Patton Oswalt Love-Hates New York

There is a lot of beautiful stuff packed into Genevieve Koski’s Patton Oswalt interview at the A.V. Club, including Patton’s complete and utter disdain for living in New York. “I would open the doors to the hotel in the lobby, and even the two doormen would look back, like, ‘All right, dude, here it comes,’ and just this wave of garbage air would pummel you,†Patton says, describing his current three-month stint in the city. “It was like a shockwave of stink. I was almost excited to do it in the morning to see what new, horrible smell would come down there.â€

Despite smelling like the hot, wet bottom of a Dumpster, Patton does give a lot of credit to New Yorkers when comparing New York comedy (for example, Louie) versus L.A. (exemplified by Community). “I think the kind of person that gravitates toward New York is a person that’s not so much focused on controlling exactly how they appear and how they exit,†Oswalt explains. “They’re much more in tune with, like, ‘This is real life. This is how I am in this moment.’ They’re very much more in the moment. The whole sorting and controlling the image, that’s up to other people, when you’re finished with your work 20 years down the road. Other people, it’s their job to sort it out. They just wanna do, do, do, do, do, until they can’t anymore.â€

Patton Oswalt Love-Hates New York