Patton Oswalt Performs First Stand-Up Since Wife’s Death, Jokes About ‘Numb Slog’ of Grief
Patton Oswalt Performs First Stand-Up Since Wife’s Death, Jokes About ‘Numb Slog’ of Grief
Patton Oswalt is coping with his wife’s sudden death by sharing his grief, and he had a captive audience at his comedy show this week.
On Thursday night the comedian performed his first standup show since Michelle McNamara died on April 21 at age 46, and 30 minutes into his set, he found the strength to talk about the loss.
“Six months and 12 days ago, my wife passed away,” he told the audience at the Beacon Theatre for the New York Comedy Festival, People reported, after opening with banter about the Chicago Cubs and Halloween.
Oswalt has been sharing his pain in Facebook updates over the last few months, but told his fans Thursday that sadly there is no such thing as a “healing journey.”
“If they would call it a ‘numb slog’ instead of a ‘healing journey,’ it would make it a lot easier,” he continued.
Because if they call it a ‘healing journey’ and it’s just a day of you eating Wheat Thins in your underwear, you’re like, ‘I guess I’m on my healing journey.’
While there has not yet been an official cause of death pending the coroner’s ruling, Oswalt told the New York Times last month that he suspects Xanax played a part in it.
McNamara, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, was a true-crime writer and founded her own website, “True Crime Diary.”
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