jessup-86446 Coming off the death of his wife, Patton Oswalt delivers a great performance, somehow managing to maintain his composure even while recalling the feeling of telling his daughter that her mother was gone. I've seen other comedy specials where the performer reflects on their difficult past and maybe even breaks down a bit, but I've never been genuinely moved until now. Oswalt tackles his own grief with humour, making the audience both laugh and cry as they share in his healing journey/numb slog. I found his comedy style a bit too crude at times, but then he says at the end that his late wife loved crude humour so it made sense to me if he kind of crossed the line a bit (retroactively made sense anyways.) Great special, watch with tissues handy because you may cry.

snelling This is my first Patton Oswalt stand-up experience. There were some good observations and bittersweet stories about his late wife. I did not know he was a widower and that his wife died in her sleep about a year ago. Some bits went on too long so this really needed fifteen minutes trimmed from certain gags. The Polish woman unintentionally traumatizing his young daughter went on way too long. A few stories were too long because they really had no point. The fight he once observed is a perfect example. The ending bit with the porn references was also too long and smutty, maybe because I was eating lunch at that particular spot by pure chance. Then when he said it was his late wife's favourite bit, I told myself that at least he had a reason for including it. I gave him the five pity stars because he showed great courage in getting back on stage and opening his heart.

aminrigi In his last stand up (Annihilation), Patton Oswalt masterfully combines tragedy with comedy.He lost his wife last year. And now, Patton has set a new mission for himself: To spread the message of his late wife: "Life is chaos. Be kind".

MisterWhiplash With Patton Oswalt: Annihilation - aka, here's what life is like in 2017 - I'm not sure if I've seen a stand-up comedy special end on such a stark, philosophical note since Carlin's Jammin' in New York (which was, you know, about how to let go of the world itself). Oswalt's genius is taking us through such a horrible tale like becoming a widower - and, yes, one knows logically he's done this material in other clubs and venues, but not for a second do we doubt he's only barely holding himself together on stage as he tells us and the Chicago audience about telling his daughter her mother is dead - while still weaving in enough jokes that the line between a usual bit with set-up and payoff and simply... laying it all out for us, is blurred.It's also not *all* about the "I'm-now-a-Widower" state he's in, as he also riffs wonderfully on Trump (just enough that it doesn't get tired), a fight outside a triangle of bars that had an epic, DC/Marvel superhero event quality in the weirdest way possible (at least to how I saw it), and what happens if you want to pitch a G-rated kids movie but using porn descriptions. Hell, he does crowd work at one point - I have to think part of that was the conscious level of, 'well, how in god's name to I transition into "my wife is dead" material', but at the same time it feels like he's being doing it forever - and this is the first I can remember seeing him do it that didn't involve a heckler, and it's all in a warm, mocking spirit.There are a handful of times that I can think a joke didn't land *quite* as hard as Oswalt meant to, but I could care less; this is his most outstanding work since 2009, and the piece about the late Mrs Oswalt, Michelle McNamara, is among the great pieces I've ever seen in a stand-up special. It goes beyond stand-up into that achingly painful terrain Lenny Bruce mined decades ago.