Will Patton
Will Patton
William Rankin "Will" Pattonis an American actor. He starred as Colonel Dan Weaver in the TNT science fiction series Falling Skies. He also appeared in films such as Remember the Titans, Armageddon, Gone in 60 Seconds and The Punisher. He appeared opposite Kevin Costner in two films: No Way Outand The Postman. Patton’s father, Bill Patton, was a playwright and acting/directing instructor. Patton has been in many films, starting in 1981. He has done many television appearances as well, starting...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth14 June 1954
CityCharleston, SC
CountryUnited States of America
I have to drink this much to be as unfunny as you.
As you get older, as a comedian, and keep doing it, what you actually start to cherish on stage is not the build-up to the jokes, but how comfortable you can be in the silence and the non-laughing parts, and how long you can take the audience without a laugh to then get a huge reaction.
I like confounding expectations. I can expand what it is I am able to do, and hopefully get to do more weird, interesting projects like this. There's nothing wrong with doing comedies, and I'm not against comedies, either, but I always want to do stuff that keeps me off my guard and gets me out of my comfort zone. And how the audience perceives that... It's out of my hands. And I don't get that frustrated by it, because I'm on to the next thing at that point.
The process is to me is going onstage night after night after night after night until I get a new hour. And then once that hour is solidified and recorded, I move on.
There is a part of my generation that is not on social media because they have happy lives and they're not trying to connect with anybody. And there are other people who are on social media because they need to connect.
There's nothing wrong with doing comedies, and I'm not against comedies, either, but I always want to do stuff that keeps me off my guard and gets me out of my comfort zone.
Knock on wood, my groupies tend to be very artistic, creative people - sometimes way more creative than I am.
I never said that movies were struggling behind TV. I'm just saying that movies have a better creative cache.
Growing up, there are always those kids who are only happy when they are making someone else upset. That is unfortunately just how some people are. And their parents were fine. Some people are just born with bad wiring.
I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, 'Well, I've had it with humanity.' But I was wrong.
Every audience is different, even within the same venue. You have to just make every audience your audience; you can't pre-judge an audience based on the size of the room or the type of room.
Before doing my first open mic, I was sitting in the back watching all these comedians banter back and forth and fire jokes and up each other, and I thought, 'This is where I wanna be.'
Here's what I'm afraid of. I know a lot of comedians, friends of mine, who just got into the 'Doesn't matter what I say. It doesn't matter. They're just gonna laugh anyway.'
There's something kind of beautiful about that pure love of things. Like, "I'll show that I love the thing I love by hating everything else."