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.
