i feel like all of his specials are available on youtube.
just pick one and start from there, i have yet to see a bad special from him.

here are the ones i can think of off the top of my head, not sure if he has others.

no reason to complain
my weakness is strong
finest hour
tragedy plus comedy equals time

Are you wanting audio or video?

For video:

Start with "No Reason to Complain". This is kind of the end of my favorite era of his, and the only fully filmed hour long set of that time. He was a bit rawer, nerdier and with more BPM (bits per minute) and he was really working his ass off to build his audience.

Either of his latest 3 are great and much more professionally put together. The order is dependent on taste. Once those are done, then you can jump into the "HBO 30 minute special" which is just freaking wonderful. He's basically bombing (though it has a couple of my all-time favorite bits of his) and just does not give a flying **** about it.

For audio:

I much prefer albums to filmed specials these days, and with Patton, that is especially true. Werewolves and Lollipops is outstanding, his book on tape is great, and then there is 222. 222 is the unedited version of his first album (Feelin' Kinda Patton, also great) and it about 2 hours long. It's the quintessential PO work, since it's his current set (at the time) a great crowd, and then an hour or so of his greatest hits done drunk as hell cause he's having so much fun. This was also around the time of the Comedians Of Comedy, which you should also check out, since that was the best thing to happen to standup since the big-comedy-boom of the 90's died out.

Up next, Doug Stanhope and where to begin.

If anyone needs to know

Went to oddball last night, it was pretty awesome. Brody Stevens, then a NY guy who was unbilled, but pretty funny (can't recall his name though), dave attell, hannibal buress, sarah silverman, amy schumer, aziz ansari, louis ck...then louis brought out surprise guest dave chapelle who came because of what happened last year in hartford (he only did like 20 minutes, but it was awesome)

Sarah was by a good margin the weakest and I thought hannibal underperformed, but aziz, louis, and chapelle murdered. I was a little underwhelmed last time I saw louis live, but his whole set was great. Someone tried to rush the stage and got tackled on the stairs and he did a solid 5 minutes on it.

sounds great. i don't think anyone would claim that environment is perfect for comedy, but i'm super jealous of anyone who gets to see louis.

also, i wish chris rock would hurry up and announce these tour dates for later this year. has to be happening soon.

Ok that was indeed hilarious. He was quite good when he was young. Very impressed. Thanks!

Jim Jeffries new special "bare" now available on netflix instant.
it's awesome.

Will Netflix ever reach Spain?

I'm planning to go to the one in Chicago this weekend. What was the format? Like a music festival? Two stages with competing acts?

They had a side stage show before doors opened at 5, show started at 7 and ran about 4 4.5 hours with something like a 30 minute intermission after the first 4 billed comics. No competing acts.

cool thanks, no louis ck or aziz for me in chicago but I do get bill burr, jim jeffries, and hannibal burress so im pretty stoked

Russell Brand messiah complex was fantastic.

I'm becoming a big fan of his.

Yeah, that was freaking great. Very impressed.

I have tickets to see him in October. Is it possible its the same set, or am I in the clear? Anyone see him recently and know?

I would assume it is the same set. But since his show was cancelled and he's got a kid to raise, he might be doing standup fulltime'ish again, so probably some new stuff mixed in.

most good comics these days don't do the same material they released on a special.
bill burr for instance instantly starts working on all new material immediately after taping a special.
I can't guarantee that Jim does this as well, but I would be SHOCKED if he's doing the same set in October.
it's almost inconceivable.

seems impossible to believe it's not gonna be the same set but i'm sure he'll try to mix in some stuff.

i'm tilted cos i have gaffigan tickets in sydney soon and it seems he's doing 2013's show that has been released for 6 months or so. then a few days later he does what seems like an all-new show in boston. again hoping for new stuff mixed in.

(edit - heh just saw rbk's reply. having looked it up, bare was filmed in may so it's quite a bit longer ago than i remembered. you could try to look at what his tour itinerary has been for the past few months, but yeah, seems like he will have had chance to work on and try out new material in smaller venues)

New documentary released by comedian Bonnie McFarlane Women Aren't Funny is out on itunes and well worth watching. Based as a response to Hitchen's Vanity Faire interview it contains lots of interviews and is quite well done.

R.I.P. Joan Rivers

Initially I was very confused by all the white people in the audience, then I looked it up and apparently there is an "Apollo" in London.

I've seen Jefferies 3 times live including twice within a period of probably 2 months. The shows were all quite different, two being completely different material/style (one was very off the cuff and banter-y with the audience). Even the last show probably 70% of the material was new. You'll probably see some stuff from the standup, but much will be new.

George Carlin RIP
Bill Hicks RIP
Richard Pryor RIP
Jonathan Winters RIP
Dave Chappelle

Wow I had never seen the banned from Letterman set. He really was ahead of his time.

i think the comparisons between hicks and leary are way off base.

hicks was actually funny.

so I like fluffy, i think amy schumer is getting better, love the ethnic/accent-centric jokes of russell peters. anyone watch last comic standing? I thought rodman was the funniest dude ive seen in a long time. His country/old school take on the simplest things like self-checkout at a grocery store had me lmao..