David Cross To Tape Comedy Special In Seattle

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David Cross, "The Pride is Back," 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night, Showbox Theater, 1426 First Ave., Seattle, $10, 206-628-0888.

Comedian David Cross has a phobia, and that's really saying something.

You see, Cross is a man known for his fearlessness onstage and in front of the camera. As the bespectacled, balding half of the dynamic "Mr. Show with Bob and David," Cross, along with his partner in crime, Bob Odenkirk, has come up with some freaky stuff.

One of the newly retired show's more memorable gags made cloned Hitlers serve as butlers and whipping boys for Jewish families. The pair has conceptualized restaurants so posh that dining chairs are equipped with their own discreet commodes. Then there was the fake candid camera footage of Bob's parents being denied an abortion - because Bob was 4 years old. "What's a gagortion?" the moon-eyed boy Bob asks.

Penning off-color sketches filled with jokes about feces, fascists and fornication doesn't fill him with fear. What really gives Cross the willies is . . . fish.

"I don't know why," he explained in a recent phone interview. "I went snorkeling for the first time last winter, and it was really freaking me out. I mean, I love swimming. . . . But if I feel something touch me in the water, I freak out."

Very relaxed

Perhaps this misplaced anxiety is the reason he appears so relaxed onstage. Downright confident about his two Seattle

appearances, which will be taped for an HBO Comedy Hour Special airing in September, the comic doesn't feel the need to write down his jokes.

Lately, the Atlanta native has shown a knack putting jokes to paper, having scribed for the Emmmy-award winning (but canceled anyway) "The Ben Stiller Show."

For the stage, he goes through a process of organized ranting. "I'm really commenting on something," he said. "I'll just tape the set, then go home and transcribe it, trim the fat and do it again, and it becomes more honed. Then I'll go to other places and try it again, and riff within it."

His method seems to be working. Cross' comedic skills helped keep "Mr. Show," HBO's finest comedy half-hour most people never watched, on the air for four seasons. He's appeared on "The Drew Carey Show," "Seinfeld" "NewsRadio," and had his head bitten off in the film "Men In Black." He'll also co-star in "Shiny New Enemies," in addition to the "Mr. Show" feature film he hopes to get started in the winter.

Perfected material

Last week was spent perfecting his stand-up material in front of audiences around San Francisco.

Cross chose to tape his HBO special in Seattle, he explains, "because the audiences are cool and smart, and they let you work, you know? They just get it. And they're not as easily offended."

The comedian originally wanted HBO to tape the special at Bumbershoot, where he's performed for the past couple of years. HBO's scheduling conflicts, however, prevented that from happening.

May settle here

No matter, Cross says. He's just happy to escape Los Angeles, his current hometown, for the land of coffee beans and bars. He even drops hints that he'd like to buy a house here in the near future.

"It's urban enough, there's a really good music scene, it's by the water, and there's snow available," he raved.

Visitors should leave any fishy housewarming gifts at the market.