The last few years have been a vacation of sorts for
David Cross. That might sound strange, as the 45-year-old comedian has
appeared in myriad movies and television shows (including America’s
greatest sitcom Arrested Development). But compared to writing
and performing live comedy, Cross says, acting is a breeze.
“That’s part of what I like about film and TV,” Cross explains. “I
don’t have to write, I just
memorize the dialogue, do it
convincingly, do it the way the director wants, and hit my marks….”
As Cross continues, his soft voice rises to a familiar tone dripping
with sarcasm: “Usually craft services. They’ve got a nice array of
nuts—maybe some deli-meat tray.”
But the days of loafing around someone else’s set are through. For
the first time in five years, Cross is headed out on the road to get
back in touch with his first love: stand-up.
“A stand-up show is fleeting and it’s temporary, and that’s part of
what I like about it,” he says. “You see a stand-up set on TV, I don’t
care how great it is, it still doesn’t come remotely close to the
experience of the live performance being there.”
Cross says he enjoys the immediacy of the stage, and how each
performance is shaped, even if it is a greater responsibility. “I have
distinct memories of really fun shows,” he adds. “And even though 80
percent of material is the same, they’re all different.”
And while Cross hasn’t headlined a show in years, he has performed
short sets when opportunities arose, in hopes of staying sharp. Still,
after five years, things have changed.
Cross’ past stand-up routines could be unrelentingly harsh. They
addressed topics like religion, politics, and ugly social phenomenon
polemically, offering up little more than bitterness and outrage as
counterpoint. Cross says it was a reaction to a now-bygone era, and the
new material is “significantly lighter than the last time I went
out.”
“The times are different,” he explains. “We can look back on what
was happening in 2001, 2, 3, 4, 5, and we have the benefit of
hindsight. But when we were in the middle of it, we didn’t know that a
guy named Barack Obama was going to run and win the presidency, and
things seemed really strange and dangerous and scary. I don’t mean
scary in a hyperbolic, Final Destination 3D way, but scary in
‘wow, I don’t like the direction we were headed in.’ I had different
feelings about life and America.”
In addition to the new stand-up act, Cross has written a book, I
Drink for a Reason. It’s a collection of short bits on everything
from what he would do if rich (get $60 million of “bionic shit
installed in me”) to what to wear to a funeral (“No Tevas!”)—plus
riffs on consumerism, scrapbooking, and Mary J. Blige. The book is in
part responsible for the comedy tour. Combining the two, Cross says,
“just made sense.”
There is little overlap between the book, which Cross will read from
at signings, and his two evening stand-up performances—except for
a feature called “Ask a Rabbi,” and a bit about wearing an S&M mask
on a plane.
“I really did that,” Cross says. “So that will be a repeat, but
it’ll be [in] my charming voice—the soothing, dulcet tones that
lull you into a sleepy place called laughs.”