David Cross Interview: I’m From The Future

David Cross is back on stage for his new comedy special, I’m From The Future. In his first recorded special after nearly three years, the Emmy winner reflects on his life during the pandemic, euthanizing a pet, The Gettysburg Address, the true power of wishes and much more.

In time for its debut on his website, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with David Cross to discuss I’m From The Future, how the pandemic changed his plans for the special, his upcoming TV reunion with longtime collaborator/friend Bob Odenkirk and more.

Screen Rant: I watched the special last night and it was an absolute blast. As you sort of discussed in the special, this really did come after the extended break due to the pandemic. What was that like for you finally getting back up on that stage in front of everybody?

David Cross: It was almost overwhelming and the very, very, very, very first time that I got up after a full year and a half, at the end I started getting a little emotional, more than I expected. That’s kind of where that bit about “I dreamed about this day, literally dreamed about it,” kind of came from that because I just started this goofy thing because I was getting a little embarrassed about getting so emotional.

How did the idea come about to film a special so soon after getting back on stage?

David Cross: That was solely because I was going to be out on tour. I would imagine that whatever the special would have been if I was on tour would have been quite a bit different, because all that stuff would have evolved and who knows where that would be. But I had to cancel the tour for obvious reasons and I knew that a fair chunk of that material I wouldn’t be doing, you know, who knows when I get back out because I’ve got this project with Bob Odenkirk that I’m gonna be working on and I’ll be out on the road for a year and a half.

So a bunch of that material I wouldn’t be doing then, but it was good and I wanted to get it down so, unlike any other time, I just really scrambled to get something together. [It was] friends of friends, I didn’t know anybody involved really, just got some cameras and a crew and the production company and got a couple nights at the Bell House. A friend of a friend edited it and just put it together as quickly as I’ve ever put anything together.

Did you find that that lent an extra challenge to it or did you find that that almost was more of a comfort to have this team around you to help bring this special together?

David Cross: A little bit of both, it was definitely a challenge because I didn’t know really anybody and had to trust them and they had to trust me very quickly and had a lot of limitations. I did this all out of my own pocket, so I had budget constraints and I didn’t have the luxury of just shooting a ton of sets while I was out on the road. But also having scrambled to put this together meant that I just didn’t have the luxury of kind of f—-ng around, so it made me really hone it down because I only have, whatever, an hour and 20 minutes per set. So I couldn’t really f-ck around and go, “Well, on the 40th show on the tour, I should have it down by then, it was like, “No, get it done.”

As you mentioned with that and with the material, what was it like trying to find that perfect lineup of bits for this special?

David Cross: It was what it was, I was developing the set. What you see in the special is stuff I would have been doing on the road, it would have evolved more over time, because when I tour I do 80 shows. I had the material, that was the show that I was going to be doing, so it was just making absolute sure that this is what I wanted in there and toning it down. I didn’t have the luxury of being extemporaneous, or anything like that.

Was there any material that didn’t make the cut from your writing that you hope to revisit in the future?

David Cross: A bunch, yeah. I’m pretty self indulgent, so if I don’t have a hard out, if the club doesn’t have a hard out, I’ll just go on forever. But there were a couple bits that as I was putting the show together, I took a couple of those out because I know they can be better. I didn’t have the benefit of being able to work on it while I was out on the road and they’re good ideas and they’re good bits, but I know that they can be much better and more fully developed and probably have a feeling of being a little bit thematic in whatever the next set and tour and special will be, so I pulled those.

As you mentioned before, you’re working on the new thing with Odenkirk. Given that you are that busy, do you know when you might be able to start further developing those bits and getting back on stage for more stand up?

David Cross: I don’t, I’ll probably be able to pretty shortly. Because Bob [Odenkirk] has an extremely busy schedule until I believe the end of March, and we’ll be able to more formally run the writers room and all that stuff, we’re going to be going back and forth from New York to Los Angeles. But in the interim, I think I’ll be able to do a bunch of sets here in the city, especially because things are starting to open up again, the numbers have gone way down, so I feel more comfortable doing shows.

I’ll probably just start developing material and then once, knock on wood, we’re in production for this thing, I probably won’t be able to do a whole lot in the in the months leading up to production then the months when we’re in post-production, I’ll be able to do plenty of sets and then I would imagine I would jump right back into what I do, which is called shooting the sh-t, seeing what sticks and just do shows where I develop the material.

That’s always a good way to do it.

David Cross: It’s fun, I enjoy it. It’s a great part of the process.

Since you do mention things slowly opening back up, as I was watching the special, I was amazed to see so many people still wearing masks — amazed in a good way, mind you. You have the bit about the different vaccines, cut what was that like for you being on stage with all of this in mind, especially in November as we were sort of in this in between of getting back to normalcy and still not?

David Cross: As I mentioned in the special, New York State is the fifth or sixth-most vaccinated state in the country and the city especially is very vaccinated and masked and I’m vaxxed and boosted and so is my family. So I’m not worried here, I’d be worried [if it was] the places where I had to cancel the tour. I cancelled it because people were — it was the hardest decision I’ve ever made creatively, after I did I got all kinds of tweets and emails and all that kind of sh-t from people in Wisconsin or Missouri, etc of “I’m glad you did this, because I wasn’t really comfortable going out with all these people.” So I was pretty confident about doing it in New York.

So I would like to hear more about this project that you’ve got with Bob Odenkirk, because it sounds like quite the funny ride and you guys have been working together for so long. Can you give me any more insight, can you tell me what it’s like reuniting with Bob? All those good things?

David Cross: Yeah, I mean, it’s not so much reuniting — I mean, it will be in a sense on TV — but we’re very, very close friends. We’ve been doing stuff forever, but this will be the first kind of project that, outside of stuff we’ve done on on stage, will be the first kind of show, and it’ll be different because it’s a limited series. It’s not sketches, it’s a story that’s got a beginning and a middle and an end, and we’ll play different characters. But this one will be a lot more grounded than a sketch kind of thing, it’s not gonna be wacky. We’re both playing multiple characters, but we each play one kind of main character and we’re telling stories.

So do you find that having a story to be told is more creatively challenging than your sketch work in the past or do you find that it’s more creatively freeing?

David Cross: I mean, it’s the same thing on a larger level, I suppose. Because when I write sketches, for the most part, they have their little stories, they have a beginning, middle and an end. This is like instead of having to do 30 mini stories, it’s one longer story. This will be much closer to work I’ve done in the past, like Todd Margaret or Bliss or things like that. I’ve done this kind of storytelling before and it’s got its own unique set of challenges, but we’re all up to them.

I certainly look forward to hearing more details on that in the near future. For my final question, going back to the special, one of the things that caught my attention right away was, of course, H. Jon Benjamin’s voice at the start of it. I know you two also have a history together as well, but how did that come about for this special?

David Cross: I had this other idea for the opening that as we were getting closer and closer I kind of soured on. I wanted to do something, because I knew that the first bit I do is kind of unique and I’ve never quite done that. Of all the openings I’ve done, that’s probably my favorite, but I wanted to do something up front that took the edge off of that first thing a little bit. So that’s where I came up with that.

So how did Jon factor for that one?

David Cross: I just called him.

Oh okay, he was raring to go?

David Cross: Yeah, Jon and I are old, old, old friend, he lives down the street.

David Cross: I’m From The Future is now available to watch on his official website.

About The Author

Grant Hermanns
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Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

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