Patton Oswalt Talks ‘I Love My Dad,’ Cringe Comedy and Cancel Culture
Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features EditorPatton Oswalt is OK with making you squirm. After all, the actor and comic once performed a number called “The Cringe” on an episode of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” a title that could describe his approach to cracking people up. “Real comedy comes from those moments,” Oswalt says. “I fully ascribe to Tracy Morgan’s maxim that ‘Cool is the enemy of funny.’ Cringe and awkwardness are real humanity, and that’s where the real funny stuff comes from.” A comic’s comic adored by peers and audiences for wry, observational humor that often comes at his own expense, he’s also proven to be a skilled dramatic actor, recently playing Nixon’s hatchet man Charles Colson in the limited series “Gaslit.” But his new film, “I Love My Dad,” ups the ante in discomfort while offering Oswalt a showcase role that is alternately hilarious and tragic.