david cross interview montreal

Photo by Timothy M. Schmidt

Comedy

David Cross on corporate news, American myths and Montreal memories

by Darcy MacDonald

The comedian and actor is bringing his stand-up show The End of the Beginning of the End to Montreal on March 6.

Considering that he has written, produced, directed, voiced, acted and even had starring roles in more high-profile TV shows and films than even his biggest fans could possibly remember, it’s a testament to David Cross’s artistic integrity that he is still best known for stand-up. 

The Brooklyn-dwelling talent is not only one of the most enduring comedians of any generation, but also one of the most consistently hilarious. 

By the time Cross brings his new stand-up show, The End of the Beginning of the End, to Montreal at Théâtre Beanfield on March 6, he’ll have added another role to his lengthy resumé. In early February, he made his Broadway debut as a member of the rotating cast of All In: Comedy About Love by novelist and SNL writing alum Simon Rich. 

We spoke to David Cross by phone last month to discuss the new show, his stop on Broadway and his approach to podcasting, and asked for tips on how to stay sanely informed in 2025. 

Darcy MacDonald: First, please tell me about the Broadway show.

David Cross: It’s a limited-run show with a rotating cast of four people performing humour-based pieces by Simon Rich. We’re all up on stage and we all interact with each other. But it’s not like a stage thing with blackouts and different characters and upstage, downstage stuff and all that. There’s nothing really “Broadway” about it, but it is on Broadway.

DM: Even though it’s not a huge Broadway spectacle, this is your first time on Broadway. Was this something you ever aspired to do?

David Cross: I mean, in the background, sure. It wasn’t something that I thought about every day or every week or every month. But if it occurred, that’d be cool. Why not? So in that sense, it’s pretty cool. Get to check that one off the list, you know?

DM: Closer and closer to that EGOT every single day.

David Cross: Ah, yeah! Then I can retire happily, and do a Chase Capital One ad. 

DM: I just checked out your podcast, Senses Working Overtime. It strikes me that we live in such an age of noise that I didn’t even know you were doing one. 

David Cross: I mean, I didn’t even know I had a podcast until halfway through.

DM: Oh, good. What a relief. But it looks like you’re having a good time.

David Cross: I am! I wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t. I mean, it’s not important to me. There’s nothing about it that is particularly…oh, I don’t know, worthwhile. But I do think it’s fun just to have funny, sometimes interesting, sometimes edifying conversations with various people.

And that was the intent, really. To have a lighthearted — although sometimes it does get serious — entertaining hour of conversation with guests that (an audience) might not necessarily be aware of. But it’s just a podcast. It’s not anything you need to listen to.

DM: By the same token, that’s kind of why I like a good podcast. With everything going on in the world, how do you keep your mind clear?

David Cross: I don’t ever want to keep my mind totally clear. I want to be informed. And I don’t want to filter out all the garbage. 

I don’t really ever watch, you know, mainstream media, because it’s a filtered corporate view of the news.

A great example of that, which I was reading about this morning (showed) screenshots of like, nine different headlines about how Trump offered a quote “buyout”  to the federal employees that he fired.

So somebody was writing about how this is not a buyout, and explained what a buyout is in regular business language. And it’s not severance pay. And if you’re required to work, then it’s called something else. But, you know, they put out “buyout” and everybody went, “It’s a buyout!”

So people look at it and go, “Well, that’s not so bad. He’s giving them eight months’ salary to stay at home!” And that’s not what (federal employees) are asking for or want. So it’s not a buyout.

And that’s one tiny example of a million examples. So I don’t really look to (corporate media) for my news.

I try to keep it to about four sources as opposed to 12, which I used to (have) when I was more of a news junkie. And I’m not on social media. I haven’t been for a long time. And so that helps.

I do maybe about an hour of due diligence in the morning and read up on things. And I make sure my sources are trustworthy. And then I go about my day, you know?

DM: So where do you get your news?

David Cross: I have a couple of sources. Jedd Legum’s Popular Information and Talking Points Memo are two. Also, The Intercept, and Heather Cox Richardson. And they all sublink to other things, too. I subscribe to Ken Klippenstein’s Substack. Those are the main ones. For information about what’s happening in the trans community, I’ll log on to Erin in the Morning.

DM: Do you consider yourself a student of American history?

David Cross: No, not really. Only in contextual terms. But I would argue that you probably know more about American history than Americans, because you weren’t educated in an American school.

Here, you learn when you’re a kid that George Washington could not tell a lie. He chopped down the cherry tree. 

Or that Abraham Lincoln walked a mile or five miles to return a penny that he was overpaid or something. You have all these myths and that’s just when you’re a kid. Then it continues on and you’re just a sucker for life.

DM: What can fans look forward to at The End of the Beginning of the End?

David Cross: I’ve been doing it since September. Oddly, and it’s just a coincidence, but it’s less political than usual, although that may change now that Trump’s in office. 

There’s one long, like 30-minute anecdotal story that takes up a chunk of time. Every bit of it is true and it’s a very fun story to tell about an awkward situation I found myself in. And it has nothing to do with politics. So that’s a big chunk of the set.

And then there’s all kinds of other stuff. You know, I talk about slavery and fun stuff like that. Abortion — got some real rib-ticklers there! And a lot of other silly, goofy shit. It’s been great so far. I do it because I love to do it. I’m looking forward to getting up there, and I love Montreal.

DM: Do you have a favourite Montreal memory?

David Cross: I’ll tell you what, it was the very first time I ever went there. I would have been in my mid to late 20s, I guess. It was, I believe, my first time outside of the U.S. I played at Jimbo’s, a comedy club that was this tiny little upstairs. 

It was the fucking best. It sat maybe 70 people. I did really well there at a time when I wasn’t doing that well everywhere. Jim (Skomorowski), the owner, was awesome. He really took care of the comedians. It was a great experience.

Then, surrounding that, was being in this foreign country and a very foreign city, at least for an American. So my fondest and most specific memory is going to — and I don’t know if I’m pronouncing this correctly — Foufounes Electriques. I was blown away by that place. Like, ‘This is the coolest bar I’ve ever been in! There’s secret rooms and there’s mosh pits!’ I just was in heaven. I had just been walking around and found this place.

And then to cap off an already great evening, having never even heard of it, I had my first poutine. I went fucking nuts. It was very memorable. 

Since then, I’ve been back a million times, but that first experience was pretty special. To go have a killer set in a different country, then discover this bar that’s just the best thing ever. And then to have poutine for the first time. It was just a magical night for a person like me. ■

David Cross’s The End of the Beginning of the End comes to Théâtre Beanfield (2490 Notre-Dame W.) on Thursday, March 6, 8 p.m., $59–$70

For more Montreal comedy coverage, please visit the Comedy section.

Posted in Comedy

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.