Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room

I'm not going to go into a full review on this special because it's already been done by others. Several reviewers have said that Charlie Sheen's roast introduced Patrice to the world. That's just flat wrong. That honor belongs to Opie & Anthony and Colin Quinn. O&A's popular syndicated FM radio show in the late 90s/early 2000s, had Patrice on and he quickly became a regular guest and co-host. He even hosted his own radio show on their XM channel. This is the place where Patrice told his hilarious stories including his brief stint in jail after being falsely accused of rape at 16, being propositioned by a guy at a rest area who knocked on his car window with the pickup line "it's cold out here," and who can forget his tales of working girls in Brazil and the suitcase of glass toys? For anyone seeking more Patrice, I highly recommend finding his radio appearances on O&A (there are many clips on YouTube). This is where you'll hear "Patrikey" giving his take on the news, interviewing celebrities, and interacting with other comics including Chris Rock, Louis CK, and Bill Burr. He even discusses the behind the scenes of the Charlie Sheen roast. This was a very popular show for awhile on FM radio and XM for almost 20 years. Patrice is a big part of the reason why. This is probably what led to his getting the VH-1 hosting gig.

In addition to O&A, Patrice was also a regular comic on Tough Crowd, hosted by Colin Quinn on Comedy Central in the early 2000s. It was a show that allowed popular comics to riff on the news and rip on each other. Patrice was absolutely hilarious on it. Clips are also available on YT.

For fans of comedy, O&A and Tough Crowd were the real reason Patrice was exposed to the world and probably the reason he was even asked to the roast. Both O&A and Tough Crowd were national shows, not some niche shows that were tough to find. His exposure on these shows gave him the heat he needed to be able to obtain parts in films and TV and almost certainly caught the attention of HBO and Comedy Central which led to his two specials. The people from these shows are the same people who hold an annual fundraiser raising money for Patrice's family who he supported financially. I just wanted to correct the inaccuracies being spread by uninformed users on IMDB who clearly don't know enough about Patrice's career to be able to speak on it.

I knew O'Neal from Arreated Development, The Office, and fell in love with him on the Charlie Sheen roast. A must view if you haven't seen it. The comedy central special illuminated who he was, and what motivated him. A tragic and touching story. To watch his stand up is to see Belushi, Hendrix, or Lennon. He was an artist at the top of his craft taken from people who cherished him. While Elephant is offensive to some, it is howingly funny. When Bill Burr says O'Neal was better than anyone else around, that speaks volumes.

Probably the one of the funniest special ever! I am just shocked that how much underrated Patrice is. I have seen this special once every year and it never fails to make me laugh my ass off. I miss this guy so much!

This special is up there with delirious, killin em softly etc. Genius and hilarious

Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room (2011)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

I think it's fair to say that if it wasn't for THE ROAST OF CHARLIE SHEEN then perhaps Patrice O'Neal wouldn't have such a following. It seems like everyone was introduced to him through that special and then that led people to want to see what else was available and sadly there wasn't much. Patrice would die not too long after these two specials were made and it's a real shame because they both prove what a major talent he was and sadly it was taking away much too early. The film certainly lives up to its title because O'Neal goes after everything from race to harassment to sexual diseases and even goes after the people in the crowd. The going after the crowd is something that many great and bad comedians have went for but I must say that I've never seen anyone as great as O'Neal. It's always a tricky subject because the comedian can't come off too cruel because he'd lose the crowd and it really is just amazing to see O'Neal work the crowd, have fun with them and never lose them. Just watch the way how he'll start off a topic, get a few cracks about himself in and then head out to the crowd to make fun of a few people and bring them in on the joke. Even better is how O'Neal can take what they say and then run with it in a whole new direction. There are countless hilarious moments to be found here but my personal favorite was probably the bit dealing with harassment and why there should be a day each year when men can say what they want to women without going to HR. Another hilarious bit deals with why black women get punched while white women get killed. There's even an off-color remark about the Natalie Halloway case that just comes off too funny not to laugh. There are a couple dry moments during the uncut, 77-minute version but there aren't many. The majority of the running time has O'Neal just going full out and really delivering some hilarious moments.