Ranting about the decline of comedy specials while releasing a new one at the same time feels a bit like an oxymoron. But somehow it still makes sense coming from alt-comedy pioneer David Cross, who isnβt just complaining; heβs finding his own route to making specials feel special again. The only way to do that is by putting one out in the manner heβd like to see more often β starting by making the whole crowd stand up too.
Capturing the energy of a concert at the famous 40 Watt Club in Athens, Ga., was the first step in differentiating βThe End of the Beginning of the Endβ from the typical hour you watch on a big streamer. And, with this new special, Cross is able to get back to his own beginnings of touring across the country with love bands as his openers, performing for crowds for as long as he could until he had to run offstage to pee.
Premiering the special earlier this month on his website (and on April 7, it will be available on YouTube via production company 800 Pound Gorilla), Cross is hoping the special connects with comedy fans in a way that weβve forgotten specials could.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Your new special is called βThe End of the Beginning of the End.β What does that title mean to you as it relates to the impending doom of what weβre all living right now.
David Cross: Well, you can look at it in a couple different ways. To me, it signifies that the beginning of the end has occurred. And we are now at the end of the beginning of the end. And from where you go with that, thatβs for you to decide.
One of the things I love about the special is the fact that you shoot it at a club in the style of a live–music concert.
Iβve shot specials in theaters and itβs just different, not that one is better than the other, but theyβre just different. You have a different relationship with the audience. When I first started touring, I would go to music venues and Iβd have a band open for me and then I would just go up and pretty much [perform] as long as I could until I had to pee. Sometimes Iβd have a band playing, sometimes two bands, then Iβd go out. And I did that a couple of times, and then stopped doing that and did theaters, and I decided for the last two specials Iβm going to go to, when I shoot it, Iβll go to a music venue, and I was at the 40 Watt Club in Athens this last time, I was at the Metro in Chicago before that, both places I played on earlier tours, and, you know, itβs not seated. People are standing there at the stage, and I prefer it. Itβs more fun. Itβs not as lucrative but, to me, a more fun show to do.
Comedian David Cross
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The ambience of it was great. You can hear people shouting and drinking and having a good time, and the crowd work is also a little more spontaneous and fun than it would be in a regular venue.
Yeah, well, thereβs more opportunity for that. But my thing has never been about crowd work. I like engaging with it, itβs kind of a nice distraction from the set that youβve been doing 100 times, 150 times at that point. So itβs always fun to have that thing happen and that feeling of spontaneity. And like the guy [who I talk to in the crowd during the special], I could not have asked for [someone better]. I mean, even if it was scripted, it wouldnβt have been as good. The guy who [I talk to] during the stuff about hiking Machu Picchu [with Bob Odenkirk], thatβs just… [chefβs kiss].
Speaking of Bob Odenkirk, you guys have this long relationship. How would you describe the dynamic of working with Bob and just how you guys bounce ideas off each other?
I mean, itβs great. We have an inordinate amount of respect for each other, both as people and as creative partners. And so thereβs never any real issues. Thereβs things we will definitely disagree with, but weβre both decent people. So you know somebody backs off and says, βOK, letβs do it that way.β But even then, there arenβt that many of those [issues]. We just have really worked well at building something or molding it, creating it and shaping it. And our aforementioned hike to Machu Picchu, we have a documentary about that, that will be premiering at a fancy festival at some point in the near-future. And so we got that doc and weβve been working on that. And for the way we work now, because he lives in L.A. and I live in New York, and itβs been like that for a while, heβll write a bunch of stuff, Iβll make notes, Iβll write my things, send it back. And so weβre able to do that and not necessarily have to be in the same room because weβve had 30-plus years of working with each other.
Itβs a kind of like an unspoken language you guys probably have in terms of comedy, which is super important, I imagine, just for collaborating.
Yeah, and itβs something we discovered very early on … before there was even βMr. Show,β what would ultimately become βMr. Show,β when we got together to write sketches for this bigger kind of comedy collective thing, and these shows that we would all do with each other, for each other, and the stuff that we would write together was just, like, really good, easy writing β again, one person adding this thing and one person saying hereβs a switch yeah and another person adding this thing in. It was fun, itβs cool, still is. One thing he doesnβt get credit for is heβs a really decent human being. And with all the awfulness in the world thatβs magnified, every sense is bombarded with it β itβs just good to be hanging with somebody whose energy is a good person, a decent person and an equitable, nice guy, so thatβs good as well.
Comedian David Cross poses for a portrait ahead of his comedy special βThe End of the Beginning of the End.β
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
One thing you guys also have in common is you both have kids, and he has a comedy show for kids called βThe Appropriate Show.β Have you taken your daughter to see it?
Itβs a sketch show [in which] all the sketches are appropriate for kids to watch. And the sketches have been done in other sketch shows onstage, live. And he puts together this thing once, twice a year here in L.A. And I took my daughter to it last year. Itβs just sketches that kids can [understand]. At least if they donβt understand the actual references they get the archetype. βOh, thatβs the boss, thatβs that uh… And itβs great, itβs a really cool idea uh… β And would an assβ think of [a show like] that? No, one good decent person; a good man. But listen, this interview isnβt about me, itβs about Bob Odenkirk, so letβs get back to that.
Well, speaking of having comedy geared toward kids, your daughterβs at an age where sheβs probably consumed or seen some of your comedy at this point.
Not, not really. No, no.
Do you shield her from your stuff, or are you not so concerned about it?
I donβt actively shield her, but I donβt introduce her to anything. So I was a little bummed out, and I got over it pretty quickly, but when I found out that she had seen a little bit of βAlvin and the Chipmunks,β and only because I donβt want to spoil the enjoyment of what movies are and what kidsβ movies are and how things work. And I feel like that would introduce an element of reality that I want her to be able to just enjoy these things without β sheβs seen βKung Fu Pandaβwhen she was younger, like, I donβt know, three, four, five times, has no idea that Iβm in that, that my voice is in there. She knows I do stand-up, she gets that now. And when she was younger, sheβd say, βDaddyβs silly for a living.β … Iβm just trying to ride the balance of letting her have those childhood joys and experiences.
Comedian David Cross.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Does having a kid make you think about whatβs coming up in the future of comedy, or what kids are gonna maybe find funny, or what they find funny now? Do you have any thoughts on kid comedy in general?
Not really. I mean, I can see that she and her friends, who are kind of like-minded, are naturally funny, and then thatβs kind of encouraging and heartwarming and theyβre silly, but Iβll be long gone when that generation is is providing comedy. And Iβm still, although Iβve kind of given up, Iβm still trying to grasp what works now. I mean, itβs short-term TikTok, Instagram stuff. There are some amazing, like really, really great things being done as far as film sketches for YouTube channels. βAlmost Friday,β theyβve got genius-level stuff. I mean, really good. And where the sketch goes in a place, youβre never ahead of it, goes in a place where youβre not expecting. Itβs really well written and well performed.
What are your thoughts on what a comedy special is nowadays or what it should be?
I mean, thatβs a great question. I think anybody who plays with the form, whether I think itβs that funny or not, is different. But Iβm happy when anybody kind of tries at least to play with a form. I just went to Rory Scovelβs taping last week of his latest special. I donβt know when thatβll air, but if youβve seen the beginning to his first special, stuff like that where youβre like, βWait, whatβs happening? Whatβs going on?β I love stuff like that.
I still get excited to watch specials by some of my favorite comics, but thereβs a quality thatβs missing. And these are stand-ups I love, and theyβre not that great. Theyβre not bad but theyβre not special, you know? And all those guys I mentioned, and more, have great specials. Like, you can go back and theyβre great. And I donβt know why that is. I mean, thereβs still funny stuff, but I donβt ever want to get to that place where its just feels a little phoned-in a little bit… that is, in part, why the last two specials were shot in this more intimate setting that feels special. And … as I said, the energyβs different, itβs a little bit different, and itβs less slick. It feels like youβre in the moment. You donβt need a million dollars to shoot a special. You donβt 28 camera angles, itβs just bullβ. And it takes something away.
Comedian David Cross
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
It all should feel the right amount of unsafe as well, I think.
Thatβs never gonna happen at a theater show. Youβre never gonna feel that. And I donβt know, it really does feel almost like maybe we peaked in a sense, like thereβs too much, and because of that, these things arenβt special. Theyβre not revelatory, theyβre not unique. I dunno, can 18,000 people in an arena really relate to a … billionaire talking about how theyβre gonna get canceled. I mean, is that a thing I guess? Those other big, slick specials that are shot in, like, a 3,200-seat, 3,500-seat theater, it just feels like, βOh this person is up there and Iβm listening to their jokes.β Thereβs nothing wrong with that. Theyβre often very funny jokes, but it doesnβt go beyond that. Itβs just like, βAll right, tell me your joke.β It might as well be an audio thing, you know?
Well, hopefully the robots arenβt coming for your job anytime soon.
Absolutely not. I mean, this could be naive, but I feel 100% safe that you are never going to replicate an evening of stand-up at a nigtclub like that. And not sitting down at tables while youβre having drinks and waitresses are coming by. Iβm talking about everybodyβs up on the stage, sold-out, maximum capacity; everybodyβs there, focused, weβre all sharing that thing. You canβt. AIβs not going to be able to do that.
Yeah, the robots canβt do that, Terminator canβt do that..
Oh, I forgot about Terminator. He could do that. Gβ it.