Oh, Come On

David Cross is not here to tell you that fatherhood made him a better person. Instead, the veteran alt-comic frames having a child as an act of pure, unadulterated narcissism—an existential urge to see more of himself in the world. He brings that trademark exasperation to everything else in his crosshairs, trading his usual political fury for a mix of personal confessions, scatological misadventures, and a familiar contempt for the cultural landscape. Filmed at The Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina, and released in 2019, this hour captures Cross as he talks about raising a daughter with his wife, Amber Tamblyn, while trying to find something original to say about the Trump presidency. Critics were somewhat split on the results, with some finding the political segments exhausted by their subject matter, while others appreciated his technical breakdown of why writing jokes about Donald Trump is a craftsman’s nightmare because there is ‘no reveal’. The centerpieces of the set are a highly detailed, multi-part story about getting a couples colonic, and a series of smaller rants targeting Grateful Dead cover bands, Twitter, and Southern accents. It is a looser, more digressive outing than his past politically-heavy specials, leaning on a casual, conversational stage presence that occasionally borders on self-indulgent but remains distinctly, unapologetically cynical.