By Levi Wright
On Friday, American comedian Christopher Titus will perform at the Englert Theater, 221 E. Washington St. Having previously embarked on the Sixth-Annual End of the World Tour, he has decided to switch up his act this time and name his tour “America … Really?,” echoing the sentiments of our nation’s astounded international peers.
Titus’s previous skits include the Emmy-nominated “Norman Rockwell is Bleeding,” the Annual End of the World Tour’s “Love is Evol,” “Neverlution,” “The Voice in My Head,” “Angry Pursuit of Happiness,” and “Born with a Defect.”
His skits have included topics ranging from an English Batman to the trophy for last place. Six of his skits are running on Comedy Central, with another set to release this year. He will also release his new full-length film, Special Unit, later this year.
Titus’ performances stick to their themes. He makes it a point not to recycle old material and instead comes up with new skits that mean something to him.
“The buff, brush-cut Titus has more to offer than affable, my-wife-won’t-have-sex-with-me jokes; his every sarcasm and tic betrays an intense, coiled anger,” Time wrote in a March 20, 2000 article.
Praise for him doesn’t stop there. Titus received a Writers Guild of America nomination in 2001 for his work on “Titus,” his first comedy show. He followed that up with an Emmy nomination in 2004 for his work on Showtime’s “Norman Rockwell is Bleeding,” which recounts a darkly comedic narrative of his family.
Titus is known for not pulling any punches. He doesn’t care whether you like him, just as long as he can get you to laugh. Right now, after the drama of the 2016 election and its unrelenting aftermath, he thought it would be the perfect time for a new tour and some good comedy.
“Medicine is the best medicine, but laughter is a release,” said Megan Gogerty, a comedian and University of Iowa lecturer. “These are stressful times, and if we can release that stress, it can lighten our load, so to speak.”
“At the end of the day, the entire country is split in two, because half of us want a pantsuit-wearing robot I call she-3PO, and the other half wanted a delusional orange rodeo clown,” Titus said.
The tour focuses on the division that has come from the 2016 election and aims to show that whether people are pro-Democrat or pro-Republican, they can still be pro-American.
“Trump and Clinton are just different sides of the same coin,” Titus said. “They’re in charge, they want power, they don’t care, and they persuaded everyone that it’s us or them. Democrats or Republicans, Republicans or Democrats, [that binary] made us forget that it’s still ‘we.’
“If we got together, they’re screwed. So that’s what I’m trying to do with the show. Basically, I’m trying to start a revolution through comedy.”
Gogerty largely agreed with the idea.
“Comedy is often about fostering agreement,” she said. “We often talk about it in the opposite way, but really, people laugh when they agree or like what’s being said to them. That’s what makes political satire so difficult.”