During an appearance on ABC’s The View on Tuesday to promote his new Apple TV+ series Manhunt, a historical fictional look at the hunt for John Wilkes Booth, comedian Patton Oswalt popped the media’s doom and gloom narrative that the end times were upon us and America was at the “brink” of collapse, when we’ve been much closer in the past. He called out the obvious that it was in the best interest of “the news business” to keep people scared and “getting eyes on that screen” was their goal.
“Here's what's kind of reassuring about watching a show like Manhunt is that we have been way closer to the brink than we are now,” he argued. “I think that right now the way that the news portrays things, because a lot of times you are being exposed to the news business rather than the news. And the news business is about getting eyes on that screen.”
Without an ounce of self-awareness, the liberal ladies of The View all voiced their approval of Oswalt’s assessment.
“So they do have to make it seem like, ‘There's no way back from this!’ But we've been way closer, leaning over the abyss, and we've pulled ourselves back with way less technology and knowledge than we have now,” he added.
Co-host Joy Behar argued that “it’s the technology itself that makes it just as bad in many ways.” But Oswalt generally disagreed:
Yes, exactly. But also any technology has its good use, its maligned use, and then a whoops. You can use an axe to cut wood and build a fire, you can also drop it and cut your foot off, and you could murder someone with it. So, it depends on how you use that technology.
And this, especially, when you watch Manhunt, you see that, “Oh, any new technology can be misused, can be” -- And right now we have the chance, I think, to use technology, which, yes, has kind of messed things up in a lot of ways to once again pull us back from the brink.
But immediately after making those points, Oswalt had his own moment of stoking blink panic about the future. He was fearful that comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about former President Trump at the Oscars spelled doom for the 2024 presidential election:
I loved it but part of me is a little bit worried because let's all remember that Trump's supervillain origin story happened at the correspondents' dinner when Obama and Seth Meyers were ripping into him. And all I saw when they cut to all of the A-listers laughing, that is going to be a gallery of faces in his head every night like, “I must get vengeance!”
“So, yes, it was brilliant, but, Jimmy, you may have doomed us to failure,” he proclaimed. “And so, I'm wondering, again, yes, that was a great moment but as they cut to all those faces, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, that is going to become Donald's dark motivational…fuel.’”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
March 12, 2024
11:50:01 a.m. Eastern(…)
PATTON OSWALT: Here's what's kind of reassuring about watching a show like Manhunt is that we have been way closer to the brink than we are now. I think that right now the way that the news portrays things, because a lot of times you are being exposed to the news business rather than the news. And the news business is about getting eyes on that screen. So they do have to make it seem like, “There's no way back from this!” But we've been way closer, leaning over the abyss, and we've pulled ourselves back with way less technology and knowledge than we have now.
JOY BEHAR: But it’s the technology itself that makes it just as bad in many ways.
OSWALT: Yes, exactly. But also any technology has its good use, its maligned use, and then a whoops. You can use an axe to cut wood and build a fire, you can also drop it and cut your foot off, and you could murder someone with it. So, it depends on how you use that technology.
And this, especially, when you watch Manhunt, you see that, “Oh, any new technology can be misused, can be” -- And right now we have the chance, I think, to use technology, which, yes, has kind of messed things up in a lot of ways to once again pull us back from the brink.
SARA HAINES: You were also watching the Oscars, you mentioned you didn't host it for anyone confused from Joy.
OSWALT: That was Jimmy Kimmel.
HAINES: Yes, but when Jimmy Kimmel shot back at Trump's review of his performance, that was a highlight for Joy and many us laughed. What did you think of that?
OSWALT: I loved it but part of me is a little bit worried because let's all remember that Trump's supervillain origin story happened at the correspondents' dinner when Obama and Seth Meyers were ripping into him. And all I saw when they cut to all of the A-listers laughing, that is going to be a gallery of faces in his head every night like, “I must get vengeance!”
So, yes, it was brilliant, but, Jimmy, you may have doomed us to failure. Anyway, but, no --
BEHAR: He’s very thin skinned. He cannot take a joke.
OSWALT: He is thin skinned.
BEHAR: All he knows is how to dish it out.
OSWALT: Again, if you want to dish it out, you can dish it out all you want as long as you can take it.
[Crosstalk]
He cannot. And so, I'm wondering, again, yes, that was a great moment but as they cut to all those faces, I’m like, “Oh, my God, that is going to become Donald's dark motivational—
SUNNY HOSTIN: That’s his fuel.
OSWALT: Yeah, that’s going to be his fuel.
(…)
