Tuesday, January 02, 2007

A Kinda Patton Christmas

So I went a little nuts on a Christmas present for my buddy Jackson. Last year, he had introduced me to Patton Oswalt and his standup comedy cd, "Feelin' Kinda Patton". We both think it's one of the best comedy albums ever, and half listened to it half a zillion times, to the point where we end up quoting it like a couple of Monty Python geeks.

Anyway, in one of the bits on the album, Patton is talking about Hollywood producer Robert Evans' autobiography, and he says, "if you can find the book on tape, GET IT." (Supposedly because the guy is outrageous and insane.) So I said to myself, I said, hey, that would be a good gift for my buddy Jackson. So off to eBay I go, and eventually I got it. Then I thought, wouldn't it be fun to try and find the other items that Patton mentioned on the album? It quickly got out of hand, and turned into a huge scavenger hunt for all sorts of wacky items.

So Jackson and I got together last night, and I told him I needed him to sit down for an hour. I started playing the Patton Oswalt album on the iPod, and opened the box, displaying the "A Kinda Patton Christmas" posters I had made. Then, when it came to a part in the standup routine where Patton mentioned an item, I'd pull it out and present it to Jackson. It was a hilarious success, if somewhat ridiculous. A photoset of all the stuff is available here. Be sure to look at the photos one-by-one instead of the automated slideshow, so you can read the comments for each item.

Then the evening progressed nicely, as Jackson served up some of his momma's pot roast (the perfect food for a cold rainy night), and then he gave me his presents, a cool old Sesame Street book that may be the first product they put out, a funny diagram of a whiskey bottle detailing it's effects, and best of all, an amazing painting of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster. The expression he got on Jeeves' face is amazing; I shall endeavour to place a photo of this painting on Flickr soon. We also had some delightful homemade hooch, in the form of homemade hard cider from Jackson's brother.

UPDATE:
I emailed the Flickr link to Patton Oswalt, and got a response within minutes:
> Holy shit! That's amazing. I had no idea my album was the new ROCKY
> HORROR PICTURE SHOW.
>
> Thanks. This made my year.
>
> PATTON

And then I get this:
> I posted a thing about it on www.aspecialthing.com, in the Patton
> Oswalt Q&A Thread.
>
> PATTON

The exact thread he's talking about is here. It continues on the next page.

2 comments:

Nick Faber said...

Congrats! A really amazing guesture of friendship well recognized by its inspirer.

Huzzah, young man!

Jackson Hall said...

Ted I can't thank you enough for the best christmas ever! I am one happy fanboy. I glad Patton liked it too.