Months after the sudden death of his wife, the author Michelle McNamara, Patton Oswalt announced that he is preparing to return to standup comedy at some point next month. In a tweet early Sunday morning, Oswalt revealed that he feels ready to be back on stage performing jokes for people again, and attached a famous Deadwood scene as an explanation why.
I'm gonna start doing stand-up again next month. This is the closest I can come to a reason why: https://t.co/ygsT7czFNy
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 28, 2016
The scene, which includes Ian McShane’s Al talking to Jeffrey Jones’ Merrick, contains a quote that may be very relevant to Oswalt’s current mindset.
“Pain or damage don’t end the world — or despair, or f—ing beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man, and give some back.”
It’s as good a guiding principle as any, and that it stems from the wisdom of Al Swearengen only makes it more worthy of following. Oswalt has made few public appearances since his loss – one of them the recent Pete’s Dragon premiere – and made only slightly more public statements about Michelle’s passing. Returning to comedy shows without Michelle in his life must be a daunting task, so our support goes out to Patton as he gradually returns to work.
