torso turns into a bicep. It's just one lifting-- it's like a bicep with a dick and legs, and that's his-- that's his one move. Just lift and drop.
209	* TakeThat:
210	** Patton is NOT a fan of Yoshinoya Beef Bowl, ending his 2008 [=BlizzCon=] performance with a hilarious diatribe asserting that the chain must be a front for heroin distribution.
211	** And if he had a TimeMachine, he would travel back to the mid-nineties and kill Creator/GeorgeLucas [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCjIjsZp_Y with a shovel]].
212	** One of his hallmark bits is a takedown on KFC's Famous Bowls, calling it "a failure pile in a sadness bowl" and ranting that it was a disgusting mash-up of things that shouldn't be together. He ended up doing a second routine based on a high-ranking executive of KFC chiming in about the routine, to which Patton argued that [[UnknownRival the guy should have just said that Patton's opinion was irrelevant]].
213	** His mocking of Black Angus Steakhouse's ads for its hearty meals actually won him the lead for ''Ratatouille''; Brad Bird loved the way Oswalt talked in hilarious detail about the smorgasbord of food in that routine.
214	--->"I'll suck a cock on the Golden Gate Bridge before I serve you any mixed greens, buddy!"
215	** He outright calls Creator/{{NPR}} unlistenable, noting that racist, fascist conservative talk radio seems to have taken all the rock music, leaving NPR with boring jazz music and/or weird foreign stuff.
216	* TemptingFate: An ''extremely'' BlackComedy example. In ''Annihilation'', he talks about how a few weeks after the death of his wife, he pulled his daughter Alice out of school for Mother's Day to take her to visit his wife's family in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} and see different attractions to distract her from it being the first holiday after her mother's passing. They both have a fun time and on the actual Mother's Day itself he takes her to the airport to take them back home, thinking that he had managed to pull it off. ''Just as'' they enter the tunnel to board the plane, an old Polish flight attendant tries to comfort them by telling them about how her own mother died when she was a child and how she and her father never got over it. Predictably, Patton and Alice spend the whole flight home crying and now Patton fears that old woman will show up every holiday to tell Alice about how sad she is since her mother died.
217	* ToneShift:
218	** Throughout his book ''Zombie Spaceship Wasteland''. More of a collection of essays vice a straight narrative, some of them autobiographical (working in a movie theater as a teen, recalling his schizophrenic uncle), some just silly and goofy (a fake collection of old hobo songs, a more realistic wine menu), some a mix. The tone shift from the humor you'd expect from him to some dead serious and often depressing chapters can be disconcerting, especially if you just went in for the funny.
219	** The story from his early career about a week of gigs he did in Canada manages to cover the entire spectrum.
220	** Halfway through ''Annihilation'', he stops doing bits and talks about his wife's death, including having to tell his daughter that her mother was gone. While he does insert a few jokes and gags, it's mostly a straight-laced story about how awful he felt.
221	--->'''Patton''': The second-worst day of my life was the day my wife passed away. The worst day was the day after, when I had to tell my daughter. (...) I had to look at this little girl who means everything to me, and take everything away from her.
222	* TranquilFury: His description of a comedy-magician when he was just starting out, when they'd both been shorted five dollars each. Oswalt had to accept it, but the magician was ''not'' pleased.
223	-->'''Patton''': But he doesn't scream and yell, he does that thing where you get so god damned angry you begin speaking very quietly, but you [[PunctuatedForEmphasis over-enunciate every fucking word that comes out of your mouth]]...
224	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: According to his Black Angus routine, steak. He admits he thinks he loves steak more than he does, because he hates hippies that go out of their way to act like {{Straw Vegetarian}}s.
225	* UnknownRival: The tactic that the president of KFC ''should'' have used in defense of the KFC Famous Bowls, according to Patton:
226	-->'''Patton Oswalt''': All this guy needed to say was, "Who the fuck is Patton Oswalt? I'm a OLIGARCH!"
227	* ViewersAreGeniuses: Lampshaded heavily. Will often make an obscure reference in his act, then start topping himself, i.e., making references to Creator/HPLovecraft and Music/ThisMortalCoil, then end up talking about Creator/FrankBelknapLong. He lampshades the trope on one album, laughing about how he's expecting the audience to know such obscure references. He makes another obscure reference and [[IsThisThingOn pretends to bomb]].
228	* WordSaladLyrics: Most of his "old hobo songs" in his book ''Zombie Spaceship Wasteland.'' (In the audiobook version, they're actually sung with accompanying instrumentation)
229	-->Got a pecker made-a cigarettes
230	-->And eight dead wives
231	-->My ass is full of soup
232	-->- Opening lyrics of “Squirrel House Christmas”

Context Creator / PattonOswalt