Let America Laugh

David Cross' tour CD, "Shut Up, You F*cking Baby!"

David Cross reminds you a lot of your whiny, hilarious friend. But David Cross whines about politics instead of potato chip commercials, and he's funnier than your friend. A lot funnier. Raised Jewish in Georgia by politically liberal parents, he learned to make his alienation entertaining and has developed a passionate following of fans who are devoted to his cynical, sarcastic, biting, and oftentimes political humor. His HBO series "Mr. Show" gave him some fame, but he's not new to the game. He's been doing stand up for almost 20 years and was a writer for the Emmy award-winning Ben Stiller show. You can currently read his column in Vice Magazine or better yet, watch him in action on the new DVD that follows him on tour, "Let America Laugh."

Cross has been following politics since fellow Georgian Jimmy Carter dawdled his way into the Presidency in 1976. Now he's turning up the heat. On his tour CD "Shut Up, You F*cking Baby," he slams all things ignorant, from southern layabouts to aspiring LA actors. But much of his vitriol is reserved for overtly political characters. Washington it-men John Ashcroft and George W. Bush sustain several pointed tirades, as do anti-abortion activists, fear mongering pundits and religious fundamentalists. In short, he's political and funny, and he delivers it all as if you were chatting over a coffee -- or six shots of Jager at your local dive bar.

Lucky for young people and political participation, he's not a lazy drunk, but a driven political activist. This spring, he plans to launch a get out the vote comedy tour with politically like-minded comedians. He's not going to hound you, but he wants you to vote in 2004, because beneath the satire is real fear of another four years of Bush and the harm he could cause the Republic. He escaped shooting of the Fox sit-com Arrested Development, his latest project, to talk with WireTap.

WireTap: How much news do you intake daily?

Mr. Show: It's David and Bob!

David Cross: I read way more than I watch. I read the New York Times, and if I'm in a different city, I'll skim that paper. I go on the Internet a lot. I'll spend hours on, you know, Hamster, BuzzFlash, Bartcop, any of those guys. It's kind of addictive. My biggest problem is retaining the exact information. There's so much it gets jumbled. Occasionally I'll watch Fox News for as long as I can tolerate it, or CNN. I'll watch until I get infuriated, but you got to know what they're talking about and what they're not talking about. And I try to always -- and I'm not that successful -- remember how to read a newspaper. And to look for the subtle bias within it, whether it's left or right, the placement of information, the adjectives used and all that kind of stuff.

WT: Do you vote?

DC: Yes.

WT: How many times have you voted?

DC: I've only voted in the midterms four or five times. I've voted in every presidential election.

WT: What was your most satisfying time to vote? Or what has been a good experience voting, where you've said, "Hey, you know that worked!"

DC: Well, you know when you vote for something that becomes successful. There were a number of referendums in '98 that most of the things I voted for passed. That's very satisfying when you feel that most of the country is in step with your views. That's always surprising and gratifying. I don't think I'll ever experience something as frustrating and demoralizing and deflating and bordering on tragic as what happened in 2000. Not just the event, but this whole kinda campaign that actually became successful, where everybody was like, "Ok it's over, we get it move on, yeah we get it, alright, your buddy lost, don't worry about it, move on." Like you're just supposed to go, "Yeah, you're right, alright, forget it. Yeah it's a bummer for a couple of days but I guess it doesn't reflect poorly on the rest of our lives." That was shocking, and remains so.