With Big Fan coming out this week, Patton Oswalt attempts to follow a well-worn path – as an actor who began his career performing stand up comedy. Earlier this month, comedian Demetri Martin had a respectable run (as far as art house standards are concerned)
with his role in Ang Lee’s quirky film Taking Woodstock. Though it’s only grossed six million (far short of its $30 million production budget), starring in a film directed by a legendary director has certainly helped Martin’s credibility as an actor. Both Martin and Oswalt have gained respect as two of the freshest new faces in stand up in recent memory, but only time will determine whether that fact will translate into dollars at the box office. Sure,
Oswalt had success with Pixar…but so did Larry the Cable Guy. To show what Oswalt and Martin are up against, we’ve visualized the cinematic successes (and failures) of the most famous stand up comedians to ever hit the big screen. One caveat – we only focused on actors that were well known as stand ups before turning to acting. This means no Kevin Spacey or Kevin Pollack, who both performed stand up before becoming actors, but weren’t as well known for it as say Robin Williams or Richard Pryor.
(Click the image below to enlarge)
