Patton Oswalt Jokes That He Is Canceling His Engagement To Meredith Salenger


Patton Oswalt is an engaged man—for now, at least. Just a little over one year after his wife, Michelle McNamara, died suddenly in her sleep, Oswalt has announced that he is engaged to actress Meredith Salenger. The new couple posted cute photos to Instagram, in which Salenger showed off her massive rock. But the actor, who is a single father to his 8-year-old daughter, Alice, is already making jokes that he might cancel the whole thing.

Oswalt, who is best known for his roles as Spence Olchin on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens and Remy in the film Ratatouille, recently found love again just a few months after telling the New York Times he will “never be at 100 percent again” following his wife’s death. Patton and Meredith made their debut as a new couple at the Los Angeles premiere of the movie Baby Driver last month. According to People magazine, mutual pal Martha Plimpton introduced the future lovebirds a few months ago, and “they started chatting as friends and it blossomed from there.”

Fans were happy that Patton found love again, but many were still shocked when he announced his engagement to Salenger so soon after the death of his first wife. But now, Oswalt has already poked fun at his surprise announcement, calling out his future bride for her “weak Battleship spacing” and joking that the engagement is canceled.

Of course, Patton Oswalt will get plenty of mileage out of his engagement story during his stand-up comedy shows. Since McNamara’s death, the funnyman has devoted a large chunk of his act to talking about McNamara’s death and his stages of grief.

In an essay for GQ, Patton also wrote about his fears of being a single father. Describing his late wife as a “super mom” to Alice, he acknowledged Michelle was the better half of their parenting team.

“I was looking forward to spending my life with the single most original mind I’d ever encountered,” Patton wrote last December. “And now? Gone. All gone.”

At the time, Oswalt said he married way out of his league.

“Back to when Michelle and I first married, I’d somehow landed a woman far above my pay grade, in looks and intelligence and personality,” he wrote.

Patton Oswalt admitted that being a single father was hard for him—”I’ve missed forms for school, I’ve forgotten to stock the fridge with food she likes,” he wrote—but over time he began to get the hang of it. Now, he’ll have some help from Meredith, who included a shout-out to little Alice in her engagement announcement.

Meredith Salenger and Patton Oswalt may be kindred spirits. Both stars have high-profile Disney roles on their resumes. Salenger starred in the 1985 Disney flick The Journey of Natty Gann, while Oswalt has that Remy/ Ratatouille credit.

In addition, Oswalt is a self-professed fanboy of geek culture, while Salenger has done voice work for the Star Wars TV series. In fact, Star Wars icon Mark Hamill offered congratulations to the newly engaged couple, as did several other celebrities.

Take a look at the video below for more on Patton Oswalt’s engagement.

[Featured Image by Blair Raughley/Invision for TriStar Pictures/AP Images]

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