David Cross pushes comedy to the edge at Michigan Theater

David Cross kicked off his performance at the Michigan Theater with a musical number that presaged the material he was to cover during the next 90 minutes.

The faint of heart — and the comically challenged — would have done well to escape then, lest they subject themselves to the onslaught of political incorrectness that Cross was to spew forth during his act.

The fact that the house remained full speaks to the reputation that preceded Cross’ visit to Ann Arbor, a town not known for its indulgence in offensive behavior.

Cross started the show with an innocuous bit about how you can’t smoke on an airplane. It wasn’t particularly funny, but that was the point.

“Trust me,” he said. “After 25 minutes of jokes about religion, you’ll be praying for an airline joke.”

Suffice it to say that Cross’ act was crude, sexually explicit, profane and sacrilegious. And those were the tame parts.

Not surprisingly, it can also be said that little of the “Arrested Development” and “Mr. Show” veteran’s performance can be published on a family web site. Less a stand-up performer than a kind of manic performance artist, Cross had his audience in stitches as he riffed on everything from the health-care debate to organized religion, from drug abuse to conservatism. And back to religion.

He even goofed on a supposed American Sign Language interpreter (who was part of the act, allegedly inserting his own jokes into his transcript, later showing up as an audience member liveblogging the performance).

Here’s a sampling of what we can repeat:

â€¢ On the health-care debates: “America has a rich and proud tradition of voting against its own best interests.”

â€¢ On conservatives’ take on President Barack Obama: “He’s a black, Muslim Nazi. And that’s the worst kind of a Nazi there is.”

â€¢ On supposed death panels: “That’s the whole reason Obama ran for president. He wanted to kill his grandma."

â€¢ On the Bible: “I love the Bible. It has a wealth of material that has served me well throughout my comedy career.”

â€¢ On Jesus: “Jesus is supposed to have been this very humble carpenter. How humble can you be if you go around telling everyone you’re the son of God?”

â€¢ On Racism: “I don’t want anyone to think I’m a racist, because I’m not. In fact, I lost my virginity to a black prostitute.”

And so on. It was rude, crude and with just the right amount of cynicism to point out the absurdity of religion and his other targets. Like the best comedians (George Carlin, Chris Rock, etc.) Cross is an equal opportunity offender bent on skewering even the most sacred of cows.

Will Stewart is a free-lance writer for AnnArbor.com.

David Cross performing live at 2009 Bumbershoot Festival with Wyatt Cenac, Doug Benson and Maria Banford (Warning: Adult language/content.):