Posted on
October 26, 2009 by
jeremyazevedo
Mr. Show and Arrested Development star’s literary debut
By Jeremy Azevedo |
David Cross is one of the more subversive comics performing today. His act, despite accusations of being “lefty” and “P.C.” by faux-blue collar comedian “Larry the Cable Guy”, is really anything but. |
It’s easy to call Cross “Left wing” because he doesn’t pander to the lowest common denominator, or because he’s suspicious of virtually everything. Really though, he’s just not a joiner. And having read his book, “I Drink For A Reason”, I can safely say that he most likely has as much (if not more) disdain for hippies as he does for republican conservatives. After a certain point, though, you have to wonder how he came to view himself as being so goddamn superior. It would almost grow tiresome if it weren’t also consistently hilarious.
At 45 years old, Cross is essentially the original, proto-hipster: Anti-everything and yet always on the front lines of nearly every cultural shift. Most comics would’ve given up on the whole “cutting edge” bit and started making children’s movies by now. (Eh… David Cross sort of does that too… When he’s not already too busy being awesome in Arrested Development, Wonder Showzen and virtually every animated series on Adult Swim!) I can imagine that the pressure to always be “cool” and to also live up to his own personal standard of being completely infallible when it comes to crass-consumerism, ego and musical taste must be exhausting. And yet he soldiers on, taking down everything from Urban Outfitters and “top ten lists” to Jim Belushi and patriotism. Not even scrapbooking is safe from his unerring stream of ridicule. (Although between you and me, scrapbooking had it comin’.)
This is sort of my favorite thing about David Cross and comics like him. He gets into arguments with entertainers that take the easy road and play to Middle America’s insatiable lust for fart jokes. And then he writes fart jokes of his own, but addresses them to an audience that considers itself “highbrow” and enjoys the aforementioned fart jokes “ironically”. Where one comic might play the “aw shucks, tell-it-like-it-is” game with the audience and point out a shared stupidity, David Cross instead chooses to stand on a platform and point out that the audience is itself stupid. And yet he still gets the laughs without having to pretend that he himself is part of the “problem”. This is the quality that I think makes him a superior comedian.
His body of work speaks for itself: David Cross is routinely great in most everything he does. Meanwhile, he gets to act like an over-educated and under-stimulated asshole and get away with it at every turn. It’s something that I suspect creative types really respond to, and may be why there is a bit of disconnect between how he is received by critics and how he is received by the public. The brutality with which he rips on The American Way Of Life requires a more sophisticate palette than most casual observers are likely to have. Conversely, those of us that find humor in the things that other people are passionately serious about will have a great time reading “I Drink For A Reason” and laughing at the absurdity of ourselves, and our neighbors, along with David.
If you enjoy David Cross’s stand-up, you’ll certainly also enjoy this book. It basically amounts to a comedy album in written form. It’s one of those books that are great to leave on your kitchen or coffee table and read a chapter over breakfast, or while taking a dump (or both at the same time, if that’s what you’re into). There’s even some great callback, like when Cross writes the “Magic Christian” inspired “I Think Rich People Are Boring”, and then later revisits the concept in “Sitting On A Pole Trying To Win Some Money”. Some of these articles are just lists, which is funny because he has a chapter later in the book making fun of lists. There isn’t much in the way of deeply personal anecdotes, but then, this isn’t a memoir, and Cross is sort of too successful to have any really great crybaby stories about living in squalor or giving truck stop hand-jobs to feed his kids like J.K. Rowling or Chelsea Handler (who doesn’t have kids that I am aware of and probably does that sort of thing just for fun, I’m guessing).
I award “I Drink For A Reason” 8 out of 10 Unicorns Fighting A Robot Dolphin:
+2 If you think “Arrested Development” was the best comedy ever on television
+1 If you think “Arrested Development” was the second best comedy ever on television, after “Married With Children”
-2 If you know you’re a redneck when… (Fill in the blank with some dumbass remark about incest or trucks or something)
For more information on the book, please visit IDrinkForAReason.com
Additionally, do yourself a favor and check out David Cross in the ultimate pwnage of blue collar “humor” on WonderShowzen’s classic “Horse Apples” episode. You won’t be sorry.
