Recent Obesession: The Truth, Whether I like It or Not.

I have been watching a lot of Youtube of Patrice O’Neil the last couple of days. I get the feeling that if it were sports you were talking about when you mentioned the name, Patrice O'Neil, he’d be the kind of guy that if he was on your team—you’d love him; and if he was on the other team—you’d hate him. I first remembered seeing him on "Tough Crowd" on Comedy Central and had really ambivalent feelings toward him. I would get so infuriated by him. He would, and still does, bulldoze and steamroll over people just to make his point or to get the last word. I would get so frustrated by him (and the show), that I would be asking myself aloud, "Why am I watching this?". This would go on despite the fact that I found myself agreeing with him most of the time. And sometimes I didn't entirely agree with his exact message but I was becoming a fan of the guy simply because he believed in what he said. There were times then and are now when you are not sure if he is being completely serious but one thing is for sure, he is making you think. He has a concrete filter that does not waver.

O'Neil continued to pop up in some of my favorite stuff, small part in "25th Hour" with Edward Norton and another small role in "Arrested Development" while hosting the show "Web Junk" on VH-1 for awhile (which illustrated this most horrifically named diet plan). He’s really starting to build some momentum and though I don’t listen to Opie and Anthony, I have a feeling that I am missing out on some of his work there. And the more I see him and hear of him, the more not only do I think he’s a great comic—but, I think he’s got a really good intellect about him too. His style is so provoking and sometimes so in your face, you may miss the point or the realization at the thoughtfulness behind it. I don’t believe he believes in all of things he says but none of it is said without a purpose. He always seems to be absolutely in tune with his environment and the moment. Kojo Mante has worked with him and said “the man listens to absolutely everything you say”.

To be as confrontational as he is, he has to be charismatic or relatable. There is a Patrice in every town, in every neighborhood. He is the guy that lives next to you, or works down the block or is always at the bar you go to and he always seems to have the goods on you. He’s the only guy in town, friend or not, that could tease someone about their own visibly cheating girlfriend; using graphic detail and keep everyone, even the recipient of the comedic dress-down, bent-over in laughter--he's like the neighborhood “bad-news” medicine-doctor. It is quality in a person that is as inborn as their height.

O’Neil is a contrarian of most mainstream thought not just because he believes it but I think he is really starting to believe it to be his job. The FOX-News Clip, here, O’Neil is in his own unique way, paraphrasing Voltaire (“I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it”).

And what gets me is that the two media buffoons next to him probably know that quote and have quoted it to their friends at a dinner party--but neither would ever have the guts to practice it. As well, if you were to point it out to O’Neil that he was “reminiscent of Voltaire” in that interview, he’d probably describe to you in a very colorful way of how you could remove yourself from his presence.

O’Neil will take a definitive stand and take the garbage that comes with it. How many of us can say that we honestly do that? Voltaire’s principle in that quote, the exercise of defending speech that O’Neil demonstrates are qualities that American’s hold to be so dear that we would and have (apparently) gone to war for it. Yet it feels like we continue to move away from it or have to fight harder to hold on to it.

Shit, start, talking politics…anyway, getting away from what I have enjoyed about watching from O’Neil--the conviction behind the honesty. It does not come along very often. It is definitely a priority to see his work live the next time he is in town.