Patton Oswalt

Comedian Patton Oswalt has long embraced the idea that he’s unlikely to achieve mainstream success (his role in Ratatouille notwithstanding). True to form, on Werewolves and Lollipops, Oswalt takes aim at Middle American targets — fast food, the GOP, tabloid celebrities, backwards-thinking small towns — in a conversational manner that suggests he knows he’s among friends (it’s probably not a coincidence that this was recorded in Austin). The too-cool-for-school attitude would grate if Oswalt weren’t so self-depreciating: he refers to himself as a “bridge troll” and claims “my geekiness is getting in the way of my nerdiness.” Oswalt’s comedy is best when he combines his intelligence with his nerdy leanings and his rage, as in his considerations of how to travel back in time to prevent the Star Wars prequels from existing, or when he explains the liberal-arts gut-course standard “Physics for Poets.” His riff on writing a movie will send listeners to their Netflix accounts to find Death Bed: The Bed That Eats People, and his bit about the KFC Flavor Bowl will be quoted by American college kids everywhere — the geeks, not the jocks.

Robert Siegel

Big Fan

Entertainment

Davy Rothbart

Movies

Arts

Lifestyle

LOUIS CK

INTERVIEW

Bill Hicks

Latest Articles

Interview: Patton Oswalt

On staying sharp
For someone who came up as part of the "alternative comedy" scene of the 1990s, Patton Oswalt is becoming increasingly mainstream.
By RYAN STEWART | February 02, 2010

Dane Cook is funny

In defense of the local comedian, who plays TD Garden on New Year's Eve
There are two things that non-comedians feel the need to tell me when discussing comedy. One is "Bob Saget is filthy." The other is "Dane Cook is not funny."
By STEVE MACONE | December 30, 2009

Interview: Robert Siegel

On the shoulders of Giants fans
As Robert Siegel explores the idea of what happens when reality curb-stomps overblown expectation, it's hard not to feel a visceral twinge of empathy.
By SHAULA CLARK | September 25, 2009

Good dirt

Davy Rothbart of Found magazine reads from Requiem on Saturday night at Precinct in Union Square
"Part of the mystery, when you find a love letter that was torn into bits: was it torn up by the person who received it, or did the person that wrote it tear it up before they even gave it to them?"
By MIKE MILIARD | May 06, 2009

Review: Big Fan

Run-of-the-mill, cheap laughs
"He's another Martin Scorsese!" crows mom when her son screens an awful ad for his ambulance-chasing law firm in this unimpressive debut from Robert Siegel.
By PETER KEOUGH | September 16, 2009

98. Patton Oswalt

GIN-AND-TONIC THE HEDGEHOG
Funny guy. And laudably self-deprecating about his gnome-ish stature and ever-mutating paunch. But would it be unsporting to wonder if this schlub has partaken in a few too many of those KFC entrées that he derides as “failure piles in sadness bowls”? It’s not just that starchy, sodium-rich, light brown “hillocks of glop” are bad for one’s physique. It’s that poor, lumpy Oswalt is starting to look like the dish itself.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Epochalypse soon

The end is nigh! Or not.
The end times do indeed commence on December 21, 2012. On that date, this fragile blue orb of ours will suddenly cease to be a very fun place to live.
By MIKE MILIARD | March 25, 2009

Interview: Simon Pegg

Shaun of the Dead star on losing friends, alienating people, and wanking off to Gillian Anderson
Thirty-eight-year-old British actor Simon Pegg’s US star has been on the rise since his zombie-movie parody Shaun of the Dead shuffled into multiplexes back in 2004.
By BRETT MICHEL | October 01, 2008

Found farce

Spaced makes it to DVD
Simon Pegg is funny.
By MIKE MILIARD | August 05, 2008

Funny business

As the AltCom Festival arrives at the Somerville Theatre, we look at the roots of the indie comedy boom.
“Ashlee Simpson’s new album sold so poorly,” snorted the headline on Yahoo! this past week, that “it was beaten by a comedy album.”
By MIKE MILIARD | May 08, 2008