Though it may seem like Christopher Titus came out of nowhere with his self titled sitcom a few years ago, hes been a working standup comedian for a long time. His style of comedy belongs more to the school of the Sarah Silvermans and Todd Barrys because he often does hysterical but lengthy monologues about his very tough childhood but it would be tough to put a spiky haired blond comedian who enjoys hot rodding into that category. Titus has been telling his tales of woe since the beginning of his career. His abusive father, insane mother and the relationship with his soon to be ex-wife have been chronicled in his act and his sitcom. But his latest CD, the double disc The Fifth Annual End of the World Tour truly puts his heart out there to be stepped on.
Buy The Fifth Annual End of the World Tour CD
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you doing today?
Christopher Titus: Im going to Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth because Earth is no longer the happiest place. So Im taking my kids to Disneyland although Tomorrowland might be a better idea. In 2000 Tomorrowland should have had an airplane sticking out of the Matterhorn or blowing up the space shuttle at Space Mountain then we could have at least gotten ready for what was about to happen.
DRE: [laughs] We should have those things now.
CT: Yeah, wouldnt that be more real? Well just call it reality world. Big smoking airplane sticking out of a mountain. We go to Disneyland to try to avoid the world, a place where Anna Nicole Smith becomes our Princess Di. When did that happen?
DRE: I dont know. I dont care that much about her. Why are they trying to tell me to care about her so much?
CT: She was a hooker with good publicity, thats all she was. I really wouldnt care if a bunch of Cubans wrapped her in bubble wrap and floated her ass to the Bahamas. Why are we following the hearse? My cynicism is pretty high even though our administration is finally getting jammed up for what theyve been doing. Its nice to see.
DRE: Yeah, but it depends on who wins next year. Im worried. I have to say that if it was Hillary versus Giuliani Id have to go with Giuliani.
CT: Yeah, Hillary scares me, man. The Clintons have had like 85 people die around them since theyve started working together and the odds of that are like 65 billion to one. Im joking though because I dont want to end up dead.
DRE: [laughs] How long have you been working on this material that went into the album?
CT: I started about two and a half years ago really hardcore to nail it down. So much of what comedians do right now is just bitching about the world. I understand were angry about it, I understand were frustrated, but I dont understand why. What I wanted to do is write a topical show that was grounded in something so that whether you agreed with me or not you knew what I was saying. My daughter was born 16 days before 9/11 and I remember that day very vividly because I got up early and I was feeding her and she was a brand new baby, man. All hell broke loose and all I could think about was, you know that feeling when youre driving and your lane stops so you change lanes and then that lane stops, I always feel Im that guy no matter what I do. Something bad will happen so the second I have a kid, terrorism happens, which is very self-centered of me but I wanted people to understand why this father is flipping out. We put her on medication when she was about eight months and shes been fine since.
DRE: Oh god.
CT: Im kidding, Im kidding [laughs]. Shes been on baby Paxil for a long time. I thought it was going to be such a hard thing but the reality is that they dont care. They dont care. Were the ones that care.
DRE: Youre obviously afraid that youre going to turn into your dad when it comes to your kid, right?
CT: Yeah, when they flip out my first thought is Strangle them but I think No dont do that. That part of me is right below the surface but Im on top of it pretty good.
DRE: Do you hear your dads voice whenever they do something that he wouldnt like?
CT: Oh yeah, definitely. Hes coaching me in my head and its always Strangle him, because thats what he did to me. I always have to step on that voice.
Im writing a new act right now because I got a divorce. When I found out I was divorced I was in Dallas and I got really close to taking my own life and Ive never said that out loud. But I was in this club between shows and I found out and I thought, My lifes over, Im getting divorced. If I had a gun right now I would be part of this comedy club. I swear to God I heard my Dads voice go, You have a second show to do, get up and do your effing job. I literally heard this inside my head and he would have said Kill yourself after the second show but get paid first.
DRE: So you are getting divorced from Erin?
CT: Yeah I said to God, I need an idea for my next comedy act and he said Ok youre getting a divorce. I found out you have to be a lot more specific with God. He does not play around. For whatever reason with my mom being mentally ill, 9/11 and now this divorce I am the pain guy. Bring me as much evil and badness as you can and Ill make jokes about it.
DRE: You and Erin went through so much together, what finally made this divorce happen?
CT: We were married for 15 years and there just comes a time when you know things are going wrong. I knew things were going wrong about 17 years ago. I have to say allegedly, so she allegedly forged checks for $140,000. Also I found an emailby the way, tell your readers, if youre cheating on somebody, do not use email. Use a homing pigeon and tie a note to its leg. I found an email about her seeing this other guy so I filed for divorce. I should have known because last year she got new eyes, new boobs, new lips, new hair. I rebuilt this bitch from the ground up.
DRE: [laughs] Now you have a new special
CT: Im working on the new act now. Therapy is expensive, Id rather get paid to get through my pain.
DRE: How old is your oldest?
CT: Kennys five and Jennys two and a half. Shes too smart and tries to play counselor a lot.
I just did a new pilot for ABC with Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan so things are going well. Its a weird balance. Ive got this double CD out, a new pilot and Ive got this great new girlfriend. The other side of my life I am just setting money on fire. Ive got a lawyer, shes got a lawyer and my kids got a lawyer. Im making my five year old pay for it because I think its a lesson he needs to be taught.
DRE: How much are you going to let your kids hear your act or have they heard it already?
CT: Since this act deals specifically with the divorce, theyll probably hear it when theyre in high school. My dad got divorced six times so it was like lighting a cigarette for him. If the food was cold he got divorced.
DRE: So the style of comedy you do is more along the lines of, and I hate to use this word and everyone gets mad when I use it, the alternative comedians.
CT: Its weird because my roots are in story based comics like [Richard] Pryor and [Bill] Cosby. There are some great alternative guys like Andy Kindler and Patton Oswalt. Then there some other guys who do the alternative to comedy, I think. Its like, I want to hear your pain but for Gods sakes put it in joke form. Dont just get up and bitch. Then there is another level of comedy which is edge with no substance comedy, like doing Nazi jokes that dont mean anything. But then again at the end of the day laughter is laughter. I was watching Demetri Martin the other day and he is really funny, clean and inventive.
DRE: I was just amazed that about halfway through the special it becomes a monologue.
CT: Yeah Ill be in a 20 minute bit about my dads funeral. Again I think its from Cosby. I went and saw Cosby recently at the Montreal Comedy Festival thinking it was like going to see The Eagles where it would be the greatest hits and thats it. But he did an hour and a half of new stuff. Im sitting there watching it and the person right next to me said, How come youre not laughing? and I was like, Because Im getting schooled, shut up. I was just watching Cosby destroy the room. He just keeps distilling it down to its base elements which I think we forget sometimes.
DRE: I would be remiss if I didnt ask about Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I havent seen the movie in ten years, what was your role?
CT: I think actually Im the first guy dead. It was my first acting job. I had no acting training, nothing. During the audition, I remember thinking, Fuck it, Im just going to go in and have fun. I dont care about these people. I got the part and when the movie came out I was in two scenes. After I got my TV show there was a re-release and every single shot I was in was put into the movie. Like that was going to sell some DVDs. It was real odd and fun experience. I almost drove off a cliff in the middle of filming. I had to drive a jeep in a scene so I drive the jeep and theres a fence there. So I get out of the jeep and I say my lines. Theres a girl in the jeep and I didnt set the brake so it starts rolling. I figured that the fence would stop the jeep. The jeep hit the fence and the fence bows out about four feet. It was a balsa wood fence that the prop guys had put up and all of a sudden the director starts screaming cut and four guys run over and throw me away from the jeep and grab the girl. Basically I almost sent a young actress to her death. That was my first experience in films.
DRE: Oh my God. But it sounds like youre really getting into the acting.
CT: Yeah I did two movies this year. One is a 3D one called Scar and then in this movie Remarkable Power I play a British Tony Robbins type.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy The Fifth Annual End of the World Tour CD
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you doing today?
Christopher Titus: Im going to Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth because Earth is no longer the happiest place. So Im taking my kids to Disneyland although Tomorrowland might be a better idea. In 2000 Tomorrowland should have had an airplane sticking out of the Matterhorn or blowing up the space shuttle at Space Mountain then we could have at least gotten ready for what was about to happen.
DRE: [laughs] We should have those things now.
CT: Yeah, wouldnt that be more real? Well just call it reality world. Big smoking airplane sticking out of a mountain. We go to Disneyland to try to avoid the world, a place where Anna Nicole Smith becomes our Princess Di. When did that happen?
DRE: I dont know. I dont care that much about her. Why are they trying to tell me to care about her so much?
CT: She was a hooker with good publicity, thats all she was. I really wouldnt care if a bunch of Cubans wrapped her in bubble wrap and floated her ass to the Bahamas. Why are we following the hearse? My cynicism is pretty high even though our administration is finally getting jammed up for what theyve been doing. Its nice to see.
DRE: Yeah, but it depends on who wins next year. Im worried. I have to say that if it was Hillary versus Giuliani Id have to go with Giuliani.
CT: Yeah, Hillary scares me, man. The Clintons have had like 85 people die around them since theyve started working together and the odds of that are like 65 billion to one. Im joking though because I dont want to end up dead.
DRE: [laughs] How long have you been working on this material that went into the album?
CT: I started about two and a half years ago really hardcore to nail it down. So much of what comedians do right now is just bitching about the world. I understand were angry about it, I understand were frustrated, but I dont understand why. What I wanted to do is write a topical show that was grounded in something so that whether you agreed with me or not you knew what I was saying. My daughter was born 16 days before 9/11 and I remember that day very vividly because I got up early and I was feeding her and she was a brand new baby, man. All hell broke loose and all I could think about was, you know that feeling when youre driving and your lane stops so you change lanes and then that lane stops, I always feel Im that guy no matter what I do. Something bad will happen so the second I have a kid, terrorism happens, which is very self-centered of me but I wanted people to understand why this father is flipping out. We put her on medication when she was about eight months and shes been fine since.
DRE: Oh god.
CT: Im kidding, Im kidding [laughs]. Shes been on baby Paxil for a long time. I thought it was going to be such a hard thing but the reality is that they dont care. They dont care. Were the ones that care.
DRE: Youre obviously afraid that youre going to turn into your dad when it comes to your kid, right?
CT: Yeah, when they flip out my first thought is Strangle them but I think No dont do that. That part of me is right below the surface but Im on top of it pretty good.
DRE: Do you hear your dads voice whenever they do something that he wouldnt like?
CT: Oh yeah, definitely. Hes coaching me in my head and its always Strangle him, because thats what he did to me. I always have to step on that voice.
Im writing a new act right now because I got a divorce. When I found out I was divorced I was in Dallas and I got really close to taking my own life and Ive never said that out loud. But I was in this club between shows and I found out and I thought, My lifes over, Im getting divorced. If I had a gun right now I would be part of this comedy club. I swear to God I heard my Dads voice go, You have a second show to do, get up and do your effing job. I literally heard this inside my head and he would have said Kill yourself after the second show but get paid first.
DRE: So you are getting divorced from Erin?
CT: Yeah I said to God, I need an idea for my next comedy act and he said Ok youre getting a divorce. I found out you have to be a lot more specific with God. He does not play around. For whatever reason with my mom being mentally ill, 9/11 and now this divorce I am the pain guy. Bring me as much evil and badness as you can and Ill make jokes about it.
DRE: You and Erin went through so much together, what finally made this divorce happen?
CT: We were married for 15 years and there just comes a time when you know things are going wrong. I knew things were going wrong about 17 years ago. I have to say allegedly, so she allegedly forged checks for $140,000. Also I found an emailby the way, tell your readers, if youre cheating on somebody, do not use email. Use a homing pigeon and tie a note to its leg. I found an email about her seeing this other guy so I filed for divorce. I should have known because last year she got new eyes, new boobs, new lips, new hair. I rebuilt this bitch from the ground up.
DRE: [laughs] Now you have a new special
CT: Im working on the new act now. Therapy is expensive, Id rather get paid to get through my pain.
DRE: How old is your oldest?
CT: Kennys five and Jennys two and a half. Shes too smart and tries to play counselor a lot.
I just did a new pilot for ABC with Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan so things are going well. Its a weird balance. Ive got this double CD out, a new pilot and Ive got this great new girlfriend. The other side of my life I am just setting money on fire. Ive got a lawyer, shes got a lawyer and my kids got a lawyer. Im making my five year old pay for it because I think its a lesson he needs to be taught.
DRE: How much are you going to let your kids hear your act or have they heard it already?
CT: Since this act deals specifically with the divorce, theyll probably hear it when theyre in high school. My dad got divorced six times so it was like lighting a cigarette for him. If the food was cold he got divorced.
DRE: So the style of comedy you do is more along the lines of, and I hate to use this word and everyone gets mad when I use it, the alternative comedians.
CT: Its weird because my roots are in story based comics like [Richard] Pryor and [Bill] Cosby. There are some great alternative guys like Andy Kindler and Patton Oswalt. Then there some other guys who do the alternative to comedy, I think. Its like, I want to hear your pain but for Gods sakes put it in joke form. Dont just get up and bitch. Then there is another level of comedy which is edge with no substance comedy, like doing Nazi jokes that dont mean anything. But then again at the end of the day laughter is laughter. I was watching Demetri Martin the other day and he is really funny, clean and inventive.
DRE: I was just amazed that about halfway through the special it becomes a monologue.
CT: Yeah Ill be in a 20 minute bit about my dads funeral. Again I think its from Cosby. I went and saw Cosby recently at the Montreal Comedy Festival thinking it was like going to see The Eagles where it would be the greatest hits and thats it. But he did an hour and a half of new stuff. Im sitting there watching it and the person right next to me said, How come youre not laughing? and I was like, Because Im getting schooled, shut up. I was just watching Cosby destroy the room. He just keeps distilling it down to its base elements which I think we forget sometimes.
DRE: I would be remiss if I didnt ask about Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I havent seen the movie in ten years, what was your role?
CT: I think actually Im the first guy dead. It was my first acting job. I had no acting training, nothing. During the audition, I remember thinking, Fuck it, Im just going to go in and have fun. I dont care about these people. I got the part and when the movie came out I was in two scenes. After I got my TV show there was a re-release and every single shot I was in was put into the movie. Like that was going to sell some DVDs. It was real odd and fun experience. I almost drove off a cliff in the middle of filming. I had to drive a jeep in a scene so I drive the jeep and theres a fence there. So I get out of the jeep and I say my lines. Theres a girl in the jeep and I didnt set the brake so it starts rolling. I figured that the fence would stop the jeep. The jeep hit the fence and the fence bows out about four feet. It was a balsa wood fence that the prop guys had put up and all of a sudden the director starts screaming cut and four guys run over and throw me away from the jeep and grab the girl. Basically I almost sent a young actress to her death. That was my first experience in films.
DRE: Oh my God. But it sounds like youre really getting into the acting.
CT: Yeah I did two movies this year. One is a 3D one called Scar and then in this movie Remarkable Power I play a British Tony Robbins type.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 21 of 21 COMMENTS
i feel awful that things keep going wrong for him...but at least he's able to get through it