SARATOGA LIVINGThe City. The Culture. The Life.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Patton Oswalt is one of the hardest working comedians in show business. For younger audiences, Oswalt’s general hilariousness and irreverence has helped him amass 4.5 million followers on Twitter. He’s also logged a number of memorable acting gigs, including voicing lead (animated) character “Remy” in the Oscar-winning Pixar film Ratatouille and doing recent turns on multiple Emmy-winning HBO series Veep and the recent revival of cult favorite Veronica Mars. Older audiences might know him best as Spence from long-running TV sitcom The King of Queens (he appeared on 179 episodes). Additionally, Oswalt has won critical acclaim as a standup comedian (he’s garnered an Emmy and a Grammy for his comedy albums) and New York Times bestselling author (see: Zombie Spaceship Wasteland).

Thankfully, Oswalt won’t just be another tweet in our social feeds for much longer. He’ll be bringing his comedy show, Patton Oswalt Live!, to the Palace Theatre in Albany this Thursday, July 25, debuting an hour’s worth of all-new material. In fact, Oswalt’s show will mark his first-ever performance in the Capital Region.

A native of Virginia, Oswalt first tried his hand at standup during his student days as an English major at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. “I can’t remember a specific date, [but] I figured I’d try to turn what I liked doing into a vocation,” Oswalt tells saratoga living. After earning his degree in 1991, Oswalt dedicated himself to the craft. It took several years, but he landed his first onscreen TV role in 1994 in Comedy Central’s Small Doses, a short-lived prime-time series of mini-sitcoms. That same year, Oswalt also nabbed his first cameo as a video store clerk in the classic ’90s sitcom Seinfeld. (Coincidentally, Jerry Seinfeld will also be bringing his standup show to the Palace in October.) For Oswalt, getting to meet Seinfeld was a life-changing moment. “I auditioned for the role and got it, and we’ve been friends ever since,” Oswalt says. “His craftsmanship and joke writing are pretty much unmatched—no wasted words and maximum impact.”

It wouldn’t be until 1997 that Oswalt had his major breakout, appearing in his first big standup special, HBO’s Comedy Half-Hour. Since then, Oswalt has steadily built his résumé, becoming one of the most well-respected comedians of his generation.

However, all of the high points in Oswalt’s decades-long career couldn’t prepare him for the lowest of lows. In 2016, one day before the release of his Grammy-winning comedy album Talking for Clapping, tragedy struck. Oswalt’s wife of more than ten years, Michelle McNamara, a journalist and true crime author, passed away suddenly, leaving the comedian to care for the couple’s young daughter Alice. Though devastated, Oswalt remained surprisingly open about his grief and sense of loss both in interviews and on his Twitter feed, where he frequently posted touching remembrances and thoughts about his late wife. The following year, the comic released the critically acclaimed Netflix standup special Annihilation, in which he frankly discussed the loss of McNamara, battling his own depression and finding meaning in life again. “It was definitely cathartic doing that special,” says Oswalt. “I’ve always talked about what’s been going on with me, both personally and in a wider historical context, so it wasn’t really a ‘choice’ [to talk about it].”

The last few years have been a whirlwind for Oswalt. In addition to being nominated for two more Emmys and another Grammy, he remarried, wedding actress Meredith Salenger in 2017. Though not necessarily taking a break from show business, Oswalt is moving at a slightly more relaxed pace of late. “Right now, I’m focused just on a new Netflix special [that’s] shooting in September,” he says. That’s in addition to a new animated series on Hulu he’ll be writing for and producing called M.O.D.O.K. (short for Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing), produced in partnership with Marvel.

There are still tickets available for Thursday’s performance at the Palace. You can pick them up here.

One Schenectady teenager has just made herself millions of nerdy fans. In a scene-stealing moment from Season 3 of Netflix’s Stranger Things, which premiered on the streaming service July 4 weekend, main character Dustin jumps on the walkie with his new girlfriend, Suzie, and shares a hilarious duet of The NeverEnding Story theme with her (see below). At this point, actor Gaten Matarazzo, who portrays Dustin, is a household name, but you would’ve likely had to search IMDB.com to figure out who plays Suzie. Locals Upside Downers will be surprised to find that she’s played by none other than 16-year-old Schenectady native Gabriella Pizzolo, who already has quite the performing arts résumé under her belt.

Pizzolo, who’s made a name for herself on Broadway and performed at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), is proud of her Capital Region roots. “Schenectady is great, and I couldn’t think of a better place to grow up,” Pizzolo tells saratoga living. Like a lot of performers, Pizzolo got her start in local community theater, landing roles in the Schenectady Light Opera Company and Classic Theater Guild, also in Schenectady. Pizzolo developed the singing voice that made her a star on Stranger Things from voices lessons at Craig Elementary in Niskayuna, where she also acted in school plays. “The music teachers there were very helpful, and they taught me so much,” says Pizzolo. “I’m incredibly grateful for them.”

Pizzolo also credits a pair of local venues for helping spark her initial love of the theater. “I absolutely love Proctors and all its plays, and SPAC too,” she says. In 2013, Pizzolo made her SPAC debut in a performance of George Balanchine’s Garland Dance with the New York City Ballet. “Having an outlet for theater and performance so close to me really enhanced my love for theater,” says Pizzolo. “And I got to see what happens both backstage and onstage.” The Schenectady native still buys her pointe shoes from Saratoga Dance, Etc. on Church Street in Saratoga Springs. “One of my favorite things about Saratoga is the pointe shoe statues that are all around town,” she says.

In 2013, the same year she debuted at SPAC, Pizzolo broke through on Broadway. At just the age of ten, she starred as the titular character in the hit Broadway show Matilda the Musical, an adaptation of the beloved young adult novel by Roald Dahl. “I felt so lucky and so honored to be on Broadway,” says Pizzolo. “I definitely couldn’t have done it without everybody around me.” That big break, it turns out, almost didn’t happen. Pizzolo was passed over the first time she auditioned for the role. But that didn’t stop her from pursuing her dream. When the Broadway role became available again, she auditioned a second time and nailed it. “I like to live in the mindset that rejection makes people stronger,” says Pizzolo. “So whenever rejection occurs, I try to use it and turn it into something good.”

Pizzolo ended up portraying Matilda for nearly a year. While in New York City, the Upstate New York native met another young, rising Broadway actor in Matarazzo. “A lot of the kids on Broadway would meet up and hang out,” says Pizzolo. “So he and I are great friends.” Flash-forward just five years and that connection to Matarazzo helped Pizzolo land the Stranger Things audition. “The [NeverEnding Story] scene was so well written that I could imagine watching it,” says Pizzolo, who’s been a fan of Stranger Things since it first landed on Netflix in 2016. “I recorded what I was thinking in my head and sent it [in].” Just a few weeks later, Pizzolo heard back; she’d been cast as Suzie.

Though not even three minutes long, that too-cute duet between Pizzolo and Matarazzo—which, by the way, helped save the world (at least in Stranger Things)—has proven to be a fan favorite as well as an internet sensation. Actress Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven in the show, even dropped her own #NeverEndingChallenge on Instagram, inviting fans to show off their dance moves while watching the scene. The viral hashtag subsequently broke the Internet, even inspiring late night talk show rivals Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon to take on the challenge together. “One of my favorite things about the entire series is seeing what everyone else thinks about that scene,” says Pizzolo.

For Stranger Things fans searching for clues about Season 4, Pizzolo tells saratoga living that she doesn’t know yet if Suzie will be back, but she says she’d love to take on the role again. As for any other big projects she might have on the horizon, Pizzolo says she’s taking a bit of a breather. “Right now, I’m just focusing on enjoying summer vacation and becoming a junior,” she says. Hey, after helping save the world, who can blame her?