Oswalt just keeps coming back

Comic makes 'daily' jokes

By: MICHAEL PROCHASKA

Posted: 2/5/09

Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt once described Athens as a "Willy Wonka factory," whose residents live in a "bubble dream city of goodness."

And it was this sheltered college town that he chose to record his first comedy album "Feelin' Kinda Patton" in 2004.

Oswalt, a stand-up comedian who also recently emerged as a more prominent actor in his lead character roll in the children's comedy "Ratatouille," will once again come to the 40 Watt Club Friday night to launch new material featured on his upcoming album.

PATTON OSWALT

When: 9 p.m. Friday
Where: 40 Watt Club
Price: $16 advance/$20 door

For inspiration, Oswalt looks to everyday life. Much like Jerry Seinfeld's approach to comedy, Oswalt said there is no formula to humor.

"Comedy is always evolving. There's always this approach that you can make anything funny," he said. "It doesn't have to be a specific adversary relationship. I think that there's humor in anything."

For instance, Oswalt refers to Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous platters that combine potatoes, corn and chicken into a single bowl, as a "failure pile in a sadness bowl."

"America has spoken - pile all my food in a ... bowl, like I'm a dog," he said.

"[Oswalt] reminds me a lot of my own friends, just sitting around having a good time" said Michael Hart, a freshman majoring in history.

In a blog on his MySpace, Oswalt talks about the comedic perks of being a celebrity, such as meeting Paris Hilton.

"Not only do I think everyone should be 'mean' to Paris Hilton, but I think she should contract a terminal, painless bloating disease that can only be cured if the sufferer can both read and comprehend any written work by Willa Cather, Charles Portis, Wallace Stevens or Roberto Bolaño," Oswalt said. "She'd be doomed, but she'd die oblivious and we'll all be entertained [and enriched] by her failed attempts to save her own life."

After an appearance in Seinfeld, Oswalt also began appearing in various television shows, including The King of Queens, Kim Possible, Crank Yankers, and Reno 911! With experience in both adult and children's comedy, Oswalt doesn't have a preference to either approach.

"[I enjoy working with] whatever's funny. Dirty and clean humor basically has no correlation to tell if something is funny or not," he said.

Oswalt is exploring more dramatic roles, like his lead in "Big Fan," a film about an obsessive New York Giants fan who suffers major life changes after a violent confrontation with a player.

"It was just an opportunity to do the kind of movie that I always liked. It's exhilarating and it's challenging," Oswalt said.