An appreciation of Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt has become my favorite multi-talented comic still working in standup, acting, voiceover & hosting since Robin Williams left us all 10 years ago.

I first took notice of Patton's comedic acting when he played a video store clerk on Seinfeld about 30ya. It was shortly after I moved to Silverlake to live w/ my better half on the sunny side of comic Carlos Mencia's apartment. We frequented a Blockbuster across from the Vista & 2 other video stores by our Trader Joes, which were the only source of new videos not yet on cable. 

Back before internet streaming, we had to time shift the cable schedules using VCRs to avoid missing a rare broadcast that would not be available for replay on PBS or pay channels. I didn't see Patton in much during the 90s but learned to recognize him when he popped up in replays of Mr Show. I never saw his early stand-up.

He did well in his movie premiere as a silent & sedate  crewman of the "Stingray." He's barely noticeable in the background of the submarine control room scene at the end of Down Periscope, which explains his place in the end credits. It's one of the better sophomoric comedies of the time worth a watch. Almost as good & entertaining as Stripes.

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_My_Dad  

is his most recent movie that caused me to laugh out loud several times.

I got a 1rst gen Sony DirecTivo and made great use of its' Wishlist feature to record the appearances of our favorite actors whenever they appeared. Apparently there was a couple other shows that the Tivo automatically prioritized ahead of the CBS sitcom that occasionally featured one of our favorite neighbors.

I never even knew Patton had joined the cast of King of Queens until it was in syndication and several reruns featured our neighbor, Norma Micheals, the character actress who once worked w/ Jack Benny! She owned a home on the other side of us & rented a garage unit from the same landlord that we did. She'd let my better half know when she was working or appearing in something new.

I'd sure like to know if Patton ever got lucky enough to be regaled by her about the good ole days in Hollywood & LA when they worked on 7 episodes together. She worked with quite a few of the media giants of the 50s & 60s.

I can't believe how often Patton pops up when least expected during streaming. I started bingeing What We Do in the Shadows on Dis+ last fall & skipped season 5's finale, whiich didn't list the guest stars, until 6's began.

I almost did a spit take when Patton unexpectedly appeared as himself and got waylaid by Nandoor barely 5 minutes into the finale. It's surprising he wasn't hypnotized like other humans before have been instead of getting kicked off a building after dining at Panera. Hope his evil twin from Shield investigates this demise!

I started watching the Modok series when I found the new Shadows episode wasn't yet available. I was unaware the robot chicken style could look as good as classic clayanimation. The writing is in the style of Keith Giffen's blatant subversive humor-over-action comic books he did so well for DC.  

Patton's fantastic, bombastic voiceover work manages to inject some tenderness into his family relationships. That little extra might make Modok more popular than any other extended Robot Chicken bits besides SW. Let's hope he's trying to make something similar with DC's deep bench of offbeat titles and 3rd string characters. 

I know one fan who'd be willing to help a lot. I hope when we meet sometime, I can perhaps stump him with some geeky personal questions about SF, comedy, movies or animation, that he hasn't heard before like:

.... Did Patton ever listen to Bob Claster's Funny Stuff radio show on KCRW?

.....Did he ever get a chance to visit the Ackermansion in Loz Feliz before the contents went to Germany?

......What's his favorite episode: Robot Spy, Invisible Monster or the Sea Haunt?

That's the gist of the fanmail sent via a couple emails last November to the management at PattonOswalt.com. Sadly, Gatekeeper Dave never responded to acknowledge getting them or sharing my appreciation with Patton.

BS teaser

Patton Oswalt's movie premiere, Down Periscope, is now streamable at YT. It's pretty good & almost as entertaining as the somewhat similar Stripes. Sadly he has nothing funny to say once Rob Snyder is gone.

https://youtu.be/cyTcbSBIWTo?si=gCGFhQhaeQ1t8paJ

https://epikursa.blogspot.com/2025/06/an-appreciation-of-patton-oswalt.html