LuminoMagazine.com - The Sirens of Titus

The Sirens of Titus

Contributed by ALANA GRELYAK

Thursday, 07 June 2007

Listening to Christopher Titus can be painful, but it’s because he does it on purpose. He discusses life’s challenges in a no-holds-barred way and he is, oddly enough, hysterically funny. After his short-lived show “Titus” disappeared from Fox after three seasons, Titus has continued his crusade of pain, strewing difficult subjects about the country and making sure people find the humor in them. The Improv Comedy Club in Schaumburg is celebrating it’s one year anniversary this June and they’ve brought in Christopher Titus to help them eat cake, make people laugh, and possibly point out all their flaws. Here’s what Titus had to say to Lumino about his upcoming Chicago shows.

AG: I’ve heard really good things about you.

CT: What have you heard?

AG: I have heard that you are the nicest guy to have come thru the Improv.

CT: Really? Where did you hear that from?

AG: One of the employees there.

CT: Oh yeah, you tip the employees a little bit at the end of the week and they love you. It’s all cash based. You know, I had a reputation a long time ago. When I started comedy, I was so - being raised by my father I was so insecure about stuff, and I was… 18 or 19 years old, and I had this reputation for being very cocky. I would go out in front of guys and I would be really cocky. …[H]ere’s where it started: I was opening in this club in Sacramento and I had this really killer bit, this is like 85, ’86, about Clint Eastwood. Now that sounds really bad, but in 1986 that was a good piece. And so, I was like a 19 year old kid, so I’d kill at any opening night, so a friend of mine…walks on behind me, and as he walks past me after I introduce him I said ‘follow that mother f-er!’ Just kidding, right? He took it serious and never said anything to me! So two months later in the Sacramento comedy community I am the most cocky arrogant, - and I honest to God, in my heart, meant it as a joke. So all of a sudden I had this reputation for being this cocky arrogant jerk. So what happened was, I got that reputation and probably earned it. I was doing comedy I don’t know probably about 8 years, or 6 years, and it kind of got back to me that everybody thought I was an arrogant a-hole. I was like oh really? So I’ve gone out of my way to make sure I don’t do any behavior that actually points to that. Unless you’re a network president. If you’re a network president, I have a tendency to smart off right back.

AG: So you’re going to be here June 7 to the 10th. How many times have you been to Chicago?

CT: I’ve been to Chicago a lot. I used to work Zanies a lot and I used to work all those Zanies clubs. And that Improv is the nicest club. Wow is that a nice club.

AG: Do you have any favorite places to go or things to do while you’re in Chicago?

CT: One of my best friends in the world lives there, and the weekend I’m there I will be going to the NHRA drag racing in Chicago because my buddy Tony Schumacher lives there… I’ll be at the drag races, so I will come into the club that night smelling of nitro-methane and burnt rubber.

AG: What can your audience expect from your shows at the Improv?

CT: Well, if you bought the album or saw the new comedy stuff you won’t see anything that they aired on TV and you’ll get twenty-two minutes of my brutal divorce. I got done getting divorced. I filed for divorce June 6 of ’06. Looking back a year ago, it was the best thing possible. I mean, financially not so much. Divorce is about change. God says you need a change so I’m going to make it so your bank account only has change.

AG: And you took that and turned it into something funny.

CT: You know, for whatever reason, I’ve been blessed with this, or cursed with this – my first show was about my screwed up family, my mom’s suicide, my mom’s mental illness, my dad’s drinking. The second show is about the world coming apart, having a kid 16 days before 9/11, and then [I] go ‘God, give me a new idea’ and God goes, ‘you’re getting a divorce.’ So it turns out you’ve gotta be a lot more freakin’ specific with God. But for whatever reason, I’m supposed to talk about the pain, I guess. .. If my job is to deal with the pain, if I get prostate cancer, I guess I’ll be doing a one man show about that. As my life progresses, I’m the comic that has to talk about the real pain of life. I’ve just accepted it. Or, I’m next album is going to be an entire album of airplane food jokes.

AG: That would be a lot more lighthearted.

CT: Wouldn’t it?

AG: You’re doing four days of shows. Do you have a day that you think will be best that people should go to?

CT: Every night has its own little thing. Thursday night is usually a really good night because I’m fired up. I’m not comfortable yet so it’s a really good night because I’m amped up. Friday night I’m settled in a little bit. The first show is always solid. The second show on Friday is the show … that’s when the freaks come out. The crazy drunk people come out on Friday second show, so you never know what’s going to happen Friday second show. Saturday is great. Saturday is the rockin’ show. Saturday is the one where it’s always packed and it’s smooth and people are out with their dates and their wives and it’s just a great comedy show. Saturday second show can also be like Friday second show, expect people are REALLY hammered second show Saturday. Sunday is weird because people aren’t drinking that hard so Sunday the shows … I always find this: Saturday night, when people are drinking, it’s easier. On Sunday night, you gotta bring it. You gotta bring the heat because they are aware. They’re not hammered.

AG: Will you be meeting with the crowd after?

CT: Right now, I’m actually working on a new show so I’m not selling any merchandise. Usually what I do is a I get done and I go back and I write, I start fixing stuff that didn’t work and I make notes on what the next show’s gotta be. Meet and greets, it depends. If it’s a kid or some big fan, yeah, I’ll come out and say hey. I will, it’s just weird. Hi. Hi, meet me, hi. It’s just weird. If I’m whoring a t-shirt, I’m out there.

AG: What can people look forward to from you in the next year?

CT: I’ve got my new CD out, two comedy specials airing on Comedy Central, and in September a new show is debuting after “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC that I’m in…It’s called “Big Shots.”

Comments

Written by Guest on 2007-06-10 08:27:13