# Is David Cross an asshole?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 16, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921 "2006-04-16T23:37:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/41 "2006-04-18T02:11:54Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Wow. He might be an asshole, but my estimation of him went up after reading that.
Before I read that, I was indifferent towards him. Now, I consider him a KING among men. I wonder if I can hire him to deprogram my in-laws.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/42 "2006-04-18T02:16:51Z")
> [@lobstermobster](#):
>
> THANK YOU for being the first person to answer my post relevantly. That is exactly what i’ve heard about him. I don’t care about his political opinions or material, I was wondering if he was a pretentious prick. I wish people could answer simple questions more like you! Johnny angel…how I love you…
I think you meant to write ‘Thank you for being the first person to provide an answer I was obviously fishing for, as I provided no concrete examples that spurred my initial question (even when asked for them) and no one who has posted (including you) has actually met Cross in person.’
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### Author:  [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/43 "2006-04-18T02:22:06Z")
I’ve always enjoyed [this piece he wrote for Pitchfork Media](http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/artistlists/c/cross_david-05/). It’s pretty bitchy.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/44 "2006-04-18T02:42:38Z")
> [@Stentor 2.5](#):
>
> I like my comedians to be assholes. Hell, I don’t have to live with them.
That’s an important point, I think. Comedy isn’t nice. I’m sure there are plenty of nice comedians, but it’s a field that encourages you to be an asshole, and for that reason it probably attracts them.
> [@Cat Fight](#):
>
> I think you meant to write ‘Thank you for being the first person to provide an answer I was obviously fishing for, as I provided no concrete examples that spurred my initial question (even when asked for them) and no one who has posted (including you) has actually met Cross in person.’
I thought that sounded more like it.
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### Author:  [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/45 "2006-04-18T05:54:20Z")
Can we all agree that his delivery is excellent regardless of content?
Bill Hicks was an asshole, but he was awarded, had a Tool album dedicated to him, and is greatly respected (posthumously).
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### Author:  [@lobstermobster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobstermobster)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/46 "2006-04-18T06:31:56Z")
> [@Cat Fight](#):
>
> I think you meant to write ‘Thank you for being the first person to provide an answer I was obviously fishing for, as I provided no concrete examples that spurred my initial question (even when asked for them) and no one who has posted (including you) has actually met Cross in person.’
sorry if i HIT A NERVE but everyone was just talking about his act. thats not what i meant.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/47 "2006-04-18T06:34:58Z")
> [@lobstermobster](#):
>
> sorry if i HIT A NERVE but everyone was just talking about his act. thats not what i meant.
Since nobody here has personal experience with David Cross, what did you expect them to talk about? Unless somebody who knows him shows up, you’re going to get impressions based on interviews, commentary and his act.
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/48 "2006-04-18T07:12:46Z")
David is a Southerner who got tired of the shit that made him. He is a true Rebel. He’s an asshole like Simon Wiesenthal is an asshole.
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### Author:  [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/49 "2006-04-18T13:33:43Z")
> [@lobstermobster](#):
>
> sorry if i HIT A NERVE but everyone was just talking about his act. thats not what i meant.
Then maybe you should have inserted that CAVEAT in your EXTREMELY VAGUE question.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/50 "2006-04-18T13:48:14Z")
> [@Johnny Angel](#):
>
> It’s not about his politics. That’s a red herring. I have all four seasons of Mr. Show on DVD and have listened to all the commentary tracks. He’s in this little in-crowd of comics who diss other comedians the way the goth/poets in high school winge about the more popular kids. That’s the general tenor of these commentaries, but Cross is the most vocally snotty of them all. The fact is that I think they’re right. They are smarter and funnier than most other comics out there. But I find their self-congratulation and mutual masturbation a bit grating.
Yeah. He seems like those cliques of insecure art students who think everyone else is an idiot that I see from time to time. If that is his thing than good for him but acting like 90% of the world is made of idiots who don’t deserve your respect does make one an asshole.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2006, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/51 "2006-04-28T06:08:48Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#):
>
> What I want to know is, is he gay?
On one track of “It’s Not Funny,” he talks about going to the restaurant with his girlfriend. He makes some jokes about having sex with guys, but nothing you can take at face value, which you probably can (in context) with the girlfriend thing. Based on that tiny sliver of almost-nothing, I’d say he’s straight or bi.
Silly reason to bring this thread back, but since I bought “It’s Not Funny” on Monday and got “Shut Up You Fucking Baby!” tonight, I figured I’d throw it out there. His persona as a comic is kind of assholish - he doesn’t show any doubt that his audience agrees with him, he lectures a little, and when he goes after Bush, Republicans, religion or whatever, you can tell he really means it - but it’s funny. So throw me in with the chorus of “who cares?”
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/52 "2006-04-28T18:25:02Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> On one track of “It’s Not Funny,” he talks about going to the restaurant with his girlfriend. He makes some jokes about having sex with guys, but nothing you can take at face value, which you probably can (in context) with the girlfriend thing. Based on that tiny sliver of almost-nothing, I’d say he’s straight or bi.
I know his ex-girlfriend is Mary Lynn Rajskub, formerly a \*Mr. Show \* castmate, currently breaking nerds’ hearts as crabby computer whiz Chloe O’Brian on _24_.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Burstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Burstein)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/53 "2010-12-13T16:28:40Z")
David Cross kicked me out of his comedy group(Cross Comedy)after two weeks, but was evasive about why(something about “founder members only from now on”, but other non-founding members could still be in the show).And he generally would not talk to me and tended to laugh at me rather than with me.He put posters for comedians who he hated above his toilet.
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### Author:  [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/54 "2010-12-13T16:34:27Z")
it seems like he’s got a lot of nerd rage built up coupled with a healthy dose of “funnier/smarter-than-thou”.
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### Author:  [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/55 "2010-12-13T17:24:46Z")
Not sure if he’s an asshole, but he’s definitely a zombie.
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/56 "2010-12-13T17:26:58Z")
Man, what a bummer. I tried to see the Larry the Cable Guy comments, and it came up with something about Christian music.
Oh, also, brains, etc.
Joe
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/57 "2010-12-13T17:42:04Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#):
>
> Where is this coming from? I don’t think I’ve ever heard him described as pretentious (htough he is an adamant atheist, and some people equate the two). Have you ever heard his stand up routine? Highly recommended. I suppose it is a bit on the asshole-ish side, but so is George Carlin, Denis Leary, even Mitch Hedberg at times. So what? He’s apparently quite charming on set. As for personal encounters, I’m sure they vary, but I’ve seen enough jovial candids with fans to guess he’s not always a jerk in public.
> [@Darkhold](#):
>
> Um I have some bad news for you.
> Mitch Hedberg (24 February 1968 - 29 March 2005)
>
> Unless of course you knew that and were speaking of him in past tense.
I have news for you, then. George Carlin has also died.
I guess Denis Leary is our resident asshole now.
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### Author:  [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/58 "2010-12-13T18:36:12Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#):
>
> Man, what a bummer. I tried to see the Larry the Cable Guy comments, and it came up with something about Christian music.
>
> Oh, also, brains, etc.
>
> Joe
Yeah, I’m getting one of those domain name parking space sites.
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/59 "2010-12-13T18:48:34Z")
Fear not, concerned citizens of 2010!
I can’t find anything about Cross’s original attack on Larry, but I did find a [reposting](http://www.wackbag.com/showthread.php/36313-David-Cross-calls-out-Larry-The-Cable-Guy) of his “open letter” to Larry’s retaliation in his book on another message board.
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-cross-an-asshole/352921/60 "2010-12-13T20:23:04Z")
One of the reasons people dislike Cross is because he loves to attack other comedians for putting out awful material while at the same time appearing in schlock like “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. And when people called him out on it, he acts like it’s someboy else’s fault. [From this AV Club article on the controversy](http://www.avclub.com/articles/david-cross-i-havent-worked-in-six-months-defense,10122/):
> [@](#):
>
> Cross’ Achilles’ heel has always been his smug sense of superiority; he rarely, if ever, points out his own shortcomings in his stand-up act, only the supposed stupidity of others. Even at his funniest Cross is distant, cold, untouchable; he either can’t admit to the occasional lame moment in his own life or he honestly believes he’s above the foibles the rest of us idiots are guilty of every day. Playing the old “I know this movie I made sucks so get off my fucking back!” card appears to be self-deprecating at first, but it’s really just another distancing device for a guy who supposedly doesn’t give a shit what you think and yet is working overtime to let you know he’s above the cheesy projects that bear his name.
And this from a reviewer who loves much of his work.
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