I Drink For A Reason, Mormons and humorous soup lines: A Q&A with comic David Cross

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I Drink For A Reason, Mormons and humorous soup lines: A Q&A with comic David Cross

POSTED: Monday, October 19, 2009, 7:39 PM

Filed Under: Comedy

Rollogrady

In this week's Agenda section, we told you all about Philly comic Todd Glass, a sharply sarcastic, yet genuinely sweet guy who's touring with David Cross. And then we thought: Why not talk to Cross, the silly goose behind Arrested Development and Mr. Show, too? He gave us the scoop on his new book, Mormons and his eventual plan to make a humorous soups line. If you still want more after this Q&A, he'll be at the Merriam Theater (250 S. Broad St., 215-732-5997) this Tue., Oct. 20 at 8 p.m., for $35.

City Paper: What subject do you hate to talk about in interviews?

David Cross: The question about what do I like doing more, if I could only do one ' standup or writing or film, TV or acting ' just because that's based on a hypothetical that will never happen. That was going to be your first question. I'm sorry.

CP: What's taken so long to make Arrested Development into a movie?

DC: We haven't made it, we're waiting to get a script. But everyone wants to make it, I can promise you that.

CP: You're on tour for the newly released book, I Drink For A Reason. What do you think of book tours and the people who show up to say hi to you for 20 seconds? What do you talk about?

DC: It's a good skill to learn that I lacked and I was kind of dreading it a little, but I'm actually really enjoying it. For a long time when I first became successful or recognized or known, I wouldn't even say I was shy, I just didn't want to talk about me or that or whatever and felt awkward, couldn't accept a compliment and stuff like that and this book tour has been really good with helping me learn to be accessible and to step back and go, "Oh, these are really nice people. They're fans of mine ' fuckin' take a minute out for fuck's sake." I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would, just knowing my personality. But I'm also doing these book signings in places I'm doing shows and the tour has been really fun and I'm having a great time, so if I was just doing the book tour it might be a little different.

CP: You've got the comedy, the TV, the movies, the books ' anything you haven't tried that you'd like to get into?

DC: I guess bumper stickers, really funny bumper stickers. And soups, like a line of humorous soups. I'd like to do some themed hotels ' like start off in a region then hopefully they'd spread nationally and then internationally.

CP: Would you plaster your face all over the walls?

DC: Well, it would be bits of my face. What I would do is very, very lightly ' just with a comb ' kind of scratch the skin so I could take little pieces of the skin and embed them into the paint.

CP: Well before that kicks off, we're still glad you're coming to Philly to perform comedy at the Merriam Theater.

DC: I am? No one told me that.

CP: What do you think of when you hear the word "Philadelphia"?

DC: Well, it's tough to get past booing Santa Claus. I have spent a little bit of time in Philadelphia and I like it more than people seem to think I'm going to like it.

CP: How has your comedy changed over the years in terms of how you're received by audiences? Do you find them more tolerant of your offensive humor or do you catch more shit each time you cross a line?

DC: With every tour I do, with every piece of material I release, more and more people become familiar with my point of view. When you're going, 'The thing you believe in is ridiculous,' then people get upset, but you just don't find that now because people have a pretty good idea of [what they're in for].

CP: You played a very animated depiction of the biblical figure Cain in the recent movie Year One. Did you see that opportunity as just another fun way to satirize the foundations of religion doctrine?

DC: For me, acting is a vacation because there are so many less responsibilities, and the idea of getting to do kind of a fun, meaty character in a Harold Ramis' movie with a bunch of my friends ' that's a dream. So it really had nothing to do with "Oh boy, I get to poke fun at the Old Testament," because that's also going to be a much milder take on what my view would be.

CP: It's been a couple of years since you were doing things like Rock Against Bush. Have recent changes in the political climate shaped your approach?

DC: I was never much of a political comic before the Bush stuff. That was a very unique time that we can look back on, but it lacks the drama and the urgency it had. So there's less of that now, plus Obama hasn't been in office for that long so the stuff I talk about tends to be more all-encompassing in general. And with all that other stuff, I've already said all those things, so there's not a whole lot new to say about the Republican party.

CP: With the interview being just about over, what subject do you wish I'd asked you about?

DC: I would love to have talked about Mormonism.

CP: Oh, well we actually have another minute '

DC: I can't, I can't. I'm not givin' any secrets away. Come on down to the show young man, you'll get an earful.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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