Always the Comedian

Comedy Central recently reran Patton Oswalt’s half-hour special from 1999. That’s the second of two that the über-conservative “ChildCare Action Project” made such a big deal out of, the first being his 1997 HBO special. And while it was certainly funny (I’ll never look at Paas the same way again), it really proved my earlier assessment that Patton’s comedic talents have grown by leaps and bounds. Part of it is no doubt because of the intimacy of the club (as opposed to the special’s big-theater setting), but it just seems that in terms of both material and audience rapport, the live show was significantly better. So my earlier recommendation — see his show live, at all costs — still stands.

Of course, I still wish I could get either this or the HBO special on DVD (or even just the audio on CD); it may not be his best, but it’s still better than most of the crap out there.

On a related note, Patton’s foray into comic-book writing, JLA: Welcome to the Working Week, comes out next Wednesday. I haven’t read it yet (go figure, catching up with a guy after twelve years doesn’t warrant an advance copy), so I can’t make a blanket recommendation, but I’d strongly suspect it’s worth a look.