Patton Oswalt Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions
Patton Oswalt joins WIRED to answer his most searched questions from Google.
Patton Oswalt joins WIRED to answer his most searched questions from Google. Who was Patton Oswalt on The King of Queens? Was he ever on Seinfeld? Who did Patton do the voice of on Bojack Horseman? Does he have warm memories of being Remy in Pixar’s Ratatouille? How did he come to host the new game show The 1% Club? These questions and more are all answered on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.
New episodes of The 1% Club premiere on Mondays at 9/8C on FOX and are available Tuesdays on Prime Video.
Patton Oswalt joins WIRED to answer his most searched questions from Google. Who was Patton Oswalt on The King of Queens? Was he ever on Seinfeld? Who did Patton do the voice of on Bojack Horseman? Does he have warm memories of being Remy in Pixar’s Ratatouille? How did he come to host the new game show The 1% Club? These questions and more are all answered on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.
New episodes of The 1% Club premiere on Mondays at 9/8C on FOX and are available Tuesdays on Prime Video.
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TechTranscript
00:00I'm Patton Oswalt, and this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.
00:05Are these actual searches that came up?
00:10Oh, my God.
00:15Woo-hoo!
00:16Patton Oswalt, king of Queen's character.
00:19Well, I played Spence Olchen, who collected tokens in the subway for nine seasons.
00:26Zero character growth.
00:28He was stunted and hilarious, and I absolutely loved playing him.
00:32There's an episode, I didn't have any lines in the scene, even though I was in the scene,
00:36and the writers dared me stand absolutely still, do not react, and see if anyone notices,
00:41and no one noticed it.
00:42Is Patton Oswalt friends with Kevin James?
00:47I don't get to see him as much as I'd like, but when we see each other, we are very friendly,
00:51because I'm a big fan.
00:52Was Patton Oswalt on Seinfeld?
00:56Yes, he was.
00:57Back in 1994, I played a video store clerk where George Costanza, the great Jason Alexander,
01:03was trying to rent Breakfast at Tiffany's, because he didn't want to read the book for his book club.
01:07And Jason Alexander was very helpful to me, because I was so nervous, I only had one line,
01:13and right before they yelled action, Jason leaned forward and said,
01:15it's not too late to be fired, Patton.
01:17And it completely cracked me up and relaxed me, and I kind of owe my career to that guy.
01:22Patton Oswalt.
01:25The Goldbergs.
01:27I'm the grown-up kid narrating my life story.
01:31And I never actually appeared on the show, but you hear my voice every single episode.
01:35Well, that's been that board.
01:40Patton Oswalt.
01:42Stand up.
01:43I do it.
01:44It was the summer in between freshman and sophomore year of college, 1988.
01:49Had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
01:51Did a few up-and-mikes in Washington, D.C., and that, even before I got good at being a stand-up,
01:56I just loved that world.
01:57I loved the hang.
01:59I loved hanging out with comedians.
02:01It was just instantly appealing to me.
02:03I'm like, oh, this is the life I want.
02:05So the thing that you want to go do, even when it's giving you no immediate reward,
02:09is probably what you should do with your life.
02:11Patton Oswalt.
02:14Curb your enthusiasm.
02:16I got to do an episode where Larry and I do a hot dog eating contest to impress a woman.
02:21And what better way to impress a woman than shoving processed meat down your throat?
02:26Patton Oswalt.
02:29New York.
02:30That's where I am right now.
02:32I have such a love-hate thing with this city.
02:34New York is great to live in when you are young and broke or when you're old and rich.
02:39But anywhere between, like, ages 29 and 65, if you're just doing just okay money-wise,
02:46this is not the place to live.
02:47It will chew you down to the bone.
02:50And listen, I love you, Spike Lee.
02:52I love you, De Niro.
02:54I love you, Scorsese.
02:55But when those guys talk about New York, it's the only way to live.
02:59Yeah, the way you live here with a private elevator that takes your car up to your penthouse,
03:04absolutely that's the best way to live.
03:07But when you're in a studio apartment in Hell's Kitchen with a French bulldog that's pooping all over the place,
03:12no, maybe not the place to live.
03:14Patton Oswalt.
03:16Zoolander!
03:17I've known Ben Stiller since the 90s.
03:20I love him.
03:21I did a lot of early draft reads.
03:23And then he goes, come in and be this monkey photographer.
03:26So I am this monkey photographer.
03:28And I'm shot through a fisheye lens.
03:30Not a lot of people realize it's me.
03:32What a lot of other people don't know is the tagline on the poster I came up with,
03:353% body fat, 0% brain activity.
03:38That's mine.
03:39Can I throw it?
03:40Whee!
03:43I'm so afraid I'm going to hit you.
03:45I'm so paranoid.
03:46All right.
03:47Patton Oswalt.
03:49Remy!
03:50I'm the voice of Remy the Rat in Ratatouille.
03:52I'm very, very lucky to have gotten to do that.
03:54I got a call from my agent saying, hey, they would like you to go visit Pixar.
03:59And it turns out Brad Bird had been driving around, heard my first album on satellite radio,
04:04and there was a bit that I did.
04:05And he was like, that's the voice I want for this rat.
04:08And he apparently made a pencil test of Remy doing my routine,
04:13which he showed to the Pixar Disney people.
04:15And they were like, is the rat going to be cursing like that?
04:17Like, no, no, no, no, no.
04:18I just want this voice.
04:19And so that's kind of how I got the role.
04:22Patton Oswalt.
04:24Civil War.
04:25I don't want to say what side I'm on, but it was a rough time for our country.
04:28Let's just leave it at that, OK?
04:30I got to be in this amazing miniseries for Apple TV called Manhunt
04:33about the search for John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of President Lincoln.
04:37So I play Detective Lafayette Baker, who was brought in to aid in the investigation.
04:42That was a serious role, but I don't think he was a serious person.
04:45He was very shady, very kind of out for himself.
04:49So I could bring a little bit of the kind of pathos and desperation to him.
04:53And I got to shoot it in Savannah in July and August in a massive fake beard
04:58and a big heavy wool Union officer uniform.
05:01Mwah!
05:03Patton Oswalt.
05:05KFC bowls.
05:06Oh, Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation came out with this product called the Famous Bowls.
05:12There's so much despair to these things.
05:14It's just everything on their menu piled into a bowl.
05:17And I did a whole bit about it.
05:19Even though I was completely correct about how depressing and sad this thing is,
05:23it's their number one top-selling item,
05:25which I really think says something about where America is going mentally and psychologically.
05:29They never contacted me, but they sent me a Colonel Sanders bobblehead
05:35and then a bobblehead of me, but much smaller,
05:38which I feel like is the fast food version of a Sicilian message.
05:42I burned them.
05:43I did not want to bring that bad energy into my house.
05:47I'm going to hit you and I'm going to feel horrible.
05:49Patton Oswalt.
05:52Podcast!
05:53I had a podcast for a while.
05:54The wife and I had one called Did You Get My Text?
05:57And we had a lot of fun doing it, but we ended up fighting so much.
06:00We were like, this podcast is hurting our marriage.
06:02So we did 50 episodes and then left it off.
06:05We were like, there's enough podcasts.
06:07The world will be fine.
06:08Why does Patton Oswalt wear two rings?
06:12Oh, well, this is my wedding ring.
06:14And this ring right here is a special ring that Meredith bought right after I proposed.
06:21And it's got a little moonstone on the inside.
06:23And she bought the same ring for me, our daughter, Alice, and for her.
06:26We wear this ring because it's like we are also like a unit.
06:30And the moonstone is for love and hopeful, positive energy.
06:35And she believes in all this crystal stuff.
06:37I don't know if it works, but, you know, why make enemies?
06:40And I always, always wear this because I love it.
06:42Because I love her.
06:43Patton Oswalt.
06:46Awards!
06:47I got a Grammy.
06:48I got an Emmy.
06:49I got a Critics' Choice.
06:51World's Greatest Dad.
06:52I can't remember the other ones.
06:53I think I got like a Vanguard Award from some film festival.
06:58And I've been nominated for some, like a Gotham Award, I think, and an Independent Spirit Award.
07:02Did nominations count?
07:03I'll take them.
07:06Now I'm super paranoid.
07:08Who does Patton Oswalt voice in BoJack?
07:13What could this last one be?
07:15Horseman!
07:16In BoJack Horseman, I think I voice like 13 different characters.
07:20A navy seal.
07:21I voice a giant worm.
07:24But the one that I do the most is a guy named Pinky Penguin, BoJack's agent and publisher.
07:28And he's just the most beaten down, world weary.
07:33He got out of the world of publishing and then moved laterally to the world of television.
07:38And he's basically a guy who's always jumping onto a sinking ship.
07:41And I love doing him.
07:42Patton Oswalt.
07:44Star Wars!
07:45I was on Parks and Rec and I did this massive rant where I, not only did I pitch a Star Wars sequel,
07:51but then I tried to tie in everything.
07:53The Marvelverse, DC Comics, Star Trek, Greek myths.
07:57Everything I could possibly think of, I slapped together.
08:01It kind of went viral.
08:03Entertainment Weekly made a poster based on my rant.
08:06Incorporated every single thing that I said, which was crazy.
08:09And then when the Book of Boba Fett showed on Disney, the opening shot, I had this confirmed by Jon Favreau,
08:15they matched the opening shot to the beginning of my filibuster about Star Wars.
08:20So I'm kind of in the Star Wars-verse in a way.
08:23Patton Oswalt.
08:25MCU!
08:26I have done a lot of stuff in the Marvel Comics universe.
08:29I played M.O.D.O.K. in the Hulu animated series, which I also wrote and created.
08:33I played Agent Koenig and his many, many brothers on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
08:39That was great.
08:40Peter Parker's gentle Uncle Ben on Spider-Man animated show.
08:44And Pip the Troll at the end of Eternals.
08:48And boy, I can't wait for that sequel.
08:51Can Patton Oswalt.
08:53If this says stop running his yap, I'm going to cry.
08:56Can Patton Oswalt sing?
08:59No, he can't!
09:01I am completely tone deaf.
09:03I don't have the lung power for it.
09:05I would never inflict my singing on anyone.
09:09I found a video of you singing.
09:11Wait a minute.
09:12Let me amend this then.
09:13There is a group called Choir, Choir, Choir.
09:15And I was tweeting about them and just loved them.
09:18And they go, how would you like to sing with us?
09:19I'm like, I don't really sing.
09:20So we figured it out.
09:22Let's do a Beck song.
09:24We managed to get away with it.
09:26And in my very limited vocal range,
09:28I was able to pull off a pretty good rendition of Beck's New Pollution,
09:33if I do say so myself.
09:35I got away with it once.
09:36I'm not going to press my luck.
09:39Are you okay?
09:40Patton Oswalt.
09:43Norm Macdonald.
09:44I love Norm Macdonald.
09:46He was never not hilarious.
09:47And he was clearly operating on this kind of advanced fifth and sixth dimensional level.
09:53There's a structure to his career and to what he was doing
09:56that I think people are just now starting to see.
09:59That's a really amazing legacy to get to leave.
10:01Patton Oswalt.
10:03The 1% Club.
10:05Funny you should mention that.
10:06Because I'm hosting a new game show called The 1% Club.
10:09It was originally a British game show.
10:11And they offered me the hosting job.
10:14And they sent me the first season.
10:16And my God, I loved it so much.
10:18And I said, sure, I'll do this.
10:20And it has been a blast.
10:22Patton Oswalt.
10:24Quotes.
10:25My quote to do a show?
10:26What does quotes mean?
10:27I get quoted.
10:28Sometimes there's a thing about religion and tolerance,
10:30which I said you have to respect everyone's beliefs,
10:33which I think is incorrect.
10:35I think you have to acknowledge everyone's beliefs
10:37and then reserve the right to go.
10:38And that's ridiculous.
10:39I have an uncle who believes he saw Bigfoot.
10:42We neither believe him nor do we respect him.
10:44So I think that's where you get into trouble.
10:46When you think you have to respect everyone's beliefs,
10:48you don't have to do that.
10:49Patton Oswalt.
10:51Twitter.
10:52Still on it, even though it's become a weird neofascist cesspool.
10:57But hey, there's still no better way to promote my upcoming gigs
11:00at befuddleds in West Virginia
11:02than to go on the Nazi adjacent electronic bulletin board.
11:06Thanks, Elon.
11:08I'll always call it Twitter.
11:11I gotta say, they really covered the gamut of my life here.
11:15There's stuff that hasn't even come up in my Google searches of myself.
11:18If an entertainer tells you that they don't Google themselves,
11:21they're lying.
11:22We never don't Google ourselves.