Let America Laugh

David Cross wanted to perform in places where people didn’t have to follow a two-drink minimum, so he booked a 2002 stand-up tour through alternative indie-rock clubs with the band Ultrababyfat in tow. Directed by Lance Bangs, this low-budget, handheld-camcorder project is more of an anti-concert film and road documentary than a traditional comedy special.\n\nThis tour also yielded his Grammy-nominated 2002 double album, Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! In 2003, his cult-classic sketch series Mr. Show with Bob and David had already ended, and he was just beginning his run as Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development.\n\nBangs captures the chaotic energy of playing to indie-rock crowds, with Cross performing in small, sweaty rooms rather than traditional comedy venues. The film focuses heavily on behind-the-scenes weirdness and offstage friction. Highlights include an impromptu late-night party with stoners at a video rental shop in Memphis, and an infamous confrontation with a club manager in Nashville. The manager, upset over seating arrangements and food sales, kicked Cross out of the venue, leading to a hidden-camera dressing-room dispute that later spawned an actual lawsuit against the comic and Sub Pop Records.\n\nFor the DVD release, the chapters are cheekily named after evangelical Jack Chick tracts, and the menus feature easter eggs like a brief cameo from Bob Odenkirk. The project was released by indie-rock powerhouse Sub Pop Records, cementing its status as a crossover artifact of early-2000s hipster culture.