David Cross can do a cameo like no other. He makes several amusing appearances on the wonderfully irreverent "Wonder Showzen." He often appears as Stephen Colbert's liberal adversary, Russ Lieber, on "The Colbert Report." He also occasionally voices Happy Time Harry on "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."
Plus, he played Donnie on three episodes of "Just Shoot Me!" Cross's first appearance as Elliot's brother, who pretends to be mentally challenged so he can sit around all day, is one of the best sitcom episodes in the history of television.
His notable guest appearances could fill an entire column. However, what is even more interesting, and frankly puzzling, is why he has had very little personal success on television. I use the word "success" as measured by the number of viewers he attracts, which is not in any way an indicator of the quality of his programming. If I meant quality, I would consider him one of the most successful people on television.
Let's take a look at his bigger roles. His first starring role came with the HBO sketch comedy series "Mr. Show with Bob and David." With its flowing format and nonstop comical twists, "Mr. Show" is without a doubt the best sketch comedy show of the '90s and holds a solid place in at least the top three of all time.
Unfortunately, it never drew a substantial audience. It lasted a mere four seasons and only aired a meager 30 episodes. This may sound like quite a few, but fans would argue it is not enough. Undoubtedly, the fact that it even ran as long as it did is a credit to cable programming. Popularity has grown since its release on DVD, which as you may note is a common theme for his shows.
In 2003, Cross landed a voice-over gig for the Fox sitcom "Oliver Beene." He played the reminiscing, adult version of the title character. In other words, he was in the show's version of the Daniel Stern character from "The Wonder Years." Although you could argue this was not technically a main role, I would argue that he was an essential character. Without him, who would be telling the story? Sadly, he didn't get to tell many stories. The show was canceled in the middle of its second season.
In "Arrested Development," another Fox sitcom, Cross played Tobias Fünke, Michael Bluth's brother-in-law who quits his job as a psychologist to pursue an acting career pipe dream. Although not the star of the show, as it was more of an ensemble piece anyway, he was certainly a main character.
Tobias is a hilarious failure in his acting pursuit, which is almost a sad parallel with Cross's acting career. To be fair, Cross has an overabundance of talent and impressive roles whereas Tobias is delusional and entirely unqualified.
Once more, I am not judging success on the quality of his performances. His perfect delivery and surprisingly audacious physical comedy definitely deserved Emmy recognition. However, Fox pulled the plug in the third season and significantly reduced the number of episodes produced. Here is another example of a show gaining more exposure thanks to DVD.
Finally, or most recently (but hopefully not finally), Cross teamed up with H. Jon Benjamin ("Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist," "Home Movies") to create Comedy Central's "Freak Show." This show is the perfect combination of stupid humor, sophisticated satire and ridiculous characters. It's packed with countless subtle jokes and jabs at American culture.
The show is about a group of traveling freaks hired by the government to take on unimportant missions. Cross provides the voice for, among others, Benny, one half of a pair of conjoined twins with the ability to separate, and Primi, a premature baby who sits in a clear case and rolls around on a motorized cart with the power to project pinpoint vomiting. But my favorite power belongs to the World's Tallest Nebraskan, who can shrink up to six inches.
But alas (I'm running out of synonyms for "unfortunately," which is in itself rather unfortunate), the show is not receiving a sizable audience. As a result, Comedy Central has moved it away from its cushy post-"South Park" time slot to Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. following a much-less-cushy "South Park" rerun. On top of that, they are replacing "Freak Show" with new episodes of the utterly unfunny, supremely stupid, incredibly immature (and none of these are meant in a positive way) "Drawn Together."
If I had to make a prediction, I would say "Freak Show" is already dead. After its run, I don't think we'll be seeing any new episodes or even reruns. Our only hope is a DVD release. Maybe it will finally catch on then.
The only halfway-decent explanation I can come up with for Cross' lack of popular success is that he's too smart for his own good. Mainstream viewers may find his brand of humor pretentious or perhaps off-putting. Certainly, it does not have wide appeal… yet.
Though I've been talking a lot about mainstream success, I don't believe it's all that important. Cross has a fairly solid fan base and a steady stream of upcoming work. He is not a failure in the same sense as Tobias, but rather a talented actor who inexplicably continues to fly below the radar. Most people would probably recognize his face and voice, but considerably less would know who he is and what he has accomplished, which, though not hugely successful in the sense I keep drilling into your minds, is a lot.
There is a skit from "Mr. Show" that explains Worthington's Law. Worthington's Law states: "A person who makes more money than you is better than you." If personal wealth is a measure of one's social status, surely a program's audience figures are a measure of a person's success in the television industry. If that is the case, then for now, David Cross is a brilliant failure.
