David Cross just released his ninth stand-up special, and as always, he’s doing it his way. The comedian known for his offbeat 1990s sketch comedy series “Mr. Show” and his character Tobias Fünke in the sitcom “Arrested Development” sat down with Fox News Digital for a wide-ranging exclusive interview that ranged from the value of virality to what makes art AI-proof and even to crying about baseball.
“The End of the Beginning of the End” is now streaming on YouTube featuring a new hour of comedy complete with Cross’ signature anecdotes deconstructing life’s absurdities. With eight previous stand-up specials under his belt, he said his audience understands what type of show to expect from him by now.
“I know this sounds, you know, corny, but they’re really smart,” Cross said of his audience, “And they are mostly like-minded people. And they know what they’re getting at this point,” which he described as a balance between silly and political jokes, including some personal stories, offensive humor and topical bits.
His care for his audience extended to his wife, whose writing talents he praised, and to the rise of artificial intelligence, a subject that sparked his interest and concern.
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But when it came to his own career, the comic took a more laid-back tack. Cross said he doesn’t tailor his work for algorithms or soften his material for mass appeal.
“At this point, I don’t give a s—, man. I’m gonna do it and if you want to come down, show up. If not, whatever, it’s fine. I’m doing my thing. The audience is happy. Come down if you want, I don’t give a f—.”
Cross’ “thing” is threading the needle between the playful and the provocative, he said.
“I don’t want to make it too heavily silly or too heavily political. I like to keep a really nice balance through the whole thing.”
He told Fox News Digital he thinks of himself not as a “political comic,” but rather as “a comic who does talk about politics a little bit.”
Indeed, politics isn’t the only touchy subject Cross will tear into onstage. Religion is no safer from his absurd probing. He recalled one shocking joke in particular that he predicted would get a strong reaction. The punchline involved traveling back in time to kill baby Jesus. To round it out, he called back to an early bit of his about eating people with disabilities.
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“I say that, that gets a reaction, and I know it’s going to. And I relish that, I look forward to it,” he said, because comedy can get people to consider things from a new perspective.
“I can continue the thought and get you to understand why, actually, that thing that you were offended at, that thing made you gasp… maybe there’s some logic to it.”
When considering what jokes belong in an hour together, whether goofy or grounded, Cross said he considers “what flows” more than thematic cohesion.
“If there is kind of a thread or a theme, that’s just something that presents itself. I never sit down and go, ‘How can I talk about the inhumanity of man?’ You know, it’s not that kind of thing.”
Ultimately, the audience’s reaction is his main metric when it comes to cutting and refining jokes, he said.
Cross’ esteem for audience feedback doesn’t carry over in quite the same way to a social media audience. He said he never considers the potential for a joke to become a “soundbite” or “clip online,” and he’s suffered for it.
“All the folks from my PR can tell you, pulling clips is very difficult from any of my specials,” Cross chuckled, extending a hand toward his publicist.
Given his extended storytelling style, it would be “futile” for him to try to write for social media, he said. Pulling a short clip that includes the context needed to understand it is difficult, and even then, he would need to find one that’s not too “saucy.”
Cross acknowledged the growing popularity of comedians who get their start on social media, which some comics would brand a “shortcut.” He said he’s not a fan of that route, though he doesn’t hold it against the up-and-comers. Nonetheless, something is lost by missing out on the experience of working with live audiences on the road, he maintained.
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Some comics rise above the glut of stand-up available today, and Cross said he’s been introduced to some great new talents through Netflix and social media. But he finds most of them unremarkable.
“The vast majority are just boring to me… There’s nothing special about that special. And you can sort of get a sense that they don’t have the innate or intuitive qualities that one would get by going out on the road and performing in different places with different people of all walks of life, you know, in a mall in suburban St. Louis or whatever.”
For better or worse, these comics have audiences, and if they can get butts in seats, “Good for them,” said Cross, joking about people who pay exorbitant ticket prices to see that super cute “guy who does the thing” from TikTok or Instagram.
People come to his shows to see the beard, he jested.
But amid rapidly progressing artificial intelligence technology, that iconic beard could soon be stolen and used by AI to create a convincing fake video of Cross in any number of compromising situations, a prospect he called “f—— terrifying.”
In an age where nearly every industry has to consider what jobs could be taken over by AI, Cross listed two forms of performance that he judged to be safe — at least for now.
“As far as AI, as we understand it now, I would imagine dance can’t be replaced, and I would imagine stand-up comedy [is safe]. You can’t replicate that experience without a replicant. Hmm, new Westworld idea,” said Cross, pitching a new version of the film and TV series, “but it’s all s—– standups.”
“I think [standup comedy] is safe. But I say this with the caveat of: Who knows where the f— this is going. It’s clearly not going to be regulated. I mean, not with the current people in office that won’t regulate anything.”
Emerging technology is changing the playing field. Cross pointed to AI actor Tilly Norwood, a completely digital performer. “I had such a difficult time computing that this was not a real person,” he said.
While he finds the breakneck pace of improvement scary, he said he’s even more concerned for young people.
“This is the beginning. We’re in the very beginning of it, so that part is terrifying, especially if there’s no regulation. And I think about my daughter’s generation and like, what the f— are they going to have to deal with?”
Cross didn’t pretend to have answers for where AI is headed. But on comedy, at least, his approach remains the same: do the material he wants, trust the audience that gets it and let someone else chase the algorithm.
