Patton Oswalt: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
by Fred Topel for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Patton Oswalt braved a very rough cell phone connection to give a phone interview for his latest film. He stuck to funny one liners to keep it safe when the questions were breaking up, so it was kind of a free 10 minute standup set from a major comedian. Even his polite refusal of a Suicide Girls membership was funny.

There’s only one scene with Patton Oswalt in the new movie Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. He plays Roache, a neighbor Dodge (Steve Carell) runs into at an end of the world party. Since an approaching asteroid gives earth only three weeks before destruction, people are living up their last days.

Roache explains to Dodge how he’s been using the end of the world to get laid. It turns out 8s and 10s lower their standards when they don’t have any time to wait for someone better. Oswalt gives a funny monologue in a memorable scene from the movie, and he gave us some time in support of the film.

Suicide Girls: This interview is for Suicide Girls.
Patton Oswalt: Oh cool.
SG: Are you familiar with our work?
PO: I know of the website, yes. I’ve been interviewed a few times in the past.
SG: Can we count you as a member?
PO: You know, I never had a membership there. I think they sent me a free one and I never used the password and then I got a whole new internet thing so I just kind of never was a member.
SG: We’ll have to fix that.
PO: Oh, I’m good, but thank you. That’s very kind. I’m okay.
SG: Whenever I see an end of the world movie, I always think, “Where would I go to find supplies?” Do you think about that?
PO: I mean, in the case of a movie like this where you know the whole world is going to be wiped up, I think it becomes a moot point. I would try to find enough alcohol and DVDs to get me through it.
SG: I think so too! I would collect the entertainment.
PO: Okay, yeah, me too.
SG: Would you go for the full out debauchery like your character does?
PO: Maybe for a few days but I bet the hangover would be too brutal to enjoy it for very long.
SG: Is it kind of amazing that they’re still civil enough to have a party?
PO: It is nice. It speaks well for humanity.
SG: Did you improvise anything in your scene?
PO: A couple lines here and there but the script was pretty great. I didn’t have to add all that much stuff.
SG: As a standup performer, you memorize your whole act, so is it easy to memorize a long monologue for a movie?
PO: Yeah, you always get a couple runs at it so definitely it’s way easier on film where you can do it again and again. Most of my stuff as a standup is more riffing out on stage, so there’s not that much memorization involved.
SG: As a movie fan yourself, what can we do about the texting in theaters?
PO: I have no idea and theaters don’t seem to be that concerned with stopping it. I would do what they do in India which is click devices that block cell phones in most movie theaters. Go ahead and take them out. They don’t work.
SG: Is it frustrating that it seems like people don’t want to watch movies? They’d rather sit there and text.
PO: Apparently. I mean, as much as they don’t care, I care less and less about getting angry at them and just block them out and make it my own experience.
SG: You have such a strong presence on Twitter. Do you ever start a tweet and then think, “No, I’ll save that for my act?”
PO: No, because my Twitter feed is more self contained one liners and that’s not what I do as a comedian.
SG: As a comic book fan, what are your thoughts and expectations for the Amazing Spider-Man reboot coming out this month?
PO: I can’t say. I can’t get a grip on this one from the trailers. I’m going to have to wait to see it. I just don’t know. I won’t know ‘til I see it. I just learned not to just movies by their trailers anymore.
SG: Where did you fall in the greats organic webshooters versus mechanical webshooters debate?
PO: I never really thought about it either way. Whatever’s going to make the thing work in the movie I guess. I mean, it didn’t bother me in the first movie. It’s all just different versions of storytelling I guess.
SG: Is The Dark Knight Rises a big one on your radar?
PO: Yeah, it looks like it’s going to be great. I’m very excited and I hope it’s great. I loved The Dark Knight so we’ll see what happens.
SG: Do you think there’s still room for Batman after The Avengers?
PO: I think there’s always room for good movies. It doesn’t really matter. As long as you make a good movie, people will go see it.
SG: Were you a fan of The Avengers?
PO: Oh yeah, I thought it was great. I thought it was amazing.
SG: I was pleased you mentioned the great video store Erol’s in a blog post on your site. What are your fond memories of Erol’s Video?
PO: Oh yeah. Not really anything specific. It was just a part of my childhood.
SG: Did you ever imagine when you were growing up that you would one day have a platform for all your ideas and opinions?
PO: No, I don't think any of us did. There was no way to predict the kind of future that we’re living in and there’s no way to predict what’s probably coming down the pipe now. God knows what’s next so we’ll see.
SG: But even that you’d be a performer and say what you want and people would listen?
PO: It’s nice! It was a nice dream and now it’s come true so I can’t complain.
SG: Once you’ve had albums and sold out comedy shows, how does that change your perspective when you know you have a platform?
PO: Well, everything in your life changes your perspective so I can’t really think of it in terms of that. It doesn’t make me doublethink everything that I do. I always try my best to be as true to whatever I feel in the moment. I’m not like oh, now more people listen to me, I’ve got to do this.
SG: When did you realize you had your own unique point of view?
PO: It’s hard to put a finger on that. Again, it’s a thing that just happens. It just happens without you realizing it and then you kind of end up looking at it in the rearview mirror.
SG: How do you stay current?
PO: I’m more like staying true is way more important than staying current.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is now playing.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Patton+Oswalt%3A+Seeking+a+Friend+for+the+End+of+the+World/