Patton Oswalt vs. YouTube

[kirbypuckett]

Yesterday on Twitter Patton Oswalt made the following comment:

"Why do idiots think it's OK to post shitty cell phone footage of my new material on YouTube? And then insist they're a "fan"?"

http://twitter.com/#!/pattonoswalt/status/26954576405

He followed it up with:

"And no, posting my work-in-progress bits doesn't "give me more exposure." It ruins the album I'm working on. Jesus FUCK!"

"Now the pinhead says he's reluctant to take down the footage -- thinks I might be an imposter "trying to steal Patton's new bits."

"Guess what, asshole? They've already been stolen. BY YOU."

"Everyone defending the guy posting my work-in-progress bits? UNFOLLOW ME."

"Guy took down the vids and apologized. All is well. Also, trimmed a lot of douchebag followers. This is a good day."

Now I love Patton Oswalt, but this kind of bothered me. I'll assume that the venue had signs posted stating you cannot record the show. However, I'm willing to bed that over 50% of Patton's audience have cameras or cellphones w/ cameras on them at all times. This is 2010, someone is going to sneak a few minutes of audio/video to show their friends, upload on YouTube, etc...

Obviously is there were signs the fan was in the wrong, but was Patton right in his reaction? He said it would ruin his album, but how often do comedians go on talk shows, etc... and perform a bit to hype up the album. Does that spoil the album as well? Hell, wouldn't actually performing these jokes live hinder the record?

It's not a perfect comparison, but bands don't get upset when fans record their new songs and post them on YouTube. Clips of movies being filmed are constantly popping up on the web these day as well, I don't think Hollywood is too bothered by that.

I wasn't too happy with Patton's responses and follow ups, especially the ones directed to his fans and I thought this would be a decent discussion.

http://twitter.com/#!/pattonoswalt

[xxmartinxx]

Dude isn't that funny to begin with.

[Guest errolwest]

I can certainly understand where he's coming from, but this seems like a huge overreaction. also, I completely agree that clips always get posted, and it's not really that big of a deal. There are far worse things that could happen.

[flood]

when it comes down to it no ones opinion but his matters in this situation. Its his material, if he doesn't want it posted on youtube... thats his perogative. Personally i don't understand people taping bands/comedians on their cell phones thing at all... you paid to go see a live show.. put down the damn camera and enjoy it.

[brotherkyle]

when it comes down to it no ones opinion but his matters in this situation. Its his material, if he doesn't want it posted on youtube... thats his perogative. Personally i don't understand people taping bands/comedians on their cell phones thing at all... you paid to go see a live show.. put down the damn camera and enjoy it.

especially shitty looking cell phone video. why does anyone post that shit?

[xjustinxschwierx]

Dude isn't that funny to begin with.

you need to hear "Feelin' Kind of Patton"

dude is hilarious.

[kirbypuckett]

when it comes down to it no ones opinion but his matters in this situation. Its his material, if he doesn't want it posted on youtube... thats his perogative. Personally i don't understand people taping bands/comedians on their cell phones thing at all... you paid to go see a live show.. put down the damn camera and enjoy it.

I usually record one song when I go to shows. I just got an iPhone 4 and the video and sound quality is amazing for a cellphone. I just like to have the memories.

People love the stuff though, almost all of my videos get 100+ views. Even one I took of Weezer who have hundreds of videos on the Internet gets a ton of views and a handful of comments.

[One Hundred Fifty-Two]

More people probably watched the video because he brought it up. Be pissed about it, but don't attack your fans. He could have just sent a message to the dude who posted it asking him to take it down, and at his shows ask for security to ban all recording.

[zac]

Honestly, the man likes to drink and he has a cell phone. Do we know yet that this wasn't just a drunken overreaction?

[alex13]

I like recording and sharing live shit simply because I was that kid growing up that wasn't allowed to see any live music.

I'd like to think that having an archive of someone's awesome performances is very flattering and a future piece of (not-so-important) history.

It's not surprising Patton reacted the way he did--he's always been a big fucking baby.

[circlingvultures]

Patton has always been a big baby. Sometimes it's funny but it gets old real fast. Actually when this happened I put on the split 7" he did with The Melvins where he just attacks 2 women in the audience for being on the cell phone. It starts out really funny but by the end you can see how angry he really is and it's ridiculous.

[beardacus]

Dude isn't that funny to begin with.

agreed. only was good on The King of Queens

[kittenmittons]

Patton is my favorite comedian but I was shaking my head watching this go down on twitter. Big overreaction but hey, sometimes that happens to us all for one reason or another. He has gotten his material stolen a lot lately...anyone remember that commencement speech awhile back he got pissed about?

[suburbanargyle]

Dude isn't that funny to begin with.

agreed. only was good on The King of Queens

Seriously?

[lokithelion]

Yesterday on Twitter Patton Oswalt made the following comment:

"Why do idiots think it's OK to post shitty cell phone footage of my new material on YouTube? And then insist they're a "fan"?"

http://twitter.com/#!/pattonoswalt/status/26954576405

He followed it up with:

"And no, posting my work-in-progress bits doesn't "give me more exposure." It ruins the album I'm working on. Jesus FUCK!"

"Now the pinhead says he's reluctant to take down the footage -- thinks I might be an imposter "trying to steal Patton's new bits."

"Guess what, asshole? They've already been stolen. BY YOU."

"Everyone defending the guy posting my work-in-progress bits? UNFOLLOW ME."

"Guy took down the vids and apologized. All is well. Also, trimmed a lot of douchebag followers. This is a good day."

Now I love Patton Oswalt, but this kind of bothered me. I'll assume that the venue had signs posted stating you cannot record the show. However, I'm willing to bed that over 50% of Patton's audience have cameras or cellphones w/ cameras on them at all times. This is 2010, someone is going to sneak a few minutes of audio/video to show their friends, upload on YouTube, etc...

Obviously is there were signs the fan was in the wrong, but was Patton right in his reaction? He said it would ruin his album, but how often do comedians go on talk shows, etc... and perform a bit to hype up the album. Does that spoil the album as well? Hell, wouldn't actually performing these jokes live hinder the record?

It's not a perfect comparison, but bands don't get upset when fans record their new songs and post them on YouTube. Clips of movies being filmed are constantly popping up on the web these day as well, I don't think Hollywood is too bothered by that.

I wasn't too happy with Patton's responses and follow ups, especially the ones directed to his fans and I thought this would be a decent discussion.

http://twitter.com/#!/pattonoswalt

The difference between hearing a joke for the 5th time and hearing a song for the 5th time is as big as an ocean. More importantly these are jokes that are still in progress, this is akin to bands who get pissed when their demos leak.

Just because it's 2010 and everyone has a camera doesn't make it right or okay for those people to upload low quality work in progress versions of his material. Comedy is built by performance. A performer should have the right to decide how their work is released, and the bits he's been doing on this tour have changed dramatically from the 1st show to the last show. Since the record in question probably wont be coming out until 2011 in the Fall having those jokes in their fetal form on the internet for a year, well before they're finished, is a disincentive to buy his album.

There is literally no other art form that develops like stand up does. You wouldn't like it if someone ruined your joke. This has nothing to do with "living in the modern world", it's about someone stepping on your punchline by giving it away to thousands of people before you have a chance to tell it the way you want. Performing these jokes live is how they develop, based on audience reactions and things that come out of your head in the spontaneous moment. It will be a truly sad day for comedy when comics can't work on new material on the road without some asshole putting it on youtube before it has a chance to develop fully.

A clip from a movie is different because the studio releases it, and any spy footage doesn't include big chunks of dialog. When a comic goes on a talk show to promote an album they're using finished material, a lot of the time however it's finished material that isn't actually on the album they're promoting.

Dude has every right to be mad, most of all about the self righteous uploader not taking the video down when contacted because he "thought it was a fake".

[lokithelion]

I'm curious, has anyone else ever tried stand up? It's fucking brutal. And it's an art form where you have nowhere to hid. No music or other members, just you and a microphone. To the people saying he acts like a baby when people are rude, try it sometime. Try to standing on stage and pouring your heart out for five minutes, let alone an hour, trying to say something important to you while making people laugh. If you're talking on your cell phone during a stand up's set you're an asshole. Go outside, you truly are disrupting the show. Is it really that hard?

But then the comic become the baby when he loses his temper at the people who are disrespecting him during his time? Christ go on Youtube and see what a real comedian meltdown looks like before you make fun of Patton. At least he's never struck an audience member, instead choosing to make fun of them. Also watch the movie Heckler. It's a documentary by Jamie Kennedy about the antagonistic relationship between audiences and comics.

[jimmythescumbag]

Yeah, Heckler was a good look at this kind of thing. Patton is in it too.

[kirbypuckett]

I understand his and your points, but is it really worth calling your fans "douchebags" and "assholes" over something like this?

You wouldn't do that, but Patton can get away with it because he's immensely popular and a few Twitter followers aren't going to matter in the scheme of things. But I just don't like it.

[lokithelion]

I understand his and your points, but is it really worth calling your fans "douchebags" and "assholes" over something like this?

You wouldn't do that, but Patton can get away with it because he's immensely popular and a few Twitter followers aren't going to matter in the scheme of things. But I just don't like it.

He called one guy an asshole. If you unfollow someone because they're angry about the way their art is being presented you're being a douchebag.

As for if I'd do it, I have probably 119 followers on Twitter for The 1st Five, (twitter.com/the1stfive follow us for music news), but when I lost followers for making a joke about people who think Obama was born in Africa I mentioned it and said I was happy with it. Didn't call them douchebags because they were really just whiny children, but if someone leaked the demos to my new record I probably would be pissed at the defenders.

[steventangent]

lokithelion, you spared me from making a similar post.

though I would also add that comedy is completely lousy with theft, and someone like Patton runs the very legitimate risk of one of his jokes becoming someone else's before his album even comes out.

it's like if carlos mencia, for example, saw Paton's bit about the KFC famous bowls and did the high points on one of his shows months before Werewolves and Lollipops dropped. Effectively, the joke would have become his, and people would accuse Patton of stealing it.

[kidamnesiac]

Comparing this to a band's demos for a new record leaking is absolutely ridiculous. It's more like a band playing a new song they're working on at a show, someone records it on their cellphone, and uploads it to YouTube. Which happens all the time and only really big assholes get upset about it.

As was mentioned earlier in the thread: this is 2010. If you're even slightly famous, you should expect anything you do in public to be recorded and uploaded to YouTube.

[lokithelion]

Comparing this to a band's demos for a new record leaking is absolutely ridiculous. It's more like a band playing a new song they're working on at a show, someone records it on their cellphone, and uploads it to YouTube. Which happens all the time and only really big assholes get upset about it.

As was mentioned earlier in the thread: this is 2010. If you're even slightly famous, you should expect anything you do in public to be recorded and uploaded to YouTube.

You know nothing about the world of stand up comedy. This is exactly like unfinished demos leaking. Just because you should expect to get screwed by your "fans" doesn't make it right.

[melvinscam]

it's like if carlos mencia, for example, saw Paton's bit about the KFC famous bowls and did the high points on one of his shows months before Werewolves and Lollipops dropped. Effectively, the joke would have become his, and people would accuse Patton of stealing it.

if the issue is material being stolen, why even perform the unfinished material live?

who is to say there isn't someone in the crowd prepared to steal it?

maybe this isn't the same as a demo being leaked but what about a live bootlegged recording of a band? plently of "fans" collect live bootlegs, are they asshole as well?

[kittenmittons]

if the issue is material being stolen, why even perform the unfinished material live?

who is to say there isn't someone in the crowd prepared to steal it?

maybe this isn't the same as a demo being leaked but what about a live bootlegged recording of a band? plently of "fans" collect live bootlegs, are they asshole as well?

well like it's been said, they have to test out material to tweak it and make it hilarious. a joke can come across great in your head but until you test it out you don't know the best approach/delivery for it. this is what most comedians do when deciding on bits for an album. they want the most successful jokes recorded, not ones that they just hope people will like.

[lokithelion]

it's like if carlos mencia, for example, saw Paton's bit about the KFC famous bowls and did the high points on one of his shows months before Werewolves and Lollipops dropped. Effectively, the joke would have become his, and people would accuse Patton of stealing it.

if the issue is material being stolen, why even perform the unfinished material live?

who is to say there isn't someone in the crowd prepared to steal it?

maybe this isn't the same as a demo being leaked but what about a live bootlegged recording of a band? plently of "fans" collect live bootlegs, are they asshole as well?

Are they publicly releasing those bootlegs over a year before the material is going to be further developed into an album?