Patton Oswalt Slays A Nearly Sold Out Charleston Crowd

Veteran Comic Actor Hasn't Lost His Touch When It Comes To Stand-Up Comedy

Jeff Walker,  Entertainment Writer / Review

Most Americans became familiar with Patton Oswalt during his time on the sitcom 'The King of Queens'. However, nearly a decade before his nine year (1998-2007) run on he popular television series, Oswalt had honed his comedic skills doing stand-up and writing sketch comedy for MADtv.

And, although he's dipped his toes in several entertainment mediums (TV, animation, voice work, movies, etc) over the past 35 years, stand-up comedy has never left him. Saturday (Jan 25th) night the veteran comic brought his EFFERVESCENT conversational comedy tour to a near sellout crowd at the Charleston Music Hall. pattonnow

To use a old-fashioned cliche, Oswalt had the audience rolling in the aisles with non-stop laughter for over and hour, taking pot shots at organized religion, plane rides, classic horror movies, and raising a teenage daughter, all the while engaging with several attendees sitting in the front row.

Oswalt's bit on being rewarded with a can of beer for giving up a seat on the plane, leading to a spiral out of control death wish was exceptionally funny, as was his correlation between chick pea recipes and Muslims praying to mecca five times a day to avoid inane conversations.

While Oswalt's comedy is not PG rated, it's far from obscene as it appears he knows when to properly use an expletive. No telling how many Catholics were in the crowd, however that didn't stop him from comparing priests naughty behavior to the game of Clue. Let's just say 'penis' and 'little Timmy' were thrown in several times during the bit. 

Oswalt managed to find humor in several vocations, comparing female construction bosses to dominatrices, ragging on a lady retired from logistics, and another woman who took care of horses for no pay, suggesting the latter could use a horse pimp.

Perhaps some of this biggest laughs came complements of his now 15 year old daughter, describing how he prepared her to watch the 1978 horror film 'Halloween', to which he was surprised her practical sense found more comedy and stupidity in, than he did at that age.

Oswalt is an equal opportunity comedy offender.  Although he's not overly offensive, his stand-up routine doesn't follow politically correct rules. Apparently there's no rhyme or reason to his comedy which runs the gamut from modern day events to being bullied in high school in the 1980's.

The one thing that is consistent during Oswalt's stand-up is the never ending laughter throughout, as was evident from two women who sat in front of me. He is well versed and has an arsenal of material ready to pull from his comedy gun holster. He's equally adept to adlibbing. Truly the sign of a good comedian.

Patton Oswalt promised to return to Charleston in the not to distant future, unless he becomes and afterthought in Hollywood and finds himself spending his days nursing house broken wolves back to the wild in the hills of California. It's one of those 'you had to be there' comedy bits.

If you can catch this comic actor on stage anywhere near you, than I highly recommend an evening full of laughter. His EFFERVESCENT comedy tour is bubbling over with non-stop funny! The following might make it easier for some in the northeast during the month of March. https://www.pattonoswalttour.com/