Christopher Titus: Difference between revisions

When he started traveling the stand-up circuit, he kept his material in the realm of observational comedy of the "Hey, you ever walk into a store and see..." type. He was scared of showing the audience just how extreme he could be but under the demands of his manager he began edging in his dysfunctional family life into his act. Specifically, he talked about how scared he was that his mother's insanity could be genetic and that he wanted to stay away from utensils while guests were around. The results surprised him as the audience loved it and if he ever went back to the "walk into a store" routine they would immediately turn off. Eventually his material encompassed ''everything'' about his family and the stuff he had to deal with.

 

 

His act caught the attention of FOX television producers Jack Kenny and Brian Hargrove who met with him about adapting his act now named "Norman Rockwell Is Bleeding" into the television show '''''[[Titus]]''''', which aired in early 2000. They took many of the bits of the act and adapted it into entire episodes, and other episodes were directly inspired by events from Christopher's life. Kenny and Hargrove had experience in theater arts and Christopher is a stage performer, so much of the show was structured in that way. It was a remarkably well-conceived and well-received television show and lasted a respectable 3 years, but because of the material it was considered "pushing the envelope" too much and was canceled. Christopher said he prefered the show was canceled due to its content rather than being "not funny" (you will still find people praising the show on youtube). He's recently admitted that he mouthed off to the President of Fox at the start of Season 3 when she gave him a new direction she thought the show should go in. He proceeded to explain how horrible an idea it was, but did it infront of her entire staff, making a life long enemy.

After the show he continued to make random TV appearances but regularly made the stand-up circuit. He had a role in the drama ''Big Shots'' that lasted only one season.

 

 

He is also involved with a popular podcast he started in early 2011, named the Combustion Lounge with the "Armageddon Update" where he takes some horrific recent news story and proceed to talk about the moral values involved. It is done weekly with longtime friend "Stuntman Tommy" Tommy Primo and his girlfriend "Bombshell Rae" Rachel Bradley (Titus's new girlfriend as described on "Love is Evol.")

* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: His shows run on this.

* [[Disney Acid Sequence]]: In "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," Titus tells the story of how he survived falling in a bonfire and was taken to an emergency "shack" where the doctor put him on painkillers (while still drunk). He describes seeing a world where everyone was a lizard, a "Stanley Kubrick/Charlie Brown cartoon" where everyone was spinning and spoke in that muffled trumpet noise that the adults on the Charlie Brown cartoons used as voices, and then sees the doctor who yells at him as Jesus...

** Titus's mom committed suicide after spending a year in court-ordered psychiatric therapy and realizing that her mental illness was the reason why her life was falling apart. Fortunately, Juanita didn't take anyone with her when she decided to end it all.

** His sister, Shannon, killed herself and "Neverlution" explained it was because her on-again, off-again boyfriend broke up with her permanently.

** Christopher himself felt suicidal from the age of ten to around 28 years old because he felt his father hated him for ruining his life, being a single father.

* [[Dumbass Has a Point]]: When the funeral director suggested a "rental casket" because Christopher's father wanted to be buried in a cardboard box (see [[The Fun in Funeral]] below), his brother, Dave, asked, "Who brought it back?". Christopher pointed out that it was [[Fridge Brilliance|a genius question]].

** In "Norman Rockwell" he said that having a screwed-up family helped him deal with how messed up [[Real Life]] could be, even boasting of how proud he is to be dysfunctional. But being in a dysfunctional family (and having horribly dysfunctional in-laws <ref> "Kate"'s parents were miserable, abusive alcoholics, her brother was a petty thug, and her sister was a sexually promiscuous drug addict. They all lived under one house because they were not mentally or socially ready to live out on their own</ref>) skewed his idea of what was normal and acceptable family behavior and what wasn't (such as getting in a fistfight with his dad on the front lawn and having the cops appear at every family gathering). He later mused that it probably wasn't a healthy mindset to have.

* [[Functional Addict]]: Titus's dad. Despite spending most of his time drinking, smoking, partying, chasing skirts, and getting married and divorced several times, he never missed payments on the house or car, didn't deprive his kids of necessities or luxuries (and sometimes had to deprive himself of necessities and luxuries just so they can be happy), and always went to work.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: His routines are about his life and often include serious, heartbreaking moments. Some examples are his dad telling him about his mother's suicide, the death of his father, his daughter being born just a few days before the 9/11 attacks, his attempted suicide after finding out his wife was cheating on him, and his angry outburst that God doesn't exist after someone tells him it was "God's Will".

* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: He started to realize his marriage was falling apart when his wife said "I wish you would [[Driven to Suicide|kill yourself like your mom and your sister did]]." He called it a "switch" moment when he realized that they probably wouldn't be able to work things out.

* [[Off the Rails]]: Some guy in the audience tried to heckle him in the ''Neverlution'' recording, where Christopher easily turned it around because he "does this for a living."

* [[Overprotective Dad]]: He has fears about this regarding his new girlfriend's family, since her dad is a former Marine pilot and her siblings are in various high-end government organizations like the FBI and CIA. "If I piss this family off, you're going to hear about it on the news."

* [[Self Deprecating Humor]]: "I actually knew my wife in high school, but she was in the 'Hot looking Babes" group and I was in the '[[Running Gag|Outcast Losers Who Fell into a Bonfire]]' group. ...Very exclusive group."

** In the "Love is Evol" show, his Inner Retard constantly berates him that he'll never be successful and he'll never find love now that "Kate" has ruined him.

* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: During his divorce hearings his wife claimed spouse and child abuse, which caught him completely off guard. "The only thing that has made me want to ''be'' a wife beater... is being called one!"

* [[Sit Comic]]: His original show (''Titus'', which borrowed from ''Norman Rockwell is Bleeding'') was probably one of the most faithful stage-to-TV translations ever, and a possible [[Spiritual Successor]] show will be adapted from "Love is Evol" and possibly "Neverlution."