Patton Oswalt is trying to keep morale up.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop and countries like Italy have officially gone on lockdown, celebrities like Oswalt are trying to help in any way they can—even if it just means making their neighbors laugh.
Earlier this morning, the 51-year-old stand-up comedian shared a video of himself performing from his front yard on Twitter. “Watching the videos from Italy inspired me,” Oswalt wrote on social media. “Entertainers must offer hope & humor to their neighbors in this time of quarantine.”
Over the weekend, as people in Italy continued to be on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, videos of residents of apartment buildings began making rounds on social media of them singing and playing instruments from their balconies to keep spirits high.
“All right, folks. Thanks for staying in tonight. I hope you guys are isolating and securing in place,” Oswalt begins his stand-up skit from his balcony. “This COVID-19, I tell ya. I didn’t see COVID 1 through 18, so I don’t really know what this is all about.”
“But hey, you know, great time to catch up on your streaming stuff,” Oswalt continues as two passerby watch him from across the street.
Pointing to his 10-year-old daughter Alice Oswalt, who is seemingly walking their dog on the front lawn, Oswalt says, “Oh hey, how you doing there, how are you doing today?”
To which his daughter jokingly replies, “You suck!”
“All right, let’s uh… you know folks, let’s be sure to tip your food delivery people, but don’t touch them. Don’t touch them. And we’ll be… I’ll be here for another 40 minutes,” Oswalt says, as the camera pans out to the desolate residential area.
But his daughter wasn’t the only one taking a jab at the comedian. His wife Meredith Salenger took to Twitter to poke fun at his stand-up video too. She wrote, sharing the original video, “I was so moved by the community singing out of their windows in Italy because they couldn’t leave their homes. This is almost as inspiring.”
This weekend, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued new restrictions, calling for home isolation of everything age 65 or older, people with chronic diseases and also asked for the closure of bars, wineries, night clubs and brew pubs, according to The Sacramento Bee.
On Sunday evening, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti echoed the governor’s sentiments and officially ordered for the aforementioned establishments to remain closed until at least March 31. Restaurants were ordered to close their eat-in diners but can continue to fulfill takeout and delivery orders.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio also signed an executive order for nightclubs, movie theaters houses and concert venues to close, per The Washington Post.
As of March 16, the White House has advised people not to gather in groups of more than 10. CBS News reports that more than 3,8000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S. and at least 74 have died.
