Are their other American comics that share that Irish sensibility?
Patton’s the only one I’ve come across so far. I recently shared a bill with Chris Rock. And Chris is fantastic. The writing and the insight is fantastically sharp. But again, it’s not as discursive as Patton’s style. Chris presents a series of comedic bullet points. Regardless of the term “alternative comedy” being misused or overused here in the States, Patton, in many ways, fits comfortable into that scene. If you were based here, would you fit better into the alt comedy scene than you would in the mainstream? I think you need to try to succeed in the every room. You can’t say I only belong in this arena or that arena. I think that’s a bit self-protective. I think it’s also less creative. That’s the craft of stand-up. It’s pointless if you send advanced warning to a comedy club and tell them that you will only perform if there are 17 people sitting on the left and six people on the right and nobody sitting in the middle and the microphone has to be five feet, six inches tall and all
