David Cross is not yelling specifically at you, the person in Row G, Seat 37

Earlier this year, as David Cross wrapped his previous standup tour, “Worst Daddy in the World,” the comic looked up and realized that his schedule was almost completely clear – a reality that left him momentarily terrified. “It was awful. I want to work, and I’d like to work as much as possible,” Cross said by phone in mid-October.

The unexpected employment gap emerged after Paramount+ dropped a planned docu-style comedy series set to feature Cross and his “Mr. Show” counterpart Bob Odenkirk as rival cult gurus. Dubbed “Guru Nation,” the series was in early development at Paramount Television Studios when executives pulled the plug – a decision that Cross attributed to “the marketing and analytics department not getting it” in a March episode of Andrew Santino’s “Whiskey Ginger” podcast.

Amid the sudden downtime, Cross appeared in a couple of indie films – projects he described as “fun but not lucrative in any way” – and then set immediately about developing a fresh batch of standup material that he could take on the road. “I found myself going, ‘I’ve got no work lined up for the foreseeable future, so I better get working on a new hour,’” said Cross, who brings his new show, “The End of the Beginning of the End,” to the Athenaeum Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 24.

This is the quickest Cross has ever launched a new standup tour on the heels of another major run, and he was still adjusting to the physically demanding nature of the enterprise when he hopped on the call. Speaking at barely above a whisper in order to preserve his voice, which he said had started to falter amid the grind of near-daily, hour-plus long performances, Cross described the challenge of touring by car and van or “in the rear of puddle jumpers, back by the bathrooms.” 

“And I’m not a young guy anymore,” he continued, “so it really is about mentally and physically recuperating.”

He wouldn’t have it any other way, of course, going on to say that standup is “part of what makes life worth living,” with stage work at New York City comedy clubs serving as part of his routine in those currently rare times when he’s not on the road. From the jump, Cross’ standup has cut a wide swath, incorporating silly, surrealist bits with deeply personal anecdotes and fierce political commentary, and he attributed his comedic development in part to this range. 

“I think that voice came as a result of that disparity,” Cross said. “And the real challenge – the only challenge, really – is the sequencing. I don’t want it to feel too silly, and I don’t want this part to feel too preachy, or this part to be all scatological or about sex or whatever. So, I have to mix it up, and I find that takes a lot of time to really pull a set together.”

While Cross’ previous tour focused at least in part on his experiences as the father to a nearly 8-year-old, he said his daughter doesn’t really make an appearance in “The End of the Beginning of the End,” roughly half of which hinges on what the comedian described cryptically as “a very true, very personal experience.” One person who does make a return appearance, however, is former president Donald Trump, a man on whom Cross does not hold back. “He’s a fucking weird, narcissistic, pathological liar conman,” said the comedian.

The angry streak that surfaces in Cross’ description of Trump has long been a hallmark of his standup, the comedian tracing some of his bile to lingering issues with his dad, who abandoned the family when Cross was a child, and who he brushed aside as “a piece of shit” in our conversation. 

Asked if age and fatherhood had combined to in any way soften some of this ire, Cross replied with a quick, “No, not at all,” and then turned his eye on the current political landscape. “I have a house in the woods in Upstate New York, and there are a lot of Trump signs and a lot of ‘Fuck Biden.’ And you’ll pass a car with nine bumper stickers, and it’ll be like, ‘Man, your car is really angry,’” Cross said. “And that’s just something I’ve experienced a lot in my short life.”

Relatedly, the comedian recalled growing up in rural Georgia in the 1970s and early ’80s and watching the likes of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker lean into religion as a way to separate their followers from their money on shows like “The PTL Club.” Cross then drew a direct line from these types of programs to Trump, “who, as you might guess, I think is a piece of shit human and a blatant conman who just wants your money and to stay out of jail,” he said. “It’s a joke to me.”

In a 2008 Believer interview with Adam Bulger, who at the time professed to a deep loathing for Cross’ stylings (the feature is headlined “David Cross in Conversation with Someone Who Hates Him”), the comedian more fully unpacked the psychology behind these outbursts, delving into his family history and expressing his long-running frustrations with how ignorant and easily manipulated people can be. “But I’m not yelling at the audience,” he said. “I’m yelling at the world.”

“And that’s an important distinction that I hope people understand,” Cross said. “I have one of those bits in [‘The End of the Beginning of the End’] where I’m angry about… this thing that Americans do. But I’m not yelling at the guy in Row G, Seat 37. It’s out past you guys. It goes out of the theater.”