Patrice O’Neal the King of Unapologetic Comedy
“Everyone give it up for the young fella on stage, BRUISERRRR!”. This was the stage name Patrice went by. Walking on stage with clammy hands as anyone would do when met with nervous circumstances. A battalion of eyes just set upon you, expecting you to make them laugh after a depressing day of repetitive work and drinking in a solemn bar. Greeting the audience with a wide-ass smile and a laugh that would soothe the hilariously offensive shit he was about to say. Patrice made it look easy. Encapsulating his nature as a large timid man who walked up on stage, but soon set the audience on fire with his hilarious material. Talking about anything really he brought up concepts people were afraid to tackle, some were even seen as taboo among the stand-up comedy community. Patrice built up his reputation as a comedian by truly not giving a fuck, and that was what made him great.
From the words of the man himself. “I love making motherfuckers uncomfortable”. Patrice would say something borderline racist and would follow it up with a stomach-turning joke about TSA’s hiring mannerisms. He pointed out true observations in society regardless of whether some audience members were soft about it, and reported them to as if he was a sketch comedy news station. Described to have taken it “Too Far”, no one really cared because that was who he was. That was Patrice’s whole shtick, a gifted charm to have as an entertainer. If a random lady stands up and says “Hey I didn’t appreciate that joke”, the bitch was told to walk out with her pretentious attitude. Completely unapologetic-like … and it was legendary.
Most importantly, however, Patrice has embellished the idea of audiences evaluating their subconscious prejudices. Despite what many people want to believe, Patrice expanded on the idea that human beings quite commonly carry preconceived prejudices of other people. It happens every day by observing someone’s race, gender, mannerisms, etc at first glance we tend to build preconceived notions of who these people are in our head. The crazy thing is we do this without even talking to said people. Patrice openly expressed his manner of doing this in a universal way through comedy. Something many people can relate to and most importantly laugh too. In an art form where you don’t always take yourself seriously, Patrice was expressing a hard truth that was rooted in human nature. His style of comedy is up to interpretation, but it is hard to deny that he inspired transcendent self-evaluation among his audience members.
Patrice would have been 51 years old today. He passed away in 2011 through a long battle with diabetes that has plagued a large portion of his life. Right before his death, he was considered to be on the official mainstream come up with hit specials like “Elephant in the room”. Patrice is lived on today through his beautiful daughter and girlfriend. He may have been gone too soon, but he is still beloved by the comedy community and comedians in general. Today Patrice is seen as one of the G.O.A.T.S of comedy, mainly due to his brave nature to say whatever the fuck he wants to say and still make it funny. He brought that interesting fearless aspect of comedy and was immortalized in the mid-2000s. Rest easy Patrice we miss your funny ass.
