David Cross talks stand-up, acting career ahead of Mount Baker Theatre show

David Cross has a podcast now. It’s one of the latest developments in the 30-plus year career of the comedian, known for his stand-up career, as well as his work alongside Bob Odenkirk on the “Mr. Show with Bob and David” and as Tobias Fünke on “Arrested Development.”

“I woke up one day and checked the mail and there was a thing saying it was my time to do a podcast,” Cross joked in a phone call with the Bellingham Herald. “It was required by the government, and my number came up, so I went down to the studio and just started doing it.”

Cross is currently in the middle of performing his other compulsory duty, touring, and will take his material to Bellingham’s Mount Baker Theatre on Friday, May 9.

“That’s just what you do,” Cross said of the tour. “You work up a bunch of material, and then you take it out on the road, shoot a special, and when that airs, you work up new material, then go out again.”

David Cross to perform at Mount Baker Theatre

While Cross has been doing stand-up for most of his life, he said that his material hasn’t changed much over the years.

“Once I found my voice, it’s pretty much that style, whatever that style is,” Cross said.

However, Cross said the set he’s performing on this tour focuses more on a single story than his previous routines have.

“This set, though, is surprisingly not quite as topical or political as it usually is, because the first half of the set, with one exception, is just a true, embarrassing situation I found myself in,” Cross said.

There’s been another notable difference about this tour, too: Cross stopped in the middle to go on Broadway as part of “All In: Comedy About Love.”

“It was a show that had this rotating cast, and it was a limited 10-week run or something like that, and they asked me to be a part of it... It was great. It was really a feather in my cap,” Cross said.

Cross has been a cult hero since his early stand-up and work on sketch comedy shows, but he saw his acting profile rise after “Arrested Development” was added to, and rebooted by, Netflix. The show’s initial run was canceled after the third season, but Cross said that the cast knew how good it was from the start.

“I knew from when I was shooting the pilot. I was not supposed to be a regular. I’d moved to New York, and I had no desire to go back to Los Angeles,” Cross said. “Then I realized on the pilot that it was pretty great. The cast was great. And I remember calling my then-girlfriend and going, ‘Good news, bad news.’ But yeah, we were all aware it was pretty special.”

Cross has since performed a stand-up special for Netflix, in addition to a few released on other platforms. He also recently joined season four of Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy,” where he played Sy Grossman.

“I don’t think I’ve worked on a show quite like that, especially with the reach that that one had. And I had never seen it before I got the offer. And I got the offer, it was one of those things where it was like, ‘if you can do this, you need to fly out on Monday… I shot a couple scenes, and then I went back and started watching it with my wife, and we got immediately hooked,” Cross said.

But Cross doesn’t see his stand-up career as something he does on the side of his acting. If anything, it’s the opposite.

“To me, it’s just what I do. And I’m doing stand-up, if I’m not working on a project or a TV show, movie, whatever the thing is, but I’m always doing stand-up,” Cross said. “I’ve never stopped doing stand-up.”

And after all of the other roles he’s taken on, from writing and directing to acting and podcasting, Cross said he’s continued doing stand-up because he still finds it fun.

“Getting to Bellingham and then going to Fargo and then going to Sioux Falls... that’s a major pain,” Cross said. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. I love it.”

Tickets for David Cross at Mount Baker Theatre

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on May 9. Tickets range from $46 to $75. You can buy them on the theater’s website.

This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.