Patton Oswalt: Annihilation

Patton Oswalt is a funny comedian, for sure.

But this 2017 show was just too much focused on easy jabs at Donald Trump, which didn't really sit well with me. Now, I am by no means not a supporter or fan of Trump in any way, but he is just too much of an easy target for jokes. So the fun part sort of sinks into the sand.

There are some good jokes here and there about various topics, but they were not sufficient to raise the stand-up show out of the mediocrity gutter, after Oswalt sank it with his Donald Trump tirade.

And "Annihilation" was also somewhat of a trip into Patton Oswalt's personal experiences, such as when he talked about the loss of his wife.

This is, unfortunately, the type of stand-up comedy show that you will watch once and probably never again.

I mean come on, all of the comedians already did all of this years ago and this fella is still b-ching about it - his whole bit is about it - he called Hillary "a very qualified woman" (cringe pandering much?) and I bet he's not doing Biden jokes nowadays eventhough he's even more meme material, because he's inconveniently not-republican, right?

Just a really really sad little fella. And still I wanted to like him and have a few laughs maybe, but nah.

Patton Oswalt has been a long time favorite comedian of mine, following him through his career and life.

When his wife Michelle died tragically in her sleep in April 2016 at age 46, Patton was faced with the daunting task of being sole parent to their kindergarten daughter, Alice.

Patton handles his material with grace, anger, intelligence, humor and honest heart-wrenching grit. I laughed and wept, was angry alongside him and felt buoyed with hope in spite of it all.

Because as Patton explained Michelle's philosophy of life as "It's chaos. Be kind" in a bit thru which he walked the thin line between humor and sadness, with looks from people in the audience who were trying to stifle polite & nervous laughter, he brought the audience through to the other side. Because there is no place else to go...

Patton's "Annihilation" is the best of what I love, respect and admire in comedians: they bring us to a place out side our comfort zones, encouraging us to look more closely, leading by example that a best lived life, is the examined life, and a life examined with humor.

"It's chaos. Be kind." ~ Michelle Eileen McNamara

10/21/17. Despite the tragedy of his private life, Oswalt rises above it in this stand-up comedy worth watching. His honesty about the death of his wife was truly cathartic for him but was probably somewhat reassuring to the audience as well. He is funny without resorting to bad language. His observational humor is spot on and hopefully we will get to see more of him in the future.

In his last stand up (Annihilation), Patton Oswalt masterfully combines tragedy with comedy.

He lost his wife last year. And now, Patton has set a new mission for himself: To spread the message of his late wife: "Life is chaos. Be kind".