Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt (born Patton Peter Oswalt on January 27, 1969, in Portsmouth, Virginia) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He began performing stand-up comedy on July 18, 1988, and released his first comedy album 222 (Live & Uncut) in 2003. He has been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album seven times and won in 2017 for his seventh album Talking for Clapping (2016). He was named after General George S. Patton, the son of Carla and Larry J. Oswalt, a career United States Marine Corps officer.

Oswalt's television acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens (1998-2007) and narrating the sitcom The Goldbergs from September 2013 to May 2023. His film credits include voicing the main character Remy in the Academy Award-winning Pixar animated film Ratatouille (2007), his film debut in the 1996 military comedy Down Periscope alongside Kelsey Grammer, and roles in Magnolia and 22 Jump Street. He played the leading role of Paul Aufiero in Robert D. Siegel's 2009 directorial debut Big Fan, and Matt Freehauf in Jason Reitman's 2011 black comedy Young Adult.

A 1987 graduate of Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Virginia, Oswalt later attended the College of William & Mary, where he majored in English and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1991; in May 2023 he was made an honorary Doctor of Arts by the college. A longtime reader of comics, in particular DC Comics, his writing credits include "JLA: Welcome to the Working Week", a backup story in Batman #600. He released his book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland in 2011, and his influences include Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison and Steve Martin.