Exclusive video interview with Patrice Oneal

by Dylan P. Gadino

You know Patrice Oneal. For the better part of a decade, the veteran comedian has carved out a place in the national comedy scene as a well-respected, comics comic– a guy that has a lot of opinions on a great many things. More than anything, however, he revels in opining about race. He’s good at it. Or at the very least, he’s incredibly passionate about it.

Most recently, Oneal has inked a deal with Comedy Central to shoot an hour stand-up special as well as host a pilot for the network titled Patrice Oneal’s Guide to White People, where he plays a professor of whiteness.

The below interview is part of our web interview series A Tight Five, wherein I sit down with well known comedians at Comix comedy club in New York City. This interview is a bit different than a lot of the other Tight Five episodes I’ve done, mainly because in this five-minute version of our chat, we talk very little about comedy and quite a bit about plain old interpersonal communication. I thought, in this case, it made more sense, since Patrice is such a dynamic fellow. And by “dynamic” I mean he has no problem calling me a “little creep” and accusing me of trying to act Jewish, as if that would be a bad thing anyway. Enjoy!

In the next few weeks, we’ll for sure roll out the uncut version of this interview. So keep your eyes peeled.