Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room (TV Special 2011)

Patrice O’Neal: Elephant in the Room: Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller. With Patrice O’Neal, Josh Fadem. Elephant In The Room, filmed at the acclaimed Montreal Comedy Festival, is Patrice’s first full-length special.

“Patrice Ou0026#39;Neal: Elephant in the Room (2011) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e*** 1/2 (out of 4) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think itu0026#39;s fair to say that if it wasnu0026#39;t for THE ROAST OF CHARLIE SHEEN then perhaps Patrice Ou0026#39;Neal wouldnu0026#39;t have such a following. It seems like everyone was introduced to him through that special and then that led people to want to see what else was available and sadly there wasnu0026#39;t much. Patrice would die not too long after these two specials were made and itu0026#39;s a real shame because they both prove what a major talent he was and sadly it was taking away much too early. The film certainly lives up to its title because Ou0026#39;Neal goes after everything from race to harassment to sexual diseases and even goes after the people in the crowd. The going after the crowd is something that many great and bad comedians have went for but I must say that Iu0026#39;ve never seen anyone as great as Ou0026#39;Neal. Itu0026#39;s always a tricky subject because the comedian canu0026#39;t come off too cruel because heu0026#39;d lose the crowd and it really is just amazing to see Ou0026#39;Neal work the crowd, have fun with them and never lose them. Just watch the way how heu0026#39;ll start off a topic, get a few cracks about himself in and then head out to the crowd to make fun of a few people and bring them in on the joke. Even better is how Ou0026#39;Neal can take what they say and then run with it in a whole new direction. There are countless hilarious moments to be found here but my personal favorite was probably the bit dealing with harassment and why there should be a day each year when men can say what they want to women without going to HR. Another hilarious bit deals with why black women get punched while white women get killed. Thereu0026#39;s even an off-color remark about the Natalie Halloway case that just comes off too funny not to laugh. There are a couple dry moments during the uncut, 77-minute version but there arenu0026#39;t many. The majority of the running time has Ou0026#39;Neal just going full out and really delivering some hilarious moments.”