David Cross has a habit of inspiring equal parts reverence and rage in anyone who pays attention to him.
A cult-comedy hero on par with the late, great Bill Hicks, Cross makes a point to love and hate his environment as vocally and intensely as he possibly can. That’s led to a fiercely loyal fan base over the years, as well as enemies ranging from Larry the Cable Guy to Jim Belushi.
But despite his cynical, barbed reputation, Cross is actually a nice guy.
“People say, ‘You seem like an angry comic,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, I’m not that angry,’ ” he said over the phone last week. “There’s not a whole lot I can do about it.”
It’s no surprise some think that of Cross. From his early days writing for “The Ben Stiller Show” and then co-creating and starring in HBO’s “Mr. Show” to his prickly, frequently revelatory stand-up, Cross has always been unapologetic.
“I don’t even mind being called angry, but the people who are saying that aren’t going to come to my show anyway,” he said. “At this point I’ve committed something like seven hours of comedy on either TV or audio, plus the book. I mean, you know what you’re getting and you’ve made an educated decision to drop $35 on me.”
After a half-decade of eschewing touring for film and TV roles — most notably as Dr. Tobias Fünke on Fox’s brilliant “Arrested Development” — Cross has returned to the stand-up world. He also just released his first book, “I Drink for a Reason,” a collection of essays, lists and disarmingly personal musings.
On Tuesday, Cross will sign copies of the book at the Tattered Cover in LoDo and perform later that night at the Paramount Theatre. And while he rarely seems like the type to highlight his deepest fears, he was initially terrified at the prospect of returning to the road.
“There were a couple weeks where I was really sweating it and having anxiety dreams,” he said. “But once I started putting the sets together and having a running order, it felt better. Now I feel like I clearly have way too much material and don’t know what I was worrying about. My proclivity for commenting on the moment — whether it’s the hotel I checked into or stuff I saw on the road — easily gives me an extra 20 minutes every night.”
Like a bald, bespectacled Lenny Bruce, Cross has no qualms about going off on any number of topics. Politics and religion? Sure. Bagels and puppies? Absolutely.
Born in Atlanta, Cross honed his skills in Boston before moving to L.A. to write for “The Ben Stiller Show,” for which he won an Emmy. He quickly found himself in front of the camera after HBO picked up his smart, sarcastic sketch comedy “Mr. Show” with Bob Odenkirk, swiftly appearing with small roles on sitcoms (“Just Shoot Me”) and in films (“Men in Black”).
But it was his approach to stand-up that helped cement his fans. He was one of the first and biggest comics to eschew the traditional comedy- club circuit for indie-music venues, releasing his albums on respected Seattle music label Sub Pop and generally aligning himself with the underground-music set.
He was also one of the first to wade into the choppy post- 9/11 waters and address our country’s response to it, as well as any number of divisive religious and cultural topics.
But after more than two decades of stand-up and almost as long on screen, there was one thing the 45-year-old Cross hadn’t done: write a book.
“The only thing I knew is that I wanted to have a lot of different types of comedy writing in there. I knew I wanted to be able to have essays next to fictional pieces next to silly absurdist stuff next to top-10 lists.”
And although Cross isn’t quite ready to commit his memoirs to paper, he did get a unique satisfaction out of writing a book.
“It’s a very different feeling than doing stand-up, which is also great. But I love the idea that there’s this permanence to it and this weight to it,” he said. “I can look at it and hold it. It’s not fleeting like a stand- up set. It’ll always be on a shelf. Unless there’s a fire.”
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
DAVID CROSS.
Stand-up comedy. Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place. With Todd Glass. Tuesday. 8 p.m. $35-$37.
