Yesterday afternoon, comedian Patton Oswalt took the podium to provide the keynote address at the 2012 Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. Over the past few years, comedians such as Lewis Black and Marc Maron have provided similar opening speeches to the show, with Maron’s in particular being a great moment where you have someone reinventing their career speaking of everything that came before him and the new road he was trailblazing.
How funny it is, then, that Patton took the direction he did for his speech.
Oswalt’s keynote is two letters. One to his fellow comedians. The other, to the “gatekeepers” of the world of entertainment. He talks about how things have been, and how things are changing so much in the world of entertainment, and how now, more than ever, the ability to create great things are in the hands of the creators.
Whether you’re a comedian or any other type of creative, this is definitely something worth reading. I’ve included both letters in full beneath the cut. Enjoy, I sure as hell did.