The distinctive comedy of David Cross may be most widely known from his role as the eccentric Tobias Fünke on the television show “Arrested Development.” But he gained fans from his HBO sketch comedy series with Bob Odenkirk, “Mr. Show,” two decades ago, revived recently on Netflix as “W/Bob and David.”
Cross, originally a stand-up comic, also starred in two seasons of “The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret,” which seemingly concluded with the end of the world in the finale, only to be revived with a surprising third season last month that suggested everything before had been a dream.
Cross is now doing stand-up for the first time in six years on a national tour, “Making America Great Again!”
We spoke recently with Cross, 51, from the road, somewhere between Seattle and Spokane, about his return, the people who walk out on his show, how he found his comedic voice and updates on some of his projects. (As for more seasons of “Arrested Development,” he only says, “I have no idea. Zero idea. None.”)
Q: What brings you back on the road after so long?
A: Well, there’s a couple of answers. Mainly, I hadn’t done it in six years, and I do love doing this, and this is most extensive tour I’ve ever put together. But the impetus for it was, I guess, is that I found out in September I had to get major shoulder surgery with a really intense recovery period and physical therapy. So that automatically disqualified me for a lot of work, and I was going to be in one place, so I thought what better time to put together a set, to get ready, once I’m out of a sling. And that’s what I did. I started putting together all the little tiny bits and pieces of scrap paper, and stuff I had been doing over the years at different shows, festivals, benefits and what not. And I put together what I thought would make a good hour, and I started working on it and I did a couple of warm-up shows, and then I hit the road.
Q: The tour is titled “Making America Great Again.” I’ve heard that before, I just can’t remember where.
A: Ronald Reagan’s campaign, 1980, is where you heard it. It was “Let’s Make America Great Again.”
Q: So are you doing political material?
A: Oh, barely. I mean, it’s not a thematic show, and I’ve never been a political comedian per se. ... I certainly talk a little bit about what’s happening now with the Republican primaries, but really not a lot. It’s really much like my sets have been in the last decade or so, which is some political stuff, some religious stuff and a lot of anecdotal stuff, just some jokes that are not offensive and more in the classic vein of “jokes.” It’s all over the place.
Q: What is it like doing a stand-up comedy tour after a six-year break? Are you enjoying it?
A: Very much so. But talk to me in five months when I’ve been doing it for a long time. I was a little nervous at first, and I don’t get nervous that often for anything, but that was kind of a refreshing, grounding thing. But it’s been great. I think I’ve done 10, 12 shows at this point, and it’s already gotten tighter and has expanded a bit, and I’ve dropped some bits that were a little weaker, and put in some more fun stuff. ... The great thing is that it’s amorphous and ever-changing. And that’s the way I work best. ... The audiences have been fantastic.
Q: What aspects of touring have changed this time around?
A: The Internet signal is stronger and there’s coconut water now, so I don’t have to put that on my rider anymore. I have noticed, and I suppose it’s just inevitable, but my audience’s age has expanded, because I’m older now, and I have a lot of fans that are near my age but I still have younger fans, too. So I think the audience scope and demographic have expanded.
Q: Can you tell where people know you from?
A: I would imagine there’s a handful of people who didn’t even know I did stand-up and are like: “Hey, Tobias is doing jokes, let’s go see! Probably a lot of pratfalls.” And I’ve had a couple of walkouts, but it wouldn’t be my show without them. I don’t know if I’ve ever done a show that didn’t have some people being upset.
Q: What kinds of things drive people out?
A: Well, I don’t want to give anything away. But you know: a harsh, unsentimental take on some of the issues. And I’m not trying to be cute or coy, but I just can’t give away too much or it will just detract from the experience of people who come see it. But, you know, I talk about gun deaths in America, and I talk about the pope.
Q: It sounds like having people walk out of shows is something you’re accustomed to.
A: Yeah. It’s not like I wear it as badge of honor, but I’ve had hundreds of nights where I’ve gotten people upset. It’s something I’m very comfortable and familiar with. And look, don’t misunderstand me. That’s not my objective at all. But especially at the bigger shows, there’s always going to be 20, 30 people on date night who are going to see this funny guy from the movie or whatever, that just don’t know my stand-up. So I get to that part of the show, and it’s like, “Wait a minute, this is awful! He’s mean!” - whatever their take was. Out of a large crowd, there’s maybe a handful of people.
Q: Is it difficult for you to communicate in a bigger place?
A: A few years ago, I was doing a comedy festival, and I was playing a theater that I think was 3,200 people, and ... as I was doing the set, I was thinking. ... After a while ... during a set you can literally have a conversation (in your head), walk outside the room in your mind and come back when you’re closing up the show. But I remember ... thinking, “This is too many people. I don’t like this.” There’s really too many people and you have to perform differently, and it’s not something I’m comfortable with. I prefer to keep it more intimate. So when we went into this, I told the booking agent 2,200 was max for a place. Once it gets a little bigger than that, it gets less fun. I like the crowd to be on top of me, and I don’t like that much distance between myself and the audience. You lose that energy.
Q: How did your stand-up develop when you were starting out? Did you come to the stage fully formed?
A: Oh, God no. It was a very weird, esoteric thing. I was highly influenced by Andy Kaufman and Steve Martin and Steven Wright to a degree, and my delivery was very deadpan and just strange, anti-joke. It took me quite a while to find my voice.
Q: How did you know you had found your voice?
A: You just get better, and it’s coming to you more naturally, and you’re more natural onstage. I’m not doing this character. I didn’t dress up and call myself Dr. Wacky or anything. But I was definitely hiding behind a delivery and putting up a wall between me and the audience when I first started. Maybe because the material was very esoteric and strange for strangeness’s sake. Now I’m much more natural.
Q: You have a lot of other projects going on, starting up the sketch comedy series “W/ Bob and David” for Netflix last year with Bob Odenkirk, 17 years after “Mr. Show.” Will there be more of that?
A: Absolutely. We would have done another round this year, but Bob shot a movie he’s been trying to make for 10 years at least (“Girlfriend’s Day” for Netflix), and he has a very limited amount of time between “Better Call Saul,” so it’s kind of around his schedule. Hopefully we’ll do some next year. We both want to do it.
Q: Is there more of an audience for that kind of comedy than there was when you were first doing “Mr. Show”?
A: The biggest difference is there was no access to it. There was no Internet, and there was this weird little show on HBO. Back in the very, very far reaches of the HBO world, you could find it if you heard about it, and that was the only way to access it. And don’t forget. “Mr. Show” was not popular when it was on. It had a small, niche, comedy-nerd audience that grew over time. I mean, we got canceled. They moved us from Friday and their comedy block to Monday at midnight. That’s about as much of a cancellation that you can ask for. It took a generation of people to find it and ... to be this thing that was passed around on tapes, and then DVDs and on YouTube. That took a while. And once more and more people found it, the whole landscape changed.
Q: Bob has certainly had a lot of success in his dramatic series “Better Call Saul.” Is that something you would like to do?
A: If it was the quality of “Better Call Saul,” absolutely. I wouldn’t want to do something just for the sake of doing it, but that is some of the best writing and production and overall directing and acting that I’ve seen on TV. If it was “CSI: Whatever,” then no. I’m not interested in that. Something where there’s that level of writing and production, absolutely.
Q: Will there be another season of “Todd Margaret”?
A: No, no. I know I’ve said that before, and I was adamant about it that there was no way that I could see it coming back. It wasn’t my idea. That third season, which was so radically different - one of the other writers came up with the idea and the concept was just so good - I said, “All right, let’s just do it.” But I just can’t see how to do a fourth. I think that we already pushed it a bit, overstaying our welcome. But I’m really happy with the whole thing, how it turned out.
Q: It did take an odd turn.
A: Yes, it did. But I liked it. I thought it was pretty cool and really layered and a lot of puzzle pieces that were fun to do, and challenging. It was very liberating to be able to write for such a niche audience and for IFC to say, “Don’t worry about catching people up, or getting new people or making them enjoy it, just worry about fans. It’s just for the fans.” I thought that was really cool, and it allowed us to write the show that we did.
