This is my first Patton Oswalt stand-up experience. There were some good observations and bittersweet stories about his late wife. I did not know he was a widower and that his wife died in her sleep about a year ago. Some bits went on too long so this really needed fifteen minutes trimmed from certain gags. The Polish woman unintentionally traumatizing his young daughter went on way too long. A few stories were too long because they really had no point. The fight he once observed is a perfect example. The ending bit with the porn references was also too long and smutty, maybe because I was eating lunch at that particular spot by pure chance. Then when he said it was his late wife's favourite bit, I told myself that at least he had a reason for including it. I gave him the five pity stars because he showed great courage in getting back on stage and opening his heart.

Man, that had to have been hard; but he makes it look easy. Considering the levels of Patton Oswalt's despair over the past year, that's the mark of a remarkably honed talent. The only thing worse than losing a significant other is having to bream the news to your child. It's the last thing I'd even want to do. But Oswalt has a gift for turning pain into laughs and rolling with the punches; and all of this is after his hilariously sticky conversation with the front row. Dull moments just don't arise. There are funnier standup specials with more memorable knee-slappers, but I don't think I've ever seen any like this; as soul-crushing as it is uplifting. It is the work of a man who's mastered his craft. 10/10

Patton Oswalt has been a long time favorite comedian of mine, following him through his career and life. When his wife Michelle died tragically in her sleep in April 2016 at age 46, Patton was faced with the daunting task of being sole parent to their kindergarten daughter, Alice.Patton handles his material with grace, anger, intelligence, humor and honest heart-wrenching grit. I laughed and wept, was angry alongside him and felt buoyed with hope in spite of it all.Because as Patton explained Michelle's philosophy of life as "It's chaos. Be kind" in a bit thru which he walked the thin line between humor and sadness, with looks from people in the audience who were trying to stifle polite & nervous laughter, he brought the audience through to the other side. Because there is no place else to go...Patton's "Annihilation" is the best of what I love, respect and admire in comedians: they bring us to a place out side our comfort zones, encouraging us to look more closely, leading by example that a best lived life, is the examined life, and a life examined with humor."It's chaos. Be kind." ~ Michelle Eileen McNamara

With Patton Oswalt: Annihilation - aka, here's what life is like in 2017 - I'm not sure if I've seen a stand-up comedy special end on such a stark, philosophical note since Carlin's Jammin' in New York (which was, you know, about how to let go of the world itself). Oswalt's genius is taking us through such a horrible tale like becoming a widower - and, yes, one knows logically he's done this material in other clubs and venues, but not for a second do we doubt he's only barely holding himself together on stage as he tells us and the Chicago audience about telling his daughter her mother is dead - while still weaving in enough jokes that the line between a usual bit with set-up and payoff and simply... laying it all out for us, is blurred.It's also not *all* about the "I'm-now-a-Widower" state he's in, as he also riffs wonderfully on Trump (just enough that it doesn't get tired), a fight outside a triangle of bars that had an epic, DC/Marvel superhero event quality in the weirdest way possible (at least to how I saw it), and what happens if you want to pitch a G-rated kids movie but using porn descriptions. Hell, he does crowd work at one point - I have to think part of that was the conscious level of, 'well, how in god's name to I transition into "my wife is dead" material', but at the same time it feels like he's being doing it forever - and this is the first I can remember seeing him do it that didn't involve a heckler, and it's all in a warm, mocking spirit.There are a handful of times that I can think a joke didn't land *quite* as hard as Oswalt meant to, but I could care less; this is his most outstanding work since 2009, and the piece about the late Mrs Oswalt, Michelle McNamara, is among the great pieces I've ever seen in a stand-up special. It goes beyond stand-up into that achingly painful terrain Lenny Bruce mined decades ago.