No full spoilers for how David Cross’ new stand-up special I’m From the Future starts, but as he tells Consequence, “This one, I think, is my favorite opening ever. It’s definitely a ‘you’re with me or you’re not with me’ way to open a show.”
The special represents a big moment for Cross, who had been unable to perform comedy during the pandemic, the longest period of time he’d spent off stage ever since he first started doing stand-up. But as he reflects on the difficult past few years, he’s also excited for the future, including Guru Nation, a newly-announced Paramount+ collaboration with his longtime creative partner and best friend Bob Odenkirk.
In this extended interview, which you can both watch here as well as read via the edited transcript below, Cross goes through why it meant so much to him to share this particular stand-up set why now, why he chose to self-distribute it, and why he doesn’t care about the possibility of his comedy alienating people. He also reflects upon his love for Station Eleven, the HBO Max series in which he guest-starred, and his current perspective on Arrested Development — all five seasons of the series.
In terms of putting together the special, what made you really want to get back on stage?
Well, there’s two parts to that answer. The impetus to do the special was because I was supposed to go on tour; I had to cancel the tour but I had all this material ready to go. And I also knew that it could potentially be a long, long time before I get to go out on tour and a fair chunk of that material, I wouldn’t be doing again in two years from now.
So I wanted to get it recorded, and really scrambled to get a production together. It was probably the quickest I’ve ever done anything like that. It was a matter of weeks. We shot some of the shows at the Bellhouse and then a friend of a friend edited it. And then there it is.
So it was really about getting that stuff out there because I’m about to work on this other project and it could just potentially be a long, long time before I’m out on tour. And the reason to do standup was that I hadn’t done it in a year and a half, up to the first time that I did it in the pandemic era. It’s just truly a need that I have. I have to do it. And that’s the longest I’ve gone without doing stand-up, I would imagine, ever since I started doing it.
I talked to you several years ago and at that time, you mentioned that you feel like standup is one of the most divisive things you do.
Easily.
What’s important for you about continuing to do it, in that respect?
Well, I mean, the divisive thing is just a byproduct of it. That’s just who I am and what it’s turned out to be. And, and that kind of presented itself fairly early in my career. But the fact that it’s divisive has no bearing on, you know, whether I’m doing it or, or, you know anything like that. It’s just sort of what it is. [Laughs]
I know some people don’t care for me or my personality. I was just on Twitter a little while ago and somebody ’em was like, I hate that guy. He’s got the most punchable face. So I know that that’s part and parcel with what I do.
Photo courtesy of David Cross
I mean, it’s an unfortunate side effect, I’m sure.
I mean, I guess. Who gives a… You know, I don’t care about those people.
It feels like a healthy way to live your life.
Yeah. I can’t get all upset about a stranger who I know nothing about who potentially has terrible taste.
In terms of the material, I’m not gonna spoil any jokes or anything, but the special is very invested in the moment that we’re currently in. For you, is there one piece of material or one joke that you felt like the whole thing kind of came out of?
Well, that’s interesting. I would say it came out of… Certainly the thrust of the special really starts from the open, which is a very particular specific opening. I don’t wanna give anything away, but that kind of encapsulates the idea.
Every special I’ve done before, there’s a ton of stuff. Most of the stuff doesn’t have anything to do with, you know, COVID or wearing a mask or any of that. But when I’m putting sets together, for me, at least I tend to speak extemporaneously in the beginning when I’m developing stuff. And that’s just sort of the nature of my approach to getting material. So I guess I don’t know how to answer that question. I don’t know if there’s a specific thing that got the wheels turning or anything like that.
That makes sense. I know the material you’re talking about at the very beginning of the show, and I can totally see why that would be the thrust for you.
Yeah. Definitely once you put that idea out there, you’re starting at a certain place and either they’re with you or they’re not with you, and then you just go from there. And then I feel like that’s that little bit is rolling the ball uphill, and then once you get to the punchline, it’s going down and just picking up speed as you continue.
Well, it’s also, it’s an interesting way of coming at a comedy special because, you know, I feel like a feel like there are probably two schools of thought about it. One is, “I want to welcome people in and get them on my side.” And then the other version is, “I’m just going to really put you in it right now and see how you react.”
Yeah. That’s exactly correct. Those are certainly two approaches, and I’ve done both. Sometimes I have really goofy, silly openings. Like two specials ago, I had a fairly well known Spoon song and I asked Brit Daniels to alter the lyrics halfway through so that people in the audience to be like, wait a second, what is what’s happening, I know the song, but that’s a different thing. And that became the intro.
Then, three specials ago, I had a kid come out every place I went — I hired a kid actor, put a bald cap on him and glasses like an eight-year-old boy. And then I gave him a script and he came out and the kid would be me doing some of my material and then leave in a profanity-laced huff, and then I’d come on and sing a song. So yeah, they’re all different. But this one I think is my favorite opening ever. It’s definitely a “you’re with me or you’re not with me” way to open a show.
