David Cross

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**David Cross** (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer, known primarily for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series *Mr. Show* (1995–1999), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the sitcom *Arrested Development* (2003–present). Cross created, wrote, executive produced, and starred in *The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret* (2010–2016), developed and had a prominent role in *Freak Show* (2006), appeared on *Modern Family* (2011–2012) and portrayed Ian Hawke in the first three live action/CGI films starring Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007–2011). Cross has also done voice work for the sitcom *Oliver Beene* (2003–2004), and has had lead voice-over roles in the *Kung Fu Panda* film franchise (2008–2016), *Megamind* (2010) and *Next Gen* (2018).

In 1993, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for his work on *The Ben Stiller Show*. For *Mr. Show*, he gained three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and for *Arrested Development*, Cross was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Television Series, and, along with his cast, for three Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. For his stand-up specials, he was nominated for several Grammy Awards.

## Early life

Cross was born in Roswell, Georgia, to a Jewish family. His parents are Barry and Susi, the former of whom emigrated from Leeds, England. Six months after his birth, Cross's family moved to Florida. After additional moves to New York and Connecticut, the family settled back in Roswell, Georgia, where Cross remained for nearly a decade. His family was poor and Barry left the family when Cross was 10 years old; the two have not spoken since he was 19, though they both primarily resided in New York City until Cross sold his home there in 2011. Cross and his family were evicted from their home while living in Georgia. He spent some time living in motels and at friends' homes while growing up. He has two sisters and once bailed his youngest sibling out of jail.

## Career

### Stand-up

At age 17, Cross began performing stand-up comedy. The day after he graduated from Northside High School in Atlanta, Cross relocated to New York City. Lacking a plan, he drifted, working briefly for a lawn care company on Long Island. Later, he enrolled at Emerson College in Boston. He would drop out after only a semester, but during his time there, Cross joined This is Pathetic, a college sketch group, where he met John Ennis. In the summer of 1985, the two aspiring actors took a road trip to Los Angeles, although this did not significantly further their acting careers. In Boston, Cross began to perform stand-up more regularly. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Boston had a booming comedy scene, although Cross did not fit the types of acts being booked most of the time. He recalls that it was "a loud, dumb, pandering, racist, homophobic-type scene".

In 1990, a new comedy scene began to emerge at the comedy club chain Catch a Rising Star. Alongside Janeane Garofalo, Louis C.K., and other comics, Cross appeared regularly several nights a week. Cross formed the sketch comedy group "Cross Comedy" with 12 other performers, and they put on a new show every week. They were known for playing tricks on the audience, such as introducing fake comics or planting fake hecklers. Cross became increasingly focused on his comedy work.

Cross later performed at the alternative comedy club Un-Cabaret in Los Angeles, where radio artist Joe Frank heard him, and hired him to appear in Frank's 1994 radio programs, *A Hearing* and *The Last Run* (in 1997 combined to become *The OJ Chronicles*), where Cross appears as OJ's valet. Cross also starred in the Joe Frank program *Jam*, produced in 1999, and has more recently worked with Joe Frank on radio shows for KCRW's *Unfictional*.

Cross's stand-up comedy blends political commentary and satire. In 1999, he performed a one-hour comedy special, *The Pride Is Back*, on HBO. He has released three recordings: *Shut Up You Fucking Baby!*, *It's Not Funny*, and *Bigger and Blackerer*. Cross's stand up material was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties. In 2004, *Shut Up You Fucking Baby!* was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. In 2003, he released his first tour film *Let America Laugh* and was named #85 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. He appears on Un-Cabaret compilation albums, including *Freak Weather Feels Different* and *The Good, the Bad and the Drugly*.

Cross announced a 51-date nationwide stand-up tour from Jan. 26, 2016, in San Diego through April 24, 2016, in Oklahoma City. Titled "Making America Great Again!", it was his first tour in six years.

### Television and film

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Cross began his professional television career as a writer on *The Ben Stiller Show*. The series hired him toward the end of its run, and he occasionally made brief appearances in the sketches. He had a speaking role in "The Legend of T.J. O'Pootertoot", a sketch written almost entirely by Cross. It was during this period that he first met Bob Odenkirk, with whom he would later co-create the HBO sketch comedy series *Mr. Show* in 1995. Cross won an Emmy for his work on *The Ben Stiller Show* in 1993. In 1997 he played Newton, an employee of the NYC Morgue in *Men in Black*, and reprised the character, now as an owner of a video rental store, in *Men in Black II* in 2002.

Cross later co-starred as Tobias Fünke in *Arrested Development*, originally intended to be only a minor role. He also played smaller roles on programs such as *Just Shoot Me!*, *The Drew Carey Show*, *NewsRadio*, *Strangers with Candy*, *Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job*, and *Aqua Teen Hunger Force*. From October 2005, Cross regularly appeared on Comedy Central's *The Colbert Report* as Stephen Colbert's nemesis Russ Lieber, a fictional liberal radio talk show host from Madison, Wisconsin. Cross developed an animated series for Comedy Central called *Freak Show*, which co-starred H. Jon Benjamin and was cancelled due to low ratings. He has appeared several times on *Wonder Showzen*.

Cross teamed up with *Mr. Show* director and producer Troy Miller and Odenkirk to produce a feature film *Run Ronnie Run*, based on one of their *Mr. Show* characters. The film satirized the reality television craze, and featured cameos from many stars; however, Odenkirk got into conflict with the studio New Line Cinema, and they released it direct-to-video. In 1994 and again in 1999, Cross was a guest voice actor on Joe Frank's radio show, featured in the episodes "The Last Run", "A Hearing", "The O.J. Chronicles", and "Jam". In 2013, he returned, making an appearance in an episode of Frank's radio show, entitled "A Conversation."

In 2004, Cross provided voices for a Marine in *Halo 2* and a store clerk named Zero in *Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas*. He was also the voice of the "Happy-Time Harry" doll and Bert Banana in *Aqua Teen Hunger Force* (although the part was credited as Sir Willups Brightslymoore). Cross has made guest appearances in *Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!*. He directed the music video for The Black Keys' song "10 A.M. Automatic", a spoof of public-access television. *Paste Magazine* ranked it number 24 on their list of the 50 Best Music Videos of the Decade (2000–2009).

Cross appeared in The Strokes' music video for "Juicebox" as a bad local "morning zoo" radio DJ. He also appeared in The New Pornographers' video for "Use It", in Superchunk's video for "Watery Hands" (along with Janeane Garofalo), and in Yo La Tengo's video for "Sugarcube" (along with Bob Odenkirk and John Ennis). Cross contributes to *Vice* magazine, writing a column, *My America*. In 2005, he contributed to the UNICEF benefit song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" and appeared in one of PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaigns.

In the Beastie Boys' 2006 concert film *Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!*, Cross portrays Nathaniel Hörnblowér in the fictional segment "A Day in the Life of Nathaniel Hörnblowér". In *I'm Not There*, Cross portrays Allen Ginsberg. Both Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff of the TV series *Scrubs* were eager to have Cross make a cameo appearance on the series as Tobias Fünke, but due to the series' cancellation, the plan never came to fruition.

Cross provided commentary on the *Vicarious* music video DVD for Tool. He has previously performed comedy as an opening act for the band and its members appeared on *Mr. Show* several times. He portrayed Ian Hawke in *Alvin and the Chipmunks*, *Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel*, and *Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked* and voiced Crane in the *Kung Fu Panda* film franchise.

Cross starred in *David's Situation*, a pilot for HBO. It filmed in May 2008 and included many *Mr. Show* alumni at the taping. On August 6, 2008, Bob Odenkirk announced on bobanddavid.com that *David's Situation* would not be produced.

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Cross's black comedy series *The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret*, in which he stars and co-writes with Shaun Pye, has run on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and IFC in the United States since October 2010, for a total 18 episodes. On March 29, 2010, his first comedy special in six years, *Bigger and Blackerer*, was streamed on Epix HD. A CD with "slightly different content" was released on May 25, 2010.

In 2009, Cross released his first book *I Drink for a Reason*. The book features memoirs, satirical fictional memoirs, and material from Cross that originally appeared in other publications. In September 2009, Cross performed at his own comedy stage at the ATP New York 2009 music festival, for which he picked Eugene Mirman, H. Jon Benjamin, Jon Glaser, and Derrick Brown & The Navy Gravy to join him. In the same year, Cross and Benjamin created and wrote for *Paid Programming* on Adult Swim. *Paid Programming* was not picked up for a full series and Benjamin referred to it as an "abject failure".

Cross starred alongside Julia Stiles and America Ferrera in *It's a Disaster*, which premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival. Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired US distribution rights to the film, releasing it in select theaters beginning April 13, 2013.

Cross's directorial debut film *Hits* premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Instead of selling the film rights to distributors, Cross instead opted to sell the movie over Bit Torrent through their "bundles" program, which BitTorrent launched to help "legitimize" the platform. According to *The Verge*, it was the first feature film to be distributed in such a format. At the same time, Cross launched a Kickstarter campaign for the movie's general release which would then distribute the movie using a pay what you want methodology.

In April 2015, episodes were ordered for a new sketch comedy show starring Cross and Odenkirk called *W/ Bob & David*. It premiered in November 2015 on Netflix. Cross and Odenkirk write, star in, and produce the show.

On the January 10, 2016, broadcast of the National Public Radio-syndicated quiz show *Ask Me Another*, Cross appeared as a celebrity guest and performed well enough that at the audience's request the show's producers took the unusual step of allowing him to advance to the show's final, championship round; he then won that round and became that episode's overall champion, winning a prize package that included a pair of denim cutoff shorts that he himself had autographed.Template:Citation needed

He created the eight-episode black comedy series *Bliss*, which was released by the BritBox streaming service in 2018. It stars Stephen Mangan as Andrew, a fraudulent travel writer, who is struggling to maintain long-term relationships with two partners, Kim (Heather Graham) and Denise (Jo Hartley), who are not aware of one another. The same year Cross provided the lead character's "white voice" in the science fiction comedy film *Sorry to Bother You*,

## Influences

Cross has said his comedic influences include Bill Hicks, Andy Kaufman, *Monty Python's Flying Circus*, Lou Costello, Steven Wright, Richard Pryor, and Lenny Bruce.

## Controversies

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In October 2005, Cross was sued by Nashville club manager Thomas Weber, who accused Cross of taping him without permission for *Shut Up You Fucking Baby* and *Let America Laugh* in violation of Weber's privacy rights. In April 2006, the case against Cross himself was dismissed and the case proceeded with Warner Music, Subpop Records, WEA Corporation, and the Alternative Distribution Alliance.

In a 2012 interview with *Playboy* magazine, Cross revealed that he had snorted a small amount of cocaine at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner. Cross said, "It wasn’t like I got high...It was just about being able to say that I did it, that I did cocaine in the same room as the president."

On August 18, 2018, Cross tweeted a photo of himself wearing sacred Latter Day Saint (Mormon) undergarments. The tweet was meant to promote his show at Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah. He faced criticism from LDS Church members who claim the photo was offensive to their religion and asked that the show be cancelled. Ruth V. Watkins, President of the University of Utah where Kingsbury Hall is located released the following statement: “The University of Utah condemns bigotry and religious intolerance in any form. The offensive use of sacred religious imagery in a tweet by David Cross promoting his performance at Kingsbury Hall was in opposition to the university’s values of respect and inclusivity. The use of the imagery was deeply offensive. At the same time, the First Amendment protects such speech, and the university cannot and will not censor content of those coming to campus. We acknowledge the free speech rights of individuals and entities who rent university facilities—even those with whom we disagree. By doing so, we protect the free speech rights of all.”

### Criticisms and feuds

#### Larry the Cable Guy

In April 2005, Cross criticized stand-up comedian Larry the Cable Guy in a *Rolling Stone* interview, saying, "It's a lot of anti-gay, racist humor—which people like in America—all couched in 'I'm telling it like it is.' He's in the right place at the right time for that gee-shucks, proud-to-be-a-redneck, I'm-just-a-straight-shooter-multimillionaire-in-cutoff-flannel-selling-ring-tones act. That's where we are as a nation now. We're in a state of vague American values and anti-intellectual pride."

In response, Larry devoted a chapter in his book *GIT-R-DONE* to Cross and the "PC left", claiming that Cross had "screwed with my fans, it was time for me to say something". Larry claimed that *Rolling Stone* was baiting comedians to attack him, and they turned to Cross only after Lewis Black refused; as Larry and Black are good friends. Cross responded with *An Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy* posted on his website. He continued to mock Larry in his stand-up, satirizing *Blue Collar TV* during a guest appearance on *Wonder Showzen*. In December 2005, he ended his performance on Comedy Central's *Last Laugh '05* by mockingly yelling Larry's catchphrase, "GIT-R-DONE!", to the audience as he left the stage. He pokes fun at Larry's comedy in *Freak Show* with a character called "Danny the Plumber Guy".

#### James Lipton

Cross has criticized *Inside the Actors Studio* host James Lipton on a *Mr. Show* sketch and in his stand-up performance *The Pride Is Back*, calling him "pretentious." Lipton, who thought that Cross's impression of him was not good-natured, would later appear alongside Cross in *Arrested Development*, in the recurring role of Prison Warden Stefan Gentiles. During filming, Cross was impressed with Lipton's acting and comedic ability, and the two became good friends. On one commentary track for season four of *Mr. Show*, Cross discussed the encounter, complimenting Lipton for his professionalism and performance, saying that he liked Lipton personally but still "didn't care for" *Inside The Actors Studio*.

#### Alvin and the Chipmunks

Responding to critics of his decision to appear in the critically panned, but commercially successful, *Alvin and the Chipmunks*, Cross noted that the film paid for a summer cottage, and more than "all my other projects combined: book, TV show, the two pilots, *Year One*, yeah." Although he has admitted to taking the role primarily for the money, he has said that he does not regret doing so or consider it to be "selling out" as he has nothing against entertainment designed for children to enjoy that does not send a bad message. Cross reprised his *Chipmunks* role in the film's two sequels, *Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel* and *Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked*.

#### Scott Stapp

Cross has been critical of several pop music acts in his standup comedy, notably Creed and its lead singer, Scott Stapp. On his 2004 album *It's Not Funny*, Cross referred to Creed as "the third-worst band in history”, and maligned the group's pop sensibilities for being too ubiquitous, suggesting that Stapp hung around "10th grade girls' locker rooms" to find inspiration for his song lyrics. Cross then relates an anecdote about Stapp being a last-minute replacement for another celebrity at a taping of *Celebrity Poker Showdown* in 2003. Cross became concerned that a confrontation would take place since he had "said the most awful shit about that guy [Stapp] on stage and in print." Cross said that as the taping was preparing to commence, he approached Stapp and extended his hand, introducing himself, and that Stapp shook his hand and sarcastically intoned, "Thanks for the words”, to which Cross replied, "Well, you know..."

## Personal life

In August 2011, after four years of dating, Cross became engaged to Amber Tamblyn. They married in 2012. On February 21, 2017, Tamblyn announced that she and Cross had recently had a daughter.

Cross, who was raised Jewish, has described himself as atheist.

He describes his political philosophy as "definitely more socialist Democrat than centrist politician". In an interview in 2016, Cross praised Senator Bernie Sanders and said he admired Sanders "way before he ran for President".

On September 26, 2013, Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler revealed that Cross was the first investor in the crowdfunding platform. Strickler included Cross among the "friends and family" who first financed Kickstarter in 2006.