Revenge of the Nerd

A word to the wise: Gnomish alt-comic Patton Oswalt might be diminutive in stature, but the 5-foot-7 jokester isn’t a pushover by any means. Although he portrayed geekazoid extraordinaire Spencer Olchin on TV’s The King of Queens for nine seasons, and his stand-up sessions overflow with nerdy references aplenty, Oswalt...

By Benjamin Leatherman

April 28, 2011

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A word to the wise: Gnomish alt-comic Patton Oswalt might be diminutive in stature, but the 5-foot-7 jokester isn’t a pushover by any means.

Although he portrayed geekazoid extraordinaire Spencer Olchin on TV’s The King of Queens for nine seasons, and his stand-up sessions overflow with nerdy references aplenty, Oswalt is a far from your average pimply, basement-dwelling wallflower. The dude is whip-smart (read his recent Wired essay on the state of geek culture if you doubt), hilariously caustic, and armed with a razor-sharp wit that can rip hecklers like the drunken audience members who were torn a new one on his 2007 album Werewolves and Lollipops to shreds.

Suffice it to say, those in attendance during Oswalt’s gig at the Mesa Arts Center on Thursday, April 28, should probably think twice before mouthing off to the sharp-tongued stand-up artist. You’ll probably be too busy chuckling up a storm at his riotous jokes about getting drunk (“Is it bad when you refer to all alcohol as pain-go-bye-bye juice?”) or his hysterically profane musings on consumer culture to speak up anyways.

Thu., April 28, 7:30 p.m., 2011

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Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music, and nightlife. He began writing for New Times in 2003 and joined the staff full-time in 2005. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Contact: Benjamin Leatherman

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