David Cross: DVD+CD Bigger and Blackerer Coming Soon

Hitting stores or elsewhere May 25, 2010, "Bigger and Blackerer" is the latest effort-- and third proper album-- from the very recognizable and even more funny David Cross. It's coming from Sub Pop Records, like his previous recordings.

Road Trip Album Picks: David Cross' "I Drink For a Reason" Audiobook CD

WHAT: Book read by the author, with special guests
LABEL: Hachette Audio, 2009
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Comedy, David Cross' stand-up albums
WHERE TO FIND IT: Better book stores
LENGTH: 6.4 hours (6 CDs)

If you're too rude and lazy to read, or if you just really like spoken-word comedy releases, you should be glad that David Cross released "I Drink For a Reason" as a CD set as well as a printed book. If 6 hours of Cross seems like too much, he brings in special guests including Jon Benjamin, Kristin Schaal, and the band Les Savy Fav.

For you road-trippers, this is a fantastic driving companion. Each chapter is read with the tone you expect from the comic's stand-up albums, except it's missing the audience. Cross also constantly berates the listener for not having purchased the actual book version, referring to the listener as lazy, selfish, and rude. We do not dispute these claims.

The album adapts the book with numerous changes to better reflect the medium, constantly reminding you that this or that would be better on the printed page, which really adds to the whole presentation. Cross informs the listener which page they might be on, adds audio footnotes, and reminds you that the world you live in is full of awfulness and will likely never, ever become a wonderful place. (Again, this is a comedy.)

Fans of Mr. Show with Bob and David and Cross' earlier stand-up will find this to be a special treasure, loaded with venom at book signings, bloggers, and those too lazy to read. At roughly $30, comedy fans should find this a bargain. Odds are listening through it in its entirety once may be enough, but given that it's six hours long you'll probably be fine with that. David Cross the comedian and David Cross the author are two very similar creatures-- if you liked his previous comedy CDs, or you're already one of the author's devoted fans, this is an easy purchase.

If we had any gripes about the release, it would be that it's almost overstuffed. Audiobooks tend to be quite long, and this one is like listening to eight or nine stand-up albums in a row. It may be too much for you, but if hearing about scrapbooking conventions in Novi, MI doesn't do it for you the content may not be what you're after anyway.

Cross fans: get it. Everyone else: get his other albums, become a Cross fan, and then get the book or this audio book. It's basically The David Cross Manifesto, but there's clearly a good market for this.

Road Trip Album Picks: "Invite Them Up"

WHAT: Collection of material from numerous comedians, curated by Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale
LABEL: Comedy Central Records, 2005
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Comedy
WHERE TO FIND IT: Most better record stores, select big box electronic stores, iTunes

This was basically the New York equivalent of L.A.'s Comedy Death Ray. According to our notes, the show is on some sort of permanent hiatus, which is a fancy way of saying extinct. This 4-disc (3 CD + 1 DVD) set includes a fantastic selection of New York comics performing stand-up, songs, and sketches. At over 3 hours, the plastic artifact has a lot to offer and shows you where a lot of these comics were a few years ago and where they have gone since. And in some cases, still are. But we'll leave that for you to discover.

The sound quality is great, and the references are fresh enough to be funny. Sure, you're going to hear about The Sixth Sense, but it's a solid bit. In this collection, you'll discover Jon Glaser is a genius, Bobby Tisdale is an endless ball of comic energy, and that there need to be a lot more discs just like this one.

A recurring bit-- which is a pretty good idea-- is "30 Seconds of Stand-Up," which was performed at the live event and took more than 30 seconds. Because they had to introduce it and then send it off. It's a brilliant idea to get comics out there, and it's almost a shame that it wasn't adapted into a podcast or, say, a giant collection of a hundred tracks on an audio CD.

The comedy on this album is mostly of the alt comedy variety, which means if you may self-apply the term "comedy nerd" you'll totally love this collection. You get a lot for the asking price, which is typically below $15, and most of it is really funny. And if you don't like it, you can skip to the next one. I suggest you put this one in your collection if you ever do mix tapes for road trips, because you get just so gosh darn much stuff that you will have a whole new selection of stand-ups to go see. Since a lot of these comics have gone on to TV work, and others still tour, this is a great place to go just to get a better idea of who's worth going to see.

The collection comes packaged in a fold-out cardboard case.

Let America Laugh

Let America Laugh
Publisher: Sub Pop Records
Released: November 4, 2003
Director: Lance Bangs
Time: 2 hours, 10 minu
David Cross: to some, he's one half of Mr. Show. To others, he's one half God. To others he's "Oh! That guy, I've seen him in something on Fox, maybe?" This DVD follows the tour in documentary style that David Cross went on across America with the band Ultrababyfat in tow after releasing his CD Shut Up You Fucking Baby.

The DVD features the documentary, broken up into chapters, which follows the same nomenclature as the Shut Up You Fucking Baby CD, meaning that the chapters have a name that has nothing to do with the actual material. Yes, sadly, the chapter "Is There Another Christ?" leads to nothing on the subject. There's also no visual associated with each chapter name, so if you want to get to a specific place on the DVD... you'll just have to memorize it I guess.

For the curious, menus are not animated. In fact, when you select certain menu items, there is a noticeable flicker that shouldn't be there. It detracts a little. On the plus side, as a kind of an Easter Egg, if you just wait on any menu for ten seconds you'll hear a variety of different audio clips, such as messages left on the director's answering machine by David Cross and Bob Odenkirk.

Besides the documentary on the DVD there are "Special Features" in which you find well, just deleted scenes. One has to wonder why there are deleted scenes from this documentary seeing as it's going to probably only be seen in this DVD format, but whatever. They're funny, more of the same kind of stuff you would see on the documentary.

Ah, yes, so, what will you see in the documentary? Well, first off, the budget on this must have been uh, about fifty, no, sixty dollars! Maybe a carton of cigarettes was thrown in, I don't know. Except for the introduction and subsequent "office" bits which were professionally done, it looks like the documentary was shot handheld on a Sony camcorder. There's an amicable job done of filming with the camcorder by Lance Bangs, but it still looks like a documentary shot on a camcorder. That, and if I'm not mistaken, it also looks like it was edited on someone's Macintosh using Final Cut Pro. A fairly good job is done on both fronts... there's not a time where you say "oh, this is unwatchable" but it has a certain cheapness to it that makes you think that maybe it's not worth $13.

Anyway, about the "office" bits... basically at the beginning, end and at points in the middle we see David in a fictional job as a menial office worker, watching him as his boss, his wife and all watch parts of the documentary and condemn him for his horrible life as a stand-up comedian.

While these bits are kinda funny, they are also dumb. I found myself often saying "okay, okay, can we get back to the documentary please?" Maybe they got a lot of money to do this documentary and, seeing as they spent barely a thing on it, had to justify the expense some how. "Quick! Uh, come up with some expensive comedy bit we can tape to insert in there! Uh... premise, premise... David works a day job at a corporate office! Yeah! Go with it!"

Now, the documentary part is where the funny is. However, as the disclaimer states, this "IS NOT A CONCERT FILM! This DVD is an unflinching, behind-the-scenes look at David Cross' 2002 comedy tour."

And indeed it is.

You get to see David mess around with fireworks in the dead of night in Minneapolis. You get to see David perform before an awful crowd Little Rock. See David late to a Mr. Show DVD signing. You get to see what his sister is like and hear a little bit of what he was like growing up, but that's it. No in-depth examination of who David Cross is and why he would choose to go cross-country and tell jokes in shitty clubs.

Instead, the documentary tends to focus more on the people that come to see David Cross and the people that David has to deal with on his tour, which follows a choice that makes it more light entertainment than in depth documentary, but you won't really mind because it's damn funny.

For example, while getting ready to do a show at a bar in Nashville, David ask the manager to remove the tables and chairs from the venue, because, (as he correctly points out) the place will be packed and it will be pretty much standing room only. The manager refuses because he's afraid that without tables and chairs, he won't be able to sell any food, and thus, lose a lot of money.

By showtime, the tables and chairs are removed, but the manager of the bar doesn't get away scott-free. David then proceeds to verbally thrash the manager of the bar during his act. As a result, he gets banned from the club and asked to leave immediately after the gig is over. So, David does leave... after taking 35 minutes to get a poster and record into his bookbag.

The rest of the documentary has more of incidents such as that, with some background music from Arlo, The Shins, Kokomo, and a bunch of other bands you have never heard of.

So, to sum up. You will like this CD if you like to see a lot of stupid and/or drunk people with David Cross deftly dealing with them all. An entertaining freakshow---not unlike watching Dick Cheney, except the bald guy with glasses isn't raw, bottomless evil.

It's Not Funny

It's Not Funny, released in the ancient time of 2004, was the second major CD release for comedian David Cross after the 2-disc Shut Up, You Fucking Baby. It is, indeed, funny.

Okay, let us start with the packaging of this little gem itself. It comes in a heavy paper stock case. On the front cover is a stark black and white photo of David in concert, and on the back there is an adorable picture of David as a child from 1974.



Also, upon opening the case, you will find this little piece of paper within:



I won't ruin the surprise by telling you what's on the piece of paper, but I will tell you that it is relevant and isn't just a big piece of paper with the words "FUCK YOU!" written on it, which I have often thought of putting inside of Hannah Montana CD cases at the store.

Now, not one of the track listings give you a clue to the actual content on that track, which s are more a commentary on the hackneyed acts of other comedians than anything else. Tracks like "My Immigrant Mom Talks Funny!" and "Pandering to the Locals!" This, of course, makes it hard to find certain bits you like, but Cross has been doing this style of nomenclature for enough time now that it has become signature, and you really won't mind it.

The stand-up runs the range from commenting on how boring kids are, to how incredibly stupid it is that you can actually go out and buy electric scissors, to a complete trashing of the war in Iraq and President Bush.

Actually, "trashing" puts it lightly.

Suffice it to say its not for the member of your family who has a big "W in 2004" sticker on their car. He also goes after Homeland Security and Tom Ridge, the racism of Strom Thurmond, and portrays Dennis Miller as a court jester for George W's amusement.

In the most extreme of all the examples from the album, David Cross jokes about Bush killing and eating a Jewish baby. He adds, "That's the only evil, crazy thing for Bush, you know, to do, that's left. He must be getting bored!"

So, yes, if you hate George W. Bush if you hate the War in Iraq, this album is right up your alley.
Still, it can already be felt that this album might get a lot of other reviewers saying how this album is bad "angry" which is kind of like saying that you think Shakespeare is a bad because he's too wordy. Whoever labels this album as bad because it is too angry is missing the point. When Cross is angry, he's angry at something stupid and wrong, such as commentary on the aforementioned selling of electric scissors:

"Ostensibly it's to save time, I think, it's a TIME SAVER...because it will save you over 2.7 seconds...and that shit adds up! That shit adds up..."

David's sarcastic, quick wit doesn't come just come through on his own bits, though. There are instances in the album which David interacts with people reacts to audience members. For instance, David jokes:

"I do believe that, on a whole, women are definitely smarter than men...I also believe that dogs are smarter than women."

After that, woman from the audience says, "I'm not buying that."

"You are right to not believe it," David replies, "I'm going to go ahead and admit it, that I do not believe what I just said---it was what's described as a joke. I'll be telling a bunch of 'em here tonight."

In addition to the regular, easy-to-find bits on the album, there, stashed 8 minutes and 35 seconds into the last track is a bit in which David Cross tells about his experience when he met the lead singer of Creed on Bravo's Celebrity Poker. A hoot.

And that's the most important thing to remember this CD...it's a hoot. It's a riot. It is damn, damn, damn funny. It's Not Funny redeems the section in your music store labeled "Comedy." Well, no, not really. That's asking quite a bit. There's a lot of Carlos Mencia CDs that would have to spontaneously combust.

It is funny, though.