REVIEW: Patton Oswalt @ Newmark Theatre (Portland, OR – 9/13/09)
OK, so you may have heard of Patton Oswalt from Pixar’s Ratatouille. He was the leading… um… rat. You may also know him from the newly hitting the cinemas flick called Big Fan, and well… tons of other stuff. He just released a new CD/DVD of his Comedy Central special, My Weakness is Strong.
(available on the Amazons)
This was my second time in the Newmark Theatre. It suits a comedian as well as a 9-piece jazz band. The show started right on time (7:30pm), and it was general admission, and I showed up at about 7:29pm… but I lucked out with a decent spot in the 2nd balcony. The opener was really funny… a guy formerly from Portland, but who now lives in Seattle and writes trivia questions for an XBox game company or something. I didn’t catch his name… Andy something (any help to fellow comedy-goers?). Anyway, he was good, did 15 solid minutes and handed the mic directly to Patton…
Patton was really funny. He has some bits canned, but he seems to wing it more than other comedians that I’ve seen (i.e.- Seinfeld & Carlin don’t tend to stray from their “script”). Based on looking at the track titles from My Weakness is Strong, he did Sky Cake, The Oswalt Family Crest, Rats, Orgy, Treadmill, Obama…And Time Travel…And Coolness…And The Last Racist, and The Magician. He also did the KFC Famous Bowl bit with a newly added bit about an upcoming “Double Down” sandwich that sounded dreadful to eat. We got to witness a spontaneous song written for the Double Down when an audience member asked if there’d be a song…
♪♫ fuck you heart, fuck you liver, I’m gonna double down ♪♫
He ended the 90 minute set with the Christmas Song (Newsong) bit and a bit about Stella Dora breakfast treats.
Favorite bits from Patton… hmm… Sky Cake (YouTube below) is a great bit and right up my alley. Obama/Time Travel was great. The Magician who was pissed about $5 was great. KFC Famous Bowl / Double Down was classic, especially as we got to witness a new song formulated on-stage. And Patton’s random interaction with a kid in a band from Eugene called Busket for about 5 minutes was pretty hilarious, too. Good ol’ Motorized Vinyl Rhino!
Sky Cake is a Lie!
The Appropriate Linkage:
~Dan – np: Porcupine Tree – The Incident
Leave a comment
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
Creative Commons
This blog and concert photos therein are licensed under a Creative Commons License. Available with Attribution for Non-Commercial, Non-Derivative Use.
pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news 
I wasn’t familiar with this guy. I gotta say, the sky cake thing is creative. I am pretty deeply offended by it, but it is creative.
Well, the sky cigarette people are offended when you tell them that your sky pipe is the only smokable that’s the true way to go. ;)