The Angry Pursuit of Happiness

Christopher Titus expands his focus from deep family dysfunction to the survival of the human race. Rather than just recounting his personal damage, he pitches a combative blueprint for humanity’s overarching problems. His premise relies on a strange kind of aggressive optimism. He argues that humans are a uniquely resilient species simply because we constantly invent things to keep ourselves going, a survival instinct that dogs completely lack.

Filmed at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara and aired on Comedy Central in 2015, the hour captures a veteran comic deep into his stride. Titus was churning out his sixth long-form act while simultaneously hosting the History Channel game show Pawnography. He moves from broad societal fixes, like explaining why the government cannot take your guns because you already hold them, to proposing a lawless holiday to thin out the population. He eventually returns to the intensely personal, detailing his late father’s erectile dysfunction and delivering his own preemptive eulogy.