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I Drink for a Reason
The star and creative force behind Mr. Show and Arrested Development pens his "first and final book, chronicling his meteoric rise and abysmal fall in the literary world." After a decade spent in isolation in the Ugandan jungles thinking about stuff, David Cross has written his first book. Known for roles on the small screen such as "never-nude" Tobias Funke on Arrested Development and the role of "David" in Mr. Show With Bob And David, as well as a hugely successful stand-up routine full of sharp-tongued rants and rages, Cross has carved out his place in American comedy. Whether deflating the pomposity of religious figures, calling out the pathetic symbiosis of pseudo-celebrity and its leaching fandom, or merely pushing the buttons of the way-too-easily offended P.C. left or the caustic, double-standard of the callous (but funnier) right, Cross has something to say about everyone, including his own ridiculous self.Now, for the first time, Cross is weaving his media mockery, celebrity denunciation, religious commentary and sheer madness into book form, revealing the true story behind his almost existential distaste of Jim Belushi ("The Belush"), disclosing the up-to-now unpublished minutes to a meeting of Fox television network executives, and offering up a brutally grotesque run-in with Bill O'Reilly. And as if this wasn't enough for your laughing pleasure in these troubled times, some of the pieces splinter off with additional material being created online in exclusive video and animated web content created solely for the book-a historical first (presumably)!With a mix of personal essays, satirical fiction posing as truth, advice for rich people, information from America's least favorite Rabbi and a top-ten list of top-ten lists, I Drink for a Reason is as unique as the comedian himself, and cannot be missed.
257 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 31, 2009
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About the author
David Cross
6 books104 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, stand-up and actor.
Early Life
David Cross was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Susi, a computer retailer. Six months later, Cross' 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. Cross has been estranged from his father since age 19, although they both currently reside in New York City.
He attended Northside High School of the Performing Arts (now North Atlanta High School), graduating in 1982. Cross was elected treasurer of his senior class and was voted "Most Humorous" by his classmates. He began performing stand-up comedy at 17.
The day after he graduated from high school, Cross went to New York. Lacking a plan, he drifted around, working briefly for a lawn care company in Long Island, and later enrolled at Emerson College in Boston. He would drop out after only a semester, but during his time there he discovered his new favorite things: partying and sketch comedy. 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 a small club called Catch a Rising Star. Cross—along with Janeane Garofalo, Louis C.K., and other comics—appeared regularly several nights a week. Cross formed the sketch comedy group "Cross Comedy" with twelve 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.
In Los Angeles, Cross performed at the alternative comedy club Un-Cabaret which everyone there enjoyed.
Career
Cross began his professional television career as a writer on The Ben Stiller Show. The short-lived Fox Network 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.
Cross later co-starred as Tobias Fünke in Arrested Development, which was originally intended to be only a minor role. He has 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. Since October 2005, Cross has appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report as Stephen Colbert's arch-nemesis, a fictional liberal radio talk show host from Madison, Wisconsin named "Russ Lieber". Cross also developed an animated series for Comedy Central called Freak Show, which co-starred H. Jon Benjamin, and was canceled due to low ratings. He has appeared several times on the MTV2 series Wonder Showzen.
Cross teamed up with Odenkirk to produce a feature film, based on one of their Mr. Show characters, called Run Ronnie Run. The film satirized the reality television craze, and featured cameos from many stars. However, Cross and Odenkirk came into creative conflict with the director, Troy M
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, stand-up and actor.
Early Life
David Cross was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Susi, a computer retailer. Six months later, Cross' 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. Cross has been estranged from his father since age 19, although they both currently reside in New York City.
He attended Northside High School of the Performing Arts (now North Atlanta High School), graduating in 1982. Cross was elected treasurer of his senior class and was voted "Most Humorous" by his classmates. He began performing stand-up comedy at 17.
The day after he graduated from high school, Cross went to New York. Lacking a plan, he drifted around, working briefly for a lawn care company in Long Island, and later enrolled at Emerson College in Boston. He would drop out after only a semester, but during his time there he discovered his new favorite things: partying and sketch comedy. 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 a small club called Catch a Rising Star. Cross—along with Janeane Garofalo, Louis C.K., and other comics—appeared regularly several nights a week. Cross formed the sketch comedy group "Cross Comedy" with twelve 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.
In Los Angeles, Cross performed at the alternative comedy club Un-Cabaret which everyone there enjoyed.
Career
Cross began his professional television career as a writer on The Ben Stiller Show. The short-lived Fox Network 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.
Cross later co-starred as Tobias Fünke in Arrested Development, which was originally intended to be only a minor role. He has 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. Since October 2005, Cross has appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report as Stephen Colbert's arch-nemesis, a fictional liberal radio talk show host from Madison, Wisconsin named "Russ Lieber". Cross also developed an animated series for Comedy Central called Freak Show, which co-starred H. Jon Benjamin, and was canceled due to low ratings. He has appeared several times on the MTV2 series Wonder Showzen.
Cross teamed up with Odenkirk to produce a feature film, based on one of their Mr. Show characters, called Run Ronnie Run. The film satirized the reality television craze, and featured cameos from many stars. However, Cross and Odenkirk came into creative conflict with the director, Troy M
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 576 reviews
December 17, 2009
Let him get out of his analrapist pants and into his acting skirt.
This was great. Just like Stephen Colbert's book (I Am America And So Can You) this was perfect for listening to the audio book version. I'd read through bits and pieces of the analogue version with the pages and the ink and the words and whatnot, while at a friend's house and enjoyed it, but hearing Cross's voice and delivery just made it even better.
It begins with another great comedian, Jon Benjamin, reading the intro for a few minutes until Cross comes into the recording booth and they start arguing (hilariously, and almost believably) and then Cross takes over and reads everything that Jon Benjamin had just read before they started screaming at each other about money and intonation and so on.
David sticks to his usual material (ripping into idiotic elements of contemporary American culture, which is a massive landscape to pick and choose from) but it's not redundant at all.
At one point he takes on scrap booking conventions/seminars and his amusement turns to a comedic rage that's downright palpable.
If you love absurd, intelligent, often dark and surreal humor, David Cross is your man. He's been mine for a while now.
PRE-REVIEW "REVIEW": I have a good feeling about this one. David Cross is easily one of my favorite comedians. I've listened to his two albums a ridiculous number of times and laugh at them every time, even after basically having the entire series of bits memorized.
This was great. Just like Stephen Colbert's book (I Am America And So Can You) this was perfect for listening to the audio book version. I'd read through bits and pieces of the analogue version with the pages and the ink and the words and whatnot, while at a friend's house and enjoyed it, but hearing Cross's voice and delivery just made it even better.
It begins with another great comedian, Jon Benjamin, reading the intro for a few minutes until Cross comes into the recording booth and they start arguing (hilariously, and almost believably) and then Cross takes over and reads everything that Jon Benjamin had just read before they started screaming at each other about money and intonation and so on.
David sticks to his usual material (ripping into idiotic elements of contemporary American culture, which is a massive landscape to pick and choose from) but it's not redundant at all.
At one point he takes on scrap booking conventions/seminars and his amusement turns to a comedic rage that's downright palpable.
If you love absurd, intelligent, often dark and surreal humor, David Cross is your man. He's been mine for a while now.
PRE-REVIEW "REVIEW": I have a good feeling about this one. David Cross is easily one of my favorite comedians. I've listened to his two albums a ridiculous number of times and laugh at them every time, even after basically having the entire series of bits memorized.
October 4, 2010
A book that exemplifies the reason that most, if not all, stand-up comedians should not be offered book deals. They just shouldn’t.
I didn’t like this book, not even a little, but I should begin that with the caveat that I am, actually, a David Cross fan. Mr. Show is undeniably great, his 2002 album “Shut Up You Fucking Baby” remains one of my favorite stand-up albums, and though I liked them plenty less, I purchased the subsequent two and listened to them more than once on long car trips, usually across the desert. However, there is a moment on SUYFB that I don’t like (even though the refrain “answer your telephone!” still rattles around my head when a phone rings – you might know what I mean if you’ve heard it), and that’s the story he tells about getting drunk/high with some band I don’t care about, that he prefaces with “this isn’t another ‘I was so drunk’ story,” and then proceeds to tell a very average “I was so drunk” story. Unlike the rest of the album, which has a nice angry tone and attacks people who deserve to be attacked (and this in 2002!), this bit seems there only to make Mr. Cross seem cool. And by that I mean cool to, you know, skateboarding eighth-graders.
This book, then, is pretty much an extended version of that joke, a series of stories and sketches that are there only to… I’m not sure why they’re here. It’s far, far harder to get a laugh from a person sitting alone with a book than it is in a club full of drunk people, so he’s set the laugh-bar much higher for himself than onstage, and of course can’t clear it. (For a similar falling-on-one’s-face book, see Jon Stewart’s also not-funny but far less irritating “Naked Pictures of Famous People.”) Perhaps this is me participating in the “backlash” he references in one of the later essays (are they even that? Some of this stuff just seems to be email he’s culling from a cluttered inbox), getting mad at him for appearing in kids’ movies and other junk for an easy paycheck. But I don’t begrudge him that – I don’t begrudge anyone that. Shit, I’ve made it pretty clear to folks I know that for six million dollars, I’ll humiliate myself in almost any way. The guy needs to get paid, and that’s fine with me. My problem, I’d argue, is with the content of this book. It’s not funny, it’s just hipster self-aggrandizement, and I can get enough of that from the glares of kids at coffee shops.
The fact of it is, this book is just lazy. He can call out Larry the Cable Guy for his lazy jokes (and he’s right about it), but he’s working no harder by publishing a book that is maybe 60% old content. And, if I couldn’t find an easier way to sum up what’s wrong with this thing, I’ll point out that some of the reprinted stuff is from Vice magazine. Enough said. The original content (i.e., content written ostensibly for this book) is not much better. Mr. Cross can’t decide if he’s going to go “deep” and plumb the socio-political depths with some real thought (he doesn’t), or if he’s just going to lambast those awful people who have only one good one-night-stand story. Poor Mr. Cross, if only everyone was as smart and interesting as him.
So, if you want an aging hipster who can’t grow up to lecture you about how cool he is and how you don’t do enough drugs, by all means read the book. This review may be a bit excessive, I admit, but it’s hard to read something where the author basically makes fun of you the whole time and then not have something to say about it. I’ll add one last thing, too: I once saw Mr. Cross walking in downtown Chicago, peering at street signs, clearly lost. My wife pointed him out, and we both decided that no, we were not going to help him. Because he seems like a jerk. This book, cover to cover, reassures me that I was completely right. Think about it, David – people are consciously letting you wander aimlessly in an unfamiliar city without helping you. You might want to calm down.
I didn’t like this book, not even a little, but I should begin that with the caveat that I am, actually, a David Cross fan. Mr. Show is undeniably great, his 2002 album “Shut Up You Fucking Baby” remains one of my favorite stand-up albums, and though I liked them plenty less, I purchased the subsequent two and listened to them more than once on long car trips, usually across the desert. However, there is a moment on SUYFB that I don’t like (even though the refrain “answer your telephone!” still rattles around my head when a phone rings – you might know what I mean if you’ve heard it), and that’s the story he tells about getting drunk/high with some band I don’t care about, that he prefaces with “this isn’t another ‘I was so drunk’ story,” and then proceeds to tell a very average “I was so drunk” story. Unlike the rest of the album, which has a nice angry tone and attacks people who deserve to be attacked (and this in 2002!), this bit seems there only to make Mr. Cross seem cool. And by that I mean cool to, you know, skateboarding eighth-graders.
This book, then, is pretty much an extended version of that joke, a series of stories and sketches that are there only to… I’m not sure why they’re here. It’s far, far harder to get a laugh from a person sitting alone with a book than it is in a club full of drunk people, so he’s set the laugh-bar much higher for himself than onstage, and of course can’t clear it. (For a similar falling-on-one’s-face book, see Jon Stewart’s also not-funny but far less irritating “Naked Pictures of Famous People.”) Perhaps this is me participating in the “backlash” he references in one of the later essays (are they even that? Some of this stuff just seems to be email he’s culling from a cluttered inbox), getting mad at him for appearing in kids’ movies and other junk for an easy paycheck. But I don’t begrudge him that – I don’t begrudge anyone that. Shit, I’ve made it pretty clear to folks I know that for six million dollars, I’ll humiliate myself in almost any way. The guy needs to get paid, and that’s fine with me. My problem, I’d argue, is with the content of this book. It’s not funny, it’s just hipster self-aggrandizement, and I can get enough of that from the glares of kids at coffee shops.
The fact of it is, this book is just lazy. He can call out Larry the Cable Guy for his lazy jokes (and he’s right about it), but he’s working no harder by publishing a book that is maybe 60% old content. And, if I couldn’t find an easier way to sum up what’s wrong with this thing, I’ll point out that some of the reprinted stuff is from Vice magazine. Enough said. The original content (i.e., content written ostensibly for this book) is not much better. Mr. Cross can’t decide if he’s going to go “deep” and plumb the socio-political depths with some real thought (he doesn’t), or if he’s just going to lambast those awful people who have only one good one-night-stand story. Poor Mr. Cross, if only everyone was as smart and interesting as him.
So, if you want an aging hipster who can’t grow up to lecture you about how cool he is and how you don’t do enough drugs, by all means read the book. This review may be a bit excessive, I admit, but it’s hard to read something where the author basically makes fun of you the whole time and then not have something to say about it. I’ll add one last thing, too: I once saw Mr. Cross walking in downtown Chicago, peering at street signs, clearly lost. My wife pointed him out, and we both decided that no, we were not going to help him. Because he seems like a jerk. This book, cover to cover, reassures me that I was completely right. Think about it, David – people are consciously letting you wander aimlessly in an unfamiliar city without helping you. You might want to calm down.
December 31, 2009
I laughed to the point of physical pain at least nine times while reading David Cross’s I Drink For a Reason. Allow me to go all bullet-pointy with my review, please:
• I have never seen Mr. Show or Wonder Showzen (he was on that one, too, right?) despite some of you telling me about 4,000 times that I should. I feel guilty buying more DVD sets when I’m still on season 2 of Weeds and never finished True Blood. I have, however, seen every Arrested Development episode so I at least knew the author a little before starting the book. Oh, I’ve never heard his comedy albums, either.
• The book starts slowly, sort of a meta-analysis of why he’s writing and what he hopes to get from the experience (invitations to cool author parties) and high-quality mockery of weird health food and (much to my joy) hippies. But the essays don’t hit their stride until page 35, when a description of a maid entering the author’s hotel room for “turn down” service while he’s taking a shit evolves into a very funny tirade against gratuitous luxury.
• I can’t tell if Cross comes up with these tirades off the top of his head or writes and rewrites with precision. I guess that doesn’t matter much. Cross is at his best when he starts out at a slow boil, trying to be reasonable, then seems to hit the “fuck it, I don’t care, I’m saying what I think” switch before going insane. The best example of this involves a fairly benign description of appearing on Fox News that turns into a description of getting fisted by Bill O’Reilly.
• Cross really detests Jim Belushi. I mean, fatwa-style hatred. He explains why, and I don’t blame him. He hates Whoopi Goldberg, too, but maybe a little less than Jim Belushi.
• Cross’s (is the possessive “Cross’s” or “Cross’”? I can never remember.) subtle strength is his ability to eviscerate, for example, a scrapbooking convention in a Michigan hotel while appearing both wide-eyed and not particularly mean. He’s trying to understand the event, from what I can tell, but he just doesn’t get why people would spend all weekend at a hotel picking out fonts and fancy construction paper for photo albums of their cats. Or that Mary J. Blige says “God wants me to have bling.”
• The previous bullet is true unless you really piss Cross off. Both the left and right piss him off. He’s an equal opportunity critic but sometimes gets a little politically bloggy. When he hits his mark, though, holy hell, he’s good. His open letter to that Larry the Cable Guy is a brilliant, exhilarating analysis of art, commerce, and authenticity. Apparently LTCG doesn’t think Cross is funny. The letter includes this passage:
So I went and got your book “Gitting-R-Donned” and excitedly skimmed past the joke about that one time you farted and something farty happened, on past the thing about the fat girl who farted, and finally found it—Chapter 5, Media Madness. Well, needless to say, I farted. I farted up a fartstorm right there in the Flyin’ J Travel Center. I fartingly bought the book and took it home with an excitement I haven’t experienced since I got Bertha Chudfarter’s grandma drunk and she took her teeth out and blew me as I was finger banging while watching a Jesus sock puppet in the back of the boiler room at the Church of the Redeemer off I-20 (I don’t care who you are, that’s funny.)
• He writes about his Jewish background and how his dad was an asshole. Cross also takes on his critics pretty well without sounding overtly defensive, esp. in an essay about how people on both ends of the political spectrum have accused him of being an asshole.
• His correspondence with Dave Eggers is the first piece involving Mr. Eggers that didn’t leave my eyes rolling. I’m sorry, I was part of the Eggers backlash. I admit it.
• There’s an innocence to some of Cross’s essays, like in the one about how much he loves playing “Mafia!” at parties.
• His parody of Pitchfork album reviews is fantastic.
So you probably know already if you’d like this book. But if you think you would like this book my guess is that you’d really like this book and would probably finish the text in a day or two (so don’t pay full price, get a library copy) and try to tell the funny parts to your friends but screw them up (“He mocks LTCG for talking about farting so much.”). I’m going to search out his albums next and maybe finally watch his other DVD sets. I get the sense I’ve been missing out. If you think I’m missing out, too, check out I Drink For a Reason. We’re even.
• I have never seen Mr. Show or Wonder Showzen (he was on that one, too, right?) despite some of you telling me about 4,000 times that I should. I feel guilty buying more DVD sets when I’m still on season 2 of Weeds and never finished True Blood. I have, however, seen every Arrested Development episode so I at least knew the author a little before starting the book. Oh, I’ve never heard his comedy albums, either.
• The book starts slowly, sort of a meta-analysis of why he’s writing and what he hopes to get from the experience (invitations to cool author parties) and high-quality mockery of weird health food and (much to my joy) hippies. But the essays don’t hit their stride until page 35, when a description of a maid entering the author’s hotel room for “turn down” service while he’s taking a shit evolves into a very funny tirade against gratuitous luxury.
• I can’t tell if Cross comes up with these tirades off the top of his head or writes and rewrites with precision. I guess that doesn’t matter much. Cross is at his best when he starts out at a slow boil, trying to be reasonable, then seems to hit the “fuck it, I don’t care, I’m saying what I think” switch before going insane. The best example of this involves a fairly benign description of appearing on Fox News that turns into a description of getting fisted by Bill O’Reilly.
• Cross really detests Jim Belushi. I mean, fatwa-style hatred. He explains why, and I don’t blame him. He hates Whoopi Goldberg, too, but maybe a little less than Jim Belushi.
• Cross’s (is the possessive “Cross’s” or “Cross’”? I can never remember.) subtle strength is his ability to eviscerate, for example, a scrapbooking convention in a Michigan hotel while appearing both wide-eyed and not particularly mean. He’s trying to understand the event, from what I can tell, but he just doesn’t get why people would spend all weekend at a hotel picking out fonts and fancy construction paper for photo albums of their cats. Or that Mary J. Blige says “God wants me to have bling.”
• The previous bullet is true unless you really piss Cross off. Both the left and right piss him off. He’s an equal opportunity critic but sometimes gets a little politically bloggy. When he hits his mark, though, holy hell, he’s good. His open letter to that Larry the Cable Guy is a brilliant, exhilarating analysis of art, commerce, and authenticity. Apparently LTCG doesn’t think Cross is funny. The letter includes this passage:
So I went and got your book “Gitting-R-Donned” and excitedly skimmed past the joke about that one time you farted and something farty happened, on past the thing about the fat girl who farted, and finally found it—Chapter 5, Media Madness. Well, needless to say, I farted. I farted up a fartstorm right there in the Flyin’ J Travel Center. I fartingly bought the book and took it home with an excitement I haven’t experienced since I got Bertha Chudfarter’s grandma drunk and she took her teeth out and blew me as I was finger banging while watching a Jesus sock puppet in the back of the boiler room at the Church of the Redeemer off I-20 (I don’t care who you are, that’s funny.)
• He writes about his Jewish background and how his dad was an asshole. Cross also takes on his critics pretty well without sounding overtly defensive, esp. in an essay about how people on both ends of the political spectrum have accused him of being an asshole.
• His correspondence with Dave Eggers is the first piece involving Mr. Eggers that didn’t leave my eyes rolling. I’m sorry, I was part of the Eggers backlash. I admit it.
• There’s an innocence to some of Cross’s essays, like in the one about how much he loves playing “Mafia!” at parties.
• His parody of Pitchfork album reviews is fantastic.
So you probably know already if you’d like this book. But if you think you would like this book my guess is that you’d really like this book and would probably finish the text in a day or two (so don’t pay full price, get a library copy) and try to tell the funny parts to your friends but screw them up (“He mocks LTCG for talking about farting so much.”). I’m going to search out his albums next and maybe finally watch his other DVD sets. I get the sense I’ve been missing out. If you think I’m missing out, too, check out I Drink For a Reason. We’re even.
January 9, 2010
I Drink for a Reason is a poorly edited collection of unfocused ramblings and unfunny rants that serves mainly to highlight just how far the once brilliant David Cross has fallen lately. The comedian has always rode a fine line between righteous indignation and off-putting anger, but even for Cross this is a new low of smug superiority and condescension. But the book is not only unflatteringly nasty, it's also unforgivably lazy. The whole thing feels phoned-in, from the redundant rants against Judaism to the preach-to-the-choir political screeds to the tossed off "wacky" lists. And it appears the publisher cared as little as the author, considering the sheer amount of typos left in the book.
It's fitting that Cross has a famous feud with hack comedian Larry the Cable Guy, because in recent years, he's become the urban liberal hipster version of his red state rival. They're both poorly served by a rabid and uncritical fanboy base. They both love to take potshots at easy targets, playing towards their audience's prejudices under the guise of telling it like it is. And they've both made a living from the bile and bitterness worked up from a phony and counterproductive culture war. Normally, I'd end a review of such a half-ass effort with the disclaimer "Only for serious fans", but I can't even do that here. This shameless cash-in of a book has made me less of a fan, and, sad as I am to say it, it's made me have less respect for him as a performer and as a person.
It's fitting that Cross has a famous feud with hack comedian Larry the Cable Guy, because in recent years, he's become the urban liberal hipster version of his red state rival. They're both poorly served by a rabid and uncritical fanboy base. They both love to take potshots at easy targets, playing towards their audience's prejudices under the guise of telling it like it is. And they've both made a living from the bile and bitterness worked up from a phony and counterproductive culture war. Normally, I'd end a review of such a half-ass effort with the disclaimer "Only for serious fans", but I can't even do that here. This shameless cash-in of a book has made me less of a fan, and, sad as I am to say it, it's made me have less respect for him as a performer and as a person.
January 16, 2010
Ostensibly, this a book of "American wit and humor" according to the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (hey, I'm a librarian, I look at that stuff), and it is. But, it's humor colored by one man's edgy, even controverisal opinions about atheism, gay rights, and American politics. He is NOT a Bill O'Reilly fan. If you are, you will not like this book.
I'll give David Crosby this, he has a definite opinion about religion and gay rights, and he's not afraid to talk about it. While I'm not an atheist, I agree with him, to a large extent, so I enjoyed this book, even when it got a little over the top for me. At times, it was cruder than I can appreciate, with my delicate sensibilities. And at other times, I felt like instead of trying to make a joke, David was just honestly saying what he thinks about religion, and what it's like to be a liberal comedian in a conservative-leaning country. What I'm trying to say is, this book is NOT for everyone.
If you are conservative, religious, or are squeamish about gay sexual jokes, you are not going to appreciate this book. He is an equal opportunity offender, going after Jews (in the Ask a Rabbi! chapter) AND Mormons, in a few places. And he really hates Jim Belushi, and now, so do I. He seems a bit defensive, and you can tell he's taken a lot of flack about his views, and is using the book to defend his positions. Hey, it's HIS book, he can do that!
Okay, this is also full of silliness and humor. This is a collection of short pieces, about half of which are simply absurd imaginings things about being in a pole-sitting contest to win a truck, or what it would be like to go to a literary party, or how to play the "Mafia" game at a party. Some pieces felt a bit like filler, like the chapter on The Five People You Meet in Limbo, which was an excuse for silly lists, like The Eleven Vitamins You Will Have in Limbo (Zinc (surprise!)). Okay, they were funny lists, and I did not know that Tom's of Maine All Natural Cinnamint Toothpaste is actually a snack for some people, a snack that you will have while in Limbo, apparently.
I did NOT keep track of the number of times I laughed while reading this book. For that information, please refer to RandomAnthony's review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I did enjoy the book, and I recommend it with the above reservations, as a good one to check out from the library.
I'll give David Crosby this, he has a definite opinion about religion and gay rights, and he's not afraid to talk about it. While I'm not an atheist, I agree with him, to a large extent, so I enjoyed this book, even when it got a little over the top for me. At times, it was cruder than I can appreciate, with my delicate sensibilities. And at other times, I felt like instead of trying to make a joke, David was just honestly saying what he thinks about religion, and what it's like to be a liberal comedian in a conservative-leaning country. What I'm trying to say is, this book is NOT for everyone.
If you are conservative, religious, or are squeamish about gay sexual jokes, you are not going to appreciate this book. He is an equal opportunity offender, going after Jews (in the Ask a Rabbi! chapter) AND Mormons, in a few places. And he really hates Jim Belushi, and now, so do I. He seems a bit defensive, and you can tell he's taken a lot of flack about his views, and is using the book to defend his positions. Hey, it's HIS book, he can do that!
Okay, this is also full of silliness and humor. This is a collection of short pieces, about half of which are simply absurd imaginings things about being in a pole-sitting contest to win a truck, or what it would be like to go to a literary party, or how to play the "Mafia" game at a party. Some pieces felt a bit like filler, like the chapter on The Five People You Meet in Limbo, which was an excuse for silly lists, like The Eleven Vitamins You Will Have in Limbo (Zinc (surprise!)). Okay, they were funny lists, and I did not know that Tom's of Maine All Natural Cinnamint Toothpaste is actually a snack for some people, a snack that you will have while in Limbo, apparently.
I did NOT keep track of the number of times I laughed while reading this book. For that information, please refer to RandomAnthony's review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I did enjoy the book, and I recommend it with the above reservations, as a good one to check out from the library.
January 20, 2016
"Good luck with lunch", he wrote in my copy, at the King's English bookstore in SLC.
July 17, 2011
Another light listen for a long car ride. This book was like listening to a very long set of standup by David Cross and as you would imagine any 6 hour standup set it would have its hits and misses. It did have just enough hits to keep me entertained and engaged during the journey.
Throughout the audiobook Cross repeats his disgust for people having bought the audiobook a number of times, which is ok. It's just that it stops being funny after the first or second time and it isn't until about 5 hours in that he realizes that an audiobook might be convenient for a person driving, or traveling in some other manner. But I digress, this book did exactly what I expected it to do. It kept me entertained during a four hour car ride. I will say I'm glad I didn't buy the print version, as it would be destined for the trade-in pile and who needs that hassle? It would have however, taken far less time to read than the 6+ hours it takes to listen.
Throughout the audiobook Cross repeats his disgust for people having bought the audiobook a number of times, which is ok. It's just that it stops being funny after the first or second time and it isn't until about 5 hours in that he realizes that an audiobook might be convenient for a person driving, or traveling in some other manner. But I digress, this book did exactly what I expected it to do. It kept me entertained during a four hour car ride. I will say I'm glad I didn't buy the print version, as it would be destined for the trade-in pile and who needs that hassle? It would have however, taken far less time to read than the 6+ hours it takes to listen.
August 6, 2012
From one misanthrope to another, well done, David Cross, well done.
After reading these reviews, I'm really happy that the backlash he predicted has started. Now that he has "sold out", he is too mainstream for hipsters to enjoy, thus allowing me to enjoy him that much more. If I am ever fortunate enough to see him live again, I can do so freely and without sitting next to the trust fund babies who live with their 6 roommates in a box in Allston so that they can have "street cred". Who knows? Maybe they will become Larry the Cable Guy fans because it's oh so ironic.
Seriously, this book has parts that had me laughing out loud. The Larry the Cable Guy letter was wonderful, as was the section about Pitchfork music reviews and the reasons for his loathing of Jim Belushi (David's story gives us yet another reason to detest the Belush, as if K-9 wasn't reason enough). Well worth the time.
After reading these reviews, I'm really happy that the backlash he predicted has started. Now that he has "sold out", he is too mainstream for hipsters to enjoy, thus allowing me to enjoy him that much more. If I am ever fortunate enough to see him live again, I can do so freely and without sitting next to the trust fund babies who live with their 6 roommates in a box in Allston so that they can have "street cred". Who knows? Maybe they will become Larry the Cable Guy fans because it's oh so ironic.
Seriously, this book has parts that had me laughing out loud. The Larry the Cable Guy letter was wonderful, as was the section about Pitchfork music reviews and the reasons for his loathing of Jim Belushi (David's story gives us yet another reason to detest the Belush, as if K-9 wasn't reason enough). Well worth the time.
February 12, 2010
I just read through some of the Goodreads member comments on this book. Geesh guys, lighten up. I will grant you David Cross(es) the line between angry and sarcastic a few times but over all there is some very funny stuff here.
Cross opens with some thoughts on a "Don't Abandon Your Baby" sticker on the back of an LAPD car, like "What kind of person needs to be told or reminding that they shouldn't abandon their child? After mulling the topic over, he comes up with a suggested longer and presumably effective wording - unfortunately, not g-rated.
Then a few observations on "fat nation." Stores all over are like fat museums, with half the people crawling along in "those scooters" originally intended for those who couldn't move their legs. Now people who are simply fat are using them, because they're lazy, because they're fat, because they're lazy. Cross goes on to provide guidelines for the health-food industry to better exploit the gullible. 1) Anything with "Dr." in the title is acceptable - even a veterinarian with a degree printed off the Internet. 2) Make more "healthy" snacks featuring people of the clergy as mascots. Example: Reverend Josiah Tuma's Deuteronomy 4:12 Oat Pops would be a big seller. 3) Using ghosts of past heroes would also be good - Doc Severinsen's Beauty Flakes.
Cross then takes on reality shows, Fox News (especially Bill O'Reilly), etc., etc., reports on a truck-stop encounter that I hope I never have, and closes with a letter from the future (2118) in which he temporarily returns to 1999 to invest in a Chinese company making American flags.
Lots of fresh thoughts and ideas.
October 9, 2009
Who copyedited this thing? And who hired the copyeditor? How is it that these people have jobs? This book contains so many squinting modifiers, misplaced commas, and "it's" that should be "its," you feel like you're reading the work of a YouTube commenter.
Absolutely no developmental editorial work has been done; this is a disjointed, slapped-together collection of bits and bobs. I wish someone had asked, "Wait, is this actually a book? Does it hold together? Is it cohesive? Does each sentence make sense, and do sentences follow each other in logical order?" before sending the ms to the printer.
I love David Cross and wish he'd been better served by his publisher.
Absolutely no developmental editorial work has been done; this is a disjointed, slapped-together collection of bits and bobs. I wish someone had asked, "Wait, is this actually a book? Does it hold together? Is it cohesive? Does each sentence make sense, and do sentences follow each other in logical order?" before sending the ms to the printer.
I love David Cross and wish he'd been better served by his publisher.
May 10, 2011
Have you ever been to a party where everyone crowds around one douchey guy because he's (a)a minor celebrity, (b) super hot, or (c) is sharing good drugs? When reading this book, I felt like I was at that party. I'm not a celeb whore, I'm married, and I don't do drugs, so I just didn't get the attraction. I wanted to (metaphorically) go hang out in the kitchen with the caterers and munch on some snacks. The guy just isn't funny. This whole book is him telling lame, often offensive stories in order to make himself sound really smart or cool or well-connected. I think the reason he drinks is because he can't stand being around himself when he's sober.
May 14, 2016
I randomly picked this up as an audiobook at my library, since I loved Cross's work on Arrested Development. It was OK... a few parts were lol-funny, a lot was smirk-funny, and the rest was listening to his various soap-box-rants.
December 12, 2011
Not worth finishing. Not even worth getting halfway through.
Comedians seem to have a stupidly hard time writing books. It's a little sad. There are some semi-funny things, there are some things that they should probably keep to themselves, there's some reference or another to internet drama that doesn't need to exist in print form, and the rest is filler.
I Drink for a Reason was no exception. It's just a strung-together bunch of very short essays about minor things. They mostly come off as material that wasn't good enough for his stand-up routine. Some of them could be funnier if they were longer (and some, like "a free list of quirks for aspiring independent filmmakers," should be about half as long). You don't get a good sense of the hilarious rage he seems to be trying to pull off.
What got me the most were the typos. Typos fucking abound in this book. On several occasions atheist is misspelled "athiest" and then correctly spelled a few chapters later. I'm picky about that sort of thing. Sue me.
I think David Cross is funny as hell but, like most funny-as-hell people, he should stick to his medium of choice: stand-up comedy and acting. He doesn't translate well into print.
Comedians seem to have a stupidly hard time writing books. It's a little sad. There are some semi-funny things, there are some things that they should probably keep to themselves, there's some reference or another to internet drama that doesn't need to exist in print form, and the rest is filler.
I Drink for a Reason was no exception. It's just a strung-together bunch of very short essays about minor things. They mostly come off as material that wasn't good enough for his stand-up routine. Some of them could be funnier if they were longer (and some, like "a free list of quirks for aspiring independent filmmakers," should be about half as long). You don't get a good sense of the hilarious rage he seems to be trying to pull off.
What got me the most were the typos. Typos fucking abound in this book. On several occasions atheist is misspelled "athiest" and then correctly spelled a few chapters later. I'm picky about that sort of thing. Sue me.
I think David Cross is funny as hell but, like most funny-as-hell people, he should stick to his medium of choice: stand-up comedy and acting. He doesn't translate well into print.
September 9, 2009
oh david cross. i love you, i do. but your humour just doesnt translate well onto the page. and dedicating an entire chapter to “A Free List Of Quirks For Aspiring Independent Filmmakers,” well, it just wasnt funny. in fact, i skipped it. i skipped entire chapters of this book before i finally felt stupid for reading it and put it down for good. i think i'll watch Arrested Development instead.
September 25, 2009
This is a great book if you don't like funny books. If you're looking for a funny book, though, this one is fair to middling. I give it one star because it has David Cross's name on the cover, making you think you're going to be reading a funny book instead of a fair to middling book.
March 23, 2019
Haiku Review:
Only a white man
Could get away with such a
Collection of fluff.
Only a white man
Could get away with such a
Collection of fluff.
August 24, 2010
After reading through half of this, I put it down a couple days ago, having had a couple laughs but reaching my limit of Cross's abrasiveness and bitterness. I thought I'd come back to it but, as I've eyed the cover while walking by, my reluctance to return has increased.
I rarely do this, but I am thoroughly convinced that I Drink for a Reason isn't any more worth finishing for the reader than it seems to have been for the writer. It's a slap-dash collection of random rants and really pointless lists (amazingly several levels below Dimitri Martin's) and seems like it was hurriedly written in scraps like the homework of a child scribbling on the bus before class. Actually, he basically says as much in the preface, but of course one doesn't take him seriously.
Not very funny, pretty bitter. I thought Cross seemed like a cool guy, but I don't want to hang out with him anymore.
I rarely do this, but I am thoroughly convinced that I Drink for a Reason isn't any more worth finishing for the reader than it seems to have been for the writer. It's a slap-dash collection of random rants and really pointless lists (amazingly several levels below Dimitri Martin's) and seems like it was hurriedly written in scraps like the homework of a child scribbling on the bus before class. Actually, he basically says as much in the preface, but of course one doesn't take him seriously.
Not very funny, pretty bitter. I thought Cross seemed like a cool guy, but I don't want to hang out with him anymore.
October 29, 2009
I feel as if with many books like this, it's not as funny when you don't actually hear the voice of the writer. (David Sedaris' stories are much funnier when read in his dry tone with all the right pauses.) I saw David Cross read a few of these stories at a bookreading, so that really helped. I think if David Cross personally read all these to me, they would be a little bit funnier, but I think he's probably too busy to do so. That said, this collection was still pretty funny. One of my favorites was his Pitchfork music review parodies. I also enjoyed his open letters to people who have spoken against him, like Larry the Cable Guy. (I know, Larry the Cable guy speaks out against people?)
October 20, 2011
Funny in the beginning, boring in the middle, and then ended strong. I agree with some of the other reviewers that he belabored some topics, but I find him more entertaining when he rants than when he comes up with strange fictionalized humor pieces. But then again I almost felt like his ranting and raving was too much. Perhaps 100 pages too much.
He repeatedly said through the book that he was too young to write an autobiography, but I would disagree. I think if Cross gave more insight into how he became the success that is now David Cross, I would have a better appreciation for his routine.
He repeatedly said through the book that he was too young to write an autobiography, but I would disagree. I think if Cross gave more insight into how he became the success that is now David Cross, I would have a better appreciation for his routine.
November 9, 2019
Ugh, too negative for where I'm at right now I guess. Maybe when this was written I would have enjoyed it, but the days of the ranting white man being funny are behind me. Still love David Cross, but wasn't feeling this content.
April 5, 2016
I have to get this off my chest because for a long time I've been carrying around this anger at David Cross. The guy is funny, but Alvin And The Fucking Chipmunks?!! Are you kidding me? What kind of sell out, self absorbed bullshit is that? A true comedy genius resorted to doing a shitty kid movie?? What kind of shit is that? I expect that from assholes like Larry The Cable Guy, but not you. I forgive you. We all make mistakes man. Wait, that movie paid for your summer home?? Really? Well shit, I'd do a shitty movie to pay for a house. I feel better now. I can go and do this review without any malice or any deep rooted anger. David fuckin' Cross man. Haven't heard of him? He's done stand up forever. The first time I ever saw him was on HBO in '96 and I laughed my ass off. This is the kind of comedy I like. Sarcastic, inventive and intelligent. In the new days of political correctness there's not many guys like Cross left. Guys like Hicks, and Kinison are gone and all we got to replace them were guys like Dane Cook and that redneck bigot Larry The Cable Guy.
As soon as I heard about the book I grabbed it and it took me awhile to actually read it. I'm an avid reader and I have this big ass too read list but the last couple of books I read were super serious and I needed something to take me back to a place where shit wasn't so serious. That's when I started reading I Drink For A Reason. As a Cross fan there's a lot to like here. What you have are essays, memoirs and satires. Everything that makes Cross funny is here but in book form. Is it always funny? Honestly no, but the strength of Open Letter To Larry The Cable Guy and even the rants on Jim Belushi makes this a decent read. It's not going to match his stand up stuff even though there are a few pieces of various bits, but it's not supposed to be. That's kind of the point.
You can say what you want about Cross but I Drink For A Reason is a great book for those that find Cross' brand of humor funny. What did surprise me were all the negative reviews. Who cares what those people said, or what they think. This book had me laughing and laughing hard. Do yourself a favor and pick this up and David I'm not mad about the Alvin And The Chipmunks movie anymore. If you've never heard of Cross before you should listen to Shut Up You Fucking Baby or at least watch one of his shows, and then read the book. Trust me it's okay. You'll be fine.
As soon as I heard about the book I grabbed it and it took me awhile to actually read it. I'm an avid reader and I have this big ass too read list but the last couple of books I read were super serious and I needed something to take me back to a place where shit wasn't so serious. That's when I started reading I Drink For A Reason. As a Cross fan there's a lot to like here. What you have are essays, memoirs and satires. Everything that makes Cross funny is here but in book form. Is it always funny? Honestly no, but the strength of Open Letter To Larry The Cable Guy and even the rants on Jim Belushi makes this a decent read. It's not going to match his stand up stuff even though there are a few pieces of various bits, but it's not supposed to be. That's kind of the point.
You can say what you want about Cross but I Drink For A Reason is a great book for those that find Cross' brand of humor funny. What did surprise me were all the negative reviews. Who cares what those people said, or what they think. This book had me laughing and laughing hard. Do yourself a favor and pick this up and David I'm not mad about the Alvin And The Chipmunks movie anymore. If you've never heard of Cross before you should listen to Shut Up You Fucking Baby or at least watch one of his shows, and then read the book. Trust me it's okay. You'll be fine.
November 16, 2016
This book was laughable, and not in a comedic way. I could literally write a 10-page essay on how terrible this book is and how completely plain David Cross is.
I was not anticipating this book heavily weighing into Cross's outlook on politics - that's his first and biggest fail.
The man claims to not be a left and he claims to not be a right. Without announcing, you seems to try to grab a spot in the middle of the political spectrum. But he shoots himself in both feet when his hypocrisy gets the better of him as he burns and defends both sides. He makes fun of liberal Hollywood, but then he acts as if that's where he truly belongs. Which... obviously, given his career choice, he does. He's the type of person who is always two steps behind the giants he looks up to and he's always crouched, snickering in their shadows as he reaches for their level of success but can never seem to find it...
Cross belittles his crowds and fans and claims he's not as judgmental as other people in Hollywood - likening to a bit by Larry the Cable Guy. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Larry, but Cross is, in my opinion, completely wrong in thinking he could run circles around Larry. Cross states multiple times that he's not a racist, bigot, sexist, bully, etc, but then he goes on to belittle women multiple times, make fun of mentally ill people, throw jokes around about different races, and without limiting, also extensively make fun of religions, but then defend extremists. This man is a basked of hypocrisy and contradictions.
I am beyond glad I didn't waste money on this book and you shouldn't either. It is clear from other Goodreads reviews that other people feel the same. I won't turn this into a rant, because it could very easily take that route in a hurry. Like I said, I could go on endlessly with issues in this book and the author, but I won't. This is what I will do...
I will recommend that NOBODY in their right mind read this, and especially don't buy it. It's ultimately your choice, but there are so many better comedy books out there, so please spare yourself the misery.
It earns less than 1/5 stars.
I was not anticipating this book heavily weighing into Cross's outlook on politics - that's his first and biggest fail.
The man claims to not be a left and he claims to not be a right. Without announcing, you seems to try to grab a spot in the middle of the political spectrum. But he shoots himself in both feet when his hypocrisy gets the better of him as he burns and defends both sides. He makes fun of liberal Hollywood, but then he acts as if that's where he truly belongs. Which... obviously, given his career choice, he does. He's the type of person who is always two steps behind the giants he looks up to and he's always crouched, snickering in their shadows as he reaches for their level of success but can never seem to find it...
Cross belittles his crowds and fans and claims he's not as judgmental as other people in Hollywood - likening to a bit by Larry the Cable Guy. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Larry, but Cross is, in my opinion, completely wrong in thinking he could run circles around Larry. Cross states multiple times that he's not a racist, bigot, sexist, bully, etc, but then he goes on to belittle women multiple times, make fun of mentally ill people, throw jokes around about different races, and without limiting, also extensively make fun of religions, but then defend extremists. This man is a basked of hypocrisy and contradictions.
I am beyond glad I didn't waste money on this book and you shouldn't either. It is clear from other Goodreads reviews that other people feel the same. I won't turn this into a rant, because it could very easily take that route in a hurry. Like I said, I could go on endlessly with issues in this book and the author, but I won't. This is what I will do...
I will recommend that NOBODY in their right mind read this, and especially don't buy it. It's ultimately your choice, but there are so many better comedy books out there, so please spare yourself the misery.
It earns less than 1/5 stars.
June 8, 2011
David Cross is a brilliant comedian, in that there is no doubt. Mr. Show and David Cross's earlier stand-up is some of the most subversive and modern stuff ever put on TV. Lately though, I feel that he's gone past the edge of "angry but still sharing the joke with humanity" to "extremely bitter with a fuck-everyone-especially-YOU" attitude, and it's not as fun, or as funny. To a degree I can understand how you could get like this, as I myself am a fairly cynical (trying to be skeptical-realist, but let's be honest, I'm cynical) person who can see how the years of stupidity and ignorance can wear on you, especially if you're an especially passionate person like Cross, who's job it is to point out these tragically hilarious flaws. I think Cross has lost his good humor, however, and it shows in this book. It has some pretty funny bits, and is an entertaining and at times emotionally touching read. The guy opens himself up and addresses a lot of the issues people have with him (he's perceived as pretentious and elitist) and I somewhat sympathize. At the same time, his external rationalization and attacks on other people betray a lack of internal reflection, and there is a noticeable abundance of archness and lack of self-deprecation in his newer work that I find off-putting. I saw his stand-up live about a year ago, and I felt the same vibe. I was surprised at how little I laughed at his material, and how disdainfully he treated his own audience. It seems as if all the criticism he's received for his intentionally antagonizing, shock-value laden comedy has gotten to him, instead of his being able to let it roll off his back, which is what I think the best comedians are able to do. Basically he's still funny, in an angry burn-out kind of way, but he's not as funny as he used to be.
To pretentiously quote Thomas Szasz
"When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him."
(and I don't even know who Thomas Szasz is)
To pretentiously quote Thomas Szasz
"When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him."
(and I don't even know who Thomas Szasz is)
September 2, 2011
I found out a few fun facts about David Cross in this book that made me like him even more: he's in favor of capital punishment and he thinks of the immigration problem as a real problem and not something easily fixed with a bumper sticker slogan or t-shirt from Hot Topic. He says that if you f**k a baby to death, you should die.
I needed the audiobook version of 'I Drink for a Reason', because I felt that it wouldn't have been the same just reading it on the actual page. And I feel like I made the right decision. And that may be due to the fact that there was so much of the book I felt wasn't worth reading that I was glad to have David Cross read it to me in the way he felt it should be read. I don't think that it would have sounded as perfect in my own head because I don't have the same intonations or timing.
So I suggest you get the audiobook, which also includes pieces read by Kristin Schaal and H Jon Benjamin, because then you won't want to put the book down when it stops being funny in your own head.
I needed the audiobook version of 'I Drink for a Reason', because I felt that it wouldn't have been the same just reading it on the actual page. And I feel like I made the right decision. And that may be due to the fact that there was so much of the book I felt wasn't worth reading that I was glad to have David Cross read it to me in the way he felt it should be read. I don't think that it would have sounded as perfect in my own head because I don't have the same intonations or timing.
So I suggest you get the audiobook, which also includes pieces read by Kristin Schaal and H Jon Benjamin, because then you won't want to put the book down when it stops being funny in your own head.
August 17, 2013
WOW, what a disappointment! I've been a fan of David Cross for many years: Standup, Mr. Show, Tobias Fünke, all of it. So when I found his book I was very happy. Sure, he can tread into the mediocre lair of "humor through discomfort" sometimes, and his rants occasionally become more tedious than insightful, but surely he wouldn't release an unfunny book.
Oh yes he would. One of the first sections is just pages and pages of how bad he felt after a breakup. I don't want to condemn a writer for exploring their feelings, but there was nothing original, intriguing, or amusing in the entire section. Others continued in the same vein. Elsewhere he spends several pages refuting a bad review he got one time. Really?
In some spots he tears into consumer culture, and employs the acerbic scorn we know so well from his standup persona — thus the second star. But it just doesn't deserve reading, I'm sad to say. Perhaps the printed page just isn't his forte.
Oh yes he would. One of the first sections is just pages and pages of how bad he felt after a breakup. I don't want to condemn a writer for exploring their feelings, but there was nothing original, intriguing, or amusing in the entire section. Others continued in the same vein. Elsewhere he spends several pages refuting a bad review he got one time. Really?
In some spots he tears into consumer culture, and employs the acerbic scorn we know so well from his standup persona — thus the second star. But it just doesn't deserve reading, I'm sad to say. Perhaps the printed page just isn't his forte.
October 21, 2010
Either he honestly did not give a shit about writing this book and went about meeting his required page count in the laziest possible fashion or Cross is simply a crap writer who should never attempt a collection of comedic essays again. Each individual piece is just so messy and disorganized and he keeps hitting the same targets over and over (Whoopi Goldberg? Seriously? THAT'S who you're going to call out repeatedly? I mean, throwing in anti-Whoopi asides in multiple pieces to give the impression you're starting a one sided feud could actually be hysterically funny if done right but Cross just keeps saying she isn't funny. Which in and of itself is neither funny, interesting, or original (see also: Larry the Cable Guy))that this is simply a dull book.
October 21, 2010
I *really* wanted to like this book. I've been a big fan of David Cross since Arrested Development, so I even paid full price at an airport bookstore so could jump right in to reading during my next flight. What a disappointment. My biggest problem was not that Cross is angry and condescending (which he is), but that he's not funny. I realized that I hadn't laughed at a single thing until I reached a section about half-way through that detailed a star receiving a four hour massage (and his indignation at that). And I wasn't even laughing at his commentary - just the very idea of a four hour massage. Sorry, David - I think it best that you stick to scripted television.
March 19, 2011
I always thought David Cross was kinda funny, so I gave this one a shot...
Well, I guess it was "well-balanced"
By my reckoning it was:
20% Actually funny material
20% Interesting religious / philosophical viewpoint
20% Out loud daydreaming how great it will be when he is done writing this book
20% Not funny attempts to be funny / ironic / edgy
20% Whining that I was listening to the audio book instead of reading a hard copy - Sorry man, I didnt mean to offend you, but I like an audio book for the gym - around half of what I read is on an mp3 player at the gym, or playing golf, or whatever - so suck it Cross.
If there is a sequel, I will pass.
Well, I guess it was "well-balanced"
By my reckoning it was:
20% Actually funny material
20% Interesting religious / philosophical viewpoint
20% Out loud daydreaming how great it will be when he is done writing this book
20% Not funny attempts to be funny / ironic / edgy
20% Whining that I was listening to the audio book instead of reading a hard copy - Sorry man, I didnt mean to offend you, but I like an audio book for the gym - around half of what I read is on an mp3 player at the gym, or playing golf, or whatever - so suck it Cross.
If there is a sequel, I will pass.
June 5, 2016
FINALLY. I started reading this December 2014 and couldn't get more than 40 pages into it. I'm not one for giving up on books, so since this is a book of short essays and lists, I would read a few chapters every once in a while between other books. I also left it at work so I could chip away at it when it was slow. I so badly wanted to like it, but I couldn't. I did love a few chapters and they made me laugh out loud and make me giggle just thinking about them. But so much of it was hard to read and not the funny I expected from David Cross.
October 2, 2009
An olio (crossword puzzle word!) of snark and observational essays from David Cross brings laughs and the occasional furrowed brow of dark recognition. Some stuff is throwaway, but nonetheless funny (list humor, à la Carlin). Though most of the material is all-new, the collection contains Cross's classic open letter to Larry the Cable Guy, which is always a joy to read. To people who've said Cross's material doesn't work on the page (I don't agree), I'd recommend the audiobook.
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