Comedian Christopher Titus is not only the hardest working comedian in the biz, but also one of the best comics to dive deep into talking about mental health, depression and rage. Twenty years ago, when his first hit special, Norman Rockwell is Bleeding, was being performed, comics didn’t normally bare their soul onstage in such a personal way.
“So, I’m performing the Rockwell show in LA,” says Titus from the dock of an editing bay. “The space is a 99-seater. There’s 16 people in the audience. I don’t care. I’ll give 100% no matter how many people show up. Turns out, two of the people in the audience were from Fox.” The executives couldn’t believe what they were seeing. During a time when every comic was trying to be Seinfeld, Titus was like what would have happened if the Blue Collar Comedy Tour went to a bad therapist.
From that one show, Titus landed a television series, the eponymously named Titus, which won an Emmy nomination, and garnered Titus a WGA Award for satirical, biting writing. “It’s different now because executives don’t look at content or quality anymore. They look at followers. And this is why comedy has kind of gotten to a weird place. There’s a whole generation of people that are doing stand up right now that don’t understand how it works. They weren’t educated in it. They might be great on Tik Tok, but the stage is different,” Titus says.
Titus’ latest foray into the depths of his soul, Carrying Monsters, was written before Covid, and he had performed it for about three or four months. But when Covid did hit, stage time dried up and he couldn’t work. So, back in 2020, when the world shut down, Titus geared up. “I built a soundstage and we filmed a concert with Everlast. I shot specials with Ron Funches and Fortune Feimster. We also did a thing called Viral Shield, where we sanitized the studio and invited like 18 people over (we were all masked), and we fought! It’s all on my YouTube channel now,” Titus says.
Titus has eight 90-minute specials under his belt. His eighth special, Amerigeddon, is available on Amazon. He recently shot his ninth special, Zero Side Effects (being edited as we speak), and is currently touring his next special, Carrying Monsters, a bookend companion piece to Norman Rockwell is Bleeding. “I tend to go back and forth between personal, social, and Carrying Monsters is the most personal one I’ve ever done. I’m just starting to break in new material now, so if you go to San Jose, you’re going to be seeing me doing some new material, as well,” Titus says.
Never one to hold his tongue, Titus is very clear that comedy, despite the influx of influencers and the anti-woke brigade, is healthy and where it’s always been. “I see comics that are talking about cancel culture and they are on every show there is. They’re actually working constantly. What are you talking about? Who got canceled? No, Louie CK did not got canceled. Louie lost everything because we can’t watch him now without seeing him jerking off in front of an assistant. You know, no one got canceled for their comedy. Kristi Noem is getting canceled because she shot her dog in the face. Yes, there’s certain things that you can do that show that you’re basically against humanity. But nobody with comedy got canceled. Dave Chappelle keeps getting more deals with Netflix. So, enough about how you can’t say what you want in comedy,” Titus argues.
If you are ever lucky enough to engage with Titus, you’ll find a passionate, supremely funny and prolific artist. “Prolific? I don’t know, man. I think it’s the fear and desperation. I love doing what I do. But you always wanna, gotta, make money at it,” Titus says.
And while you might want to talk to Titus about his past, Titus has his eyes pinned on the future. “Last thing I’ll say is, we know we have an economic issue when private citizens have their own space programs. I think we’ve gone too far. What’s the line? That’s the line right there. If you’re privately going to another planet. Maybe we need to figure out how to get you just to pay your share of taxes. How about that?”
Christopher Titus performs at San Jose Improv on May 22 at 8pm. Tickets are $30+. improv.com
