Patton Oswalt says he has a sneaking suspicion that things are going to get ugly in America and people, like Republicans, for example, are pretending otherwise.
“There might not be water in a few years. Like there literally might not be water. So because of that underlying fear it’s almost like we’re hardening ourselves to this brutal world that’s coming,” the comedian tells host Andy Levy on the latest episode of The New Abnormal podcast. “Our rehearsal for that is to scoff and laugh at racism, homophobia, violent attacks on people. You know, the fact that there was a violent attack on the husband of the Speaker of the House, and no Republican has condemned it, they’re laughing at it and making jokes about it, like, we really are about to hit a really dangerous point right now.”
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His fears are also being stoked by rich people, says Oswalt.
“The fact that a lot of wealthy people I know are suddenly buying up land in Montana or Ireland or New Zealand, it all seems to be like bolt holes are happening,” he says.
“Especially if it’s the people at the front of the herd,” adds Andy.
Oswalt also shares his take on cancel culture within the comic community (even calling right-wing comedians “failed open mic-ers.”)
“This is the age of cruelty for clout where, because they never had anything creative to say or anything genuinely cool or anything that they really liked, they just are turning to performative cruelty, [like] ‘don’t you like edgy comedy? Don’t you get it?’ Oh, I see what you’re doing. You yourself aren’t funny,” he says.
Plus! Oswalt unpacks the one issue that he thinks scares Evangelical conservatives the most and gives us a peek inside the life of his middle school-aged child.
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