Drunks Are Funny

Just listened to Patton’s new EP, Patton vs. Alcohol vs. Zach vs. Patton. First of all, let me state for the record that, if you’re a Patton Oswalt neophyte, this is not the album you want to pick up first. Go listen to Feelin’ Kinda Patton, or better yet, catch the double-CD set 222.

But if you’re already familiar with Patton’s work, Patton vs. Alcohol vs. Zach vs. Patton is hysterical. Basically, it’s just Patton going on a Scotch-fueled ramble at the end of a Comedians of Comedy tour set, half-starting several of his routines and verbally sparring with fellow comedian (and impromptu accompanist) Zach Galifianakis. I’ll confess that I wasn’t all that big a fan of Zach’s when I first saw him, but he’s starting to grow on me; and here, he’s the perfect foil for the rapidly deteriorating Patton.

Like 222, the EP is basically one long track, rather than being broken up into individual segments. With 222, I went in and manually broke it up into tracks; a time-consuming process, true, but it makes it easier to find what I’m looking for on my iPod — the downside being that my Feelin’ Kinda Patton disc (which is just the edited-down version of 222) pretty much just collects dust. (Figuratively speaking, of course, since they’re both on the iPod; in reality, all of my discs are gathering dust.) In this case, though, it really doesn’t make sense to break it up — it really is one 28-minute-long “routine” in and of itself.

The EP is available in limited quantities — it’s a tour-only promotional item, but for now, you can order it online. Come to think of it, 222 appears to be available once again, so if you didn’t order it before, get it while you can.

Go. Spend your hard-earned money. Now if only I can figure out a way to get some kickbacks...