Patrice O’Neal: Killing is Easy (2021)

Starring: Patrice O’Neal (archival footage), Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, Dane Cook, Jim Norton, Colin Quinn, and Denis Leary
Grade: A-

I’m not going to lie to you, I was never a big fan of Patrice O’Neal. It’s not that I hated his comedy or anything, but I never sought out his work. Patrice O’Neal: Killing is Easy is an intriguing documentary that takes a look at the details of the short but eventful life of one of the more underrated comedians of the 2000s.

Summary

This summary is fairly simple. It’s the rise, fall, rise, death, and subsequent legacy of comedian Patrice O’Neal. This includes him growing up, his start in comedy, early success, family life, his refusal to conform for the industry, and his breakthrough. The highlights however are the focus on the nitty gritty of Patrice’s personality and the inner workings and real thoughts of his mind, something he didn’t share often with people.

Compared to his peers, Patrice was different. This includes his comedic style and how he acted in his personal life as well. As a comedian, he had a very confrontational and abrasive approach. He had no problem getting in your face about touchy subjects. Early on, we even see footage of him making fun of some lady in the crowd at a smaller venue and him paying her to leave once she started getting mad. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of something like that. This is just the beginning too, as we learn a lot about Patrice from archival footage, his fellow comedians (Dane Cook, Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, etc.), his family, and his friends.

My Thoughts:

Patrice was a complicated guy. A constant theme touched on in Killing is Easy is him talking or thinking about death and suicide and how he never thought he would live a long life. The most heartbreaking (but most interesting) footage of the entire documentary was when we see Patrice explaining that if he wasn’t doing comedy, he would more than likely kill himself. Despite his loud, shit-talking style, Patrice was hurting. They even talk about the timeframe when he was doing all of his sets sitting down at one point. At first, it looked like a creative choice and his fellow comedians thought the same, but it’s explained that he admitted to his friends he was just depressed. Hearing these words years after Patrice has passed shows how different a stage persona can be from the real person, especially for the life of a star comedian. It’s a tough ride to live.

It’s quite like the rollercoaster analogy used in the film to explain the life of a rising comedian that Patrice explains so well. You rise through the ranks and then fall straight down. Immediately after, you get right back in line to do it all over again, even though the ride “wasn’t really that good”.

I wasn’t a fan of Patrice when I started this documentary, but Killing is Easy hooked me with Patrice’s life and career. This television movie was very well done and put together by people who really appreciated him and his approach to comedy. You can see it with how much attention to detail is included, how much real-life footage was found to create an accurate view on the man for those that didn’t know him personally, and the honesty of the confessionals from his peers. This is important to note before you watch this thing. Killing is Easy is not a “puff piece”. A lot of the people involved for the interviews will admit Patrice was kind of an asshole and was hard to get along with. This is mostly because his confrontational approach wasn’t just a stand-up thing. He did it with other comedians and friends too. That’s kind of wild. His former fiancée literally went on record as saying, “that’s how he actually was at home”. Very rarely do you get that in a documentary. Usually, they say something like, “In real life, he was so sweet and nice!”. With Patrice O’Neal though, what you see is what you get. It got me thinking, “Really? Yeah, he does kind of seem like an asshole”. Most of the comedians speaking seemed to validate this as well. For instance, Kevin Hart’s comments were telling. He gave Patrice all the respect in the world, but every story he told about him reassured us that he was a massive dick to Hart and almost everyone around him.

When we learn more about how Patrice O’Neal was hurting as a human being on the inside, it only makes sense as to why he would act in public the way he did. All of the soundbites from the interviews and such really make you feel bad for the poor soul. Even though if he found out we were taking pity on him, he’d roast all of us for it too.

Patrice could’ve done so much more in comedy. He was just getting started. This documentary highlights not only how funny he was, but how unique of an individual he was as well.

You get a newfound appreciation for the guy. I didn’t realize he was held in such high regard by his peers, which makes me think (and know) that I need to start reevaluating some things on O’Neal. I need to watch more of him. Not that I think he’s the “Greatest of All Time’ or anything, but this documentary was enough for me to want to see more of him in general. This is a major positive. Through the years, I’ve just seen him in bit parts in movies and shows, but it never went further than that. Even if he wasn’t given much to say, he did always have a presence about him. It probably helped that he was 6’5” and 300-400 pounds, but he did have a quality about him in his speech and look that really made him stand out. After seeing this, I can see why he was venerated as a comic. The man did things his own way and outright refused to change. That’s hard to do when we know the money isn’t always there for a personality like this. I understand the praise now.

So, in this respect, they did a damn good job with Killing is Easy.

I will say Patrice’s childhood friends didn’t add much, and I felt like his former fiancée was sort of underutilized. There are no other stories like the pregnancy test one? I wanted to know more about him behind closed doors. I felt like that was the only part noticeably lacking. I also liked the comments by the stepdaughter. It added a sweet side to Patrice that was needed to make him feel more well-rounded than what others would give him credit for. Also, at times, some of the people commenting didn’t seem genuine or held back. After they established Patrice’s abrasive personality in this narrative, I felt like some of the others that were interviewed never really embraced that and just tried to avoid talking about this side of Patrice. Obviously, this isn’t true for everyone commenting (because the other comedians speaking the TRUTH about Patrice was one of the highlights of the documentary), but the one’s that only said these nice, superficial things felt cheap once we learned how the guy actually acted.

This wasn’t a perfect documentary or anything, but it’s still very interesting. The life and career of Patrice O’Neal feels more of a “What if?” scenario for someone as talented as him. What if Patrice decided to conform to what Kevin Hart described as “the bullshit of the business”? What if Patrice didn’t pass away? His special Elephant in the Room was a success, and he was right back up on that rollercoaster of fame had he not died shortly after it. Really, it’s a damn shame because at 41, he was just hitting his prime in the stand-up game.

I didn’t realize the people he was able to touch, and the respect that he gained from so many legends in comedy, but Patrice O’Neal: Killing is Easy makes sure we don’t forget about this unsung legend of comedy. I didn’t realize I’d be a fan of the man by the end of this, but I am now.