Free I Drink for a Reason by David Cross

in 2006 during
     the beginning of the primaries), no matter how viable, equitable, and universally accepted his ideas for improving the lives
     of all might be, will never be a major party candidate in my lifetime. Then I talked about how Mitt Romney (who was doing
     very well at the time) could very likely end up being the Republican nominee and then talked about what he, as a Mormon, believes.
     Obviously there are no jokes in the above. I just wanted to give you a synopsis of the bit, which was probably ten minutes
     long and wouldn’t translate all that well on the page. So I did the bit, made my point, and moved on to some hilarious abortion
     jokes. A couple of days later, because back then I was foolish and vain enough to have a “Google Alert” for myself, I stumbled
     upon a blog entry from someone named Emily who had been at the show. Here it is, quoted in its entirety from the blog
SFist:
    SFist
was excited to hit SketchFest’s Comedy Death-Ray act last night at Cobb’s. The lineup (full of
Mr. Show
and
I LOVE the ’80’s alums
) looked promising. After the usher told us to give him $10 we landed front row seats. Which served us well for the surprise
     star of the night, Paul F. Tompkins—who had by far the strongest set of the night. Seriously, give that guy his own TV show!
     The other notable act was the vocal stylings of Hard ’n’Phirm, who ended the night with their rendition of a Latin power love
     ballad, which brought down the house, and which
SFist
is secretly hoping someone will sing to us this Valentine’s Day.
    SFist
, like most of the crowd, were there to see David Cross, and able openers only served to increase our anticipation for his
     set. Cross’s work on
Mr. Show
and
Arrested Development
are some of the funniest in contemporary comedy. Sadly,
SFist
was really disappointed (
appalled
might be the better word) by David Cross’s routine. In addition to getting the smallest laughs from the crowd, it was the
     most blatant public display of bigotry we’ve witnessed in person.
    It’s difficult to define the difference between making fun of something and attacking it. It’s a fine line, but many comics
     get it right: the greatest cultural and religious satire takes the beliefs held by a group of people and spins it to show
     the comedy inherent in those beliefs. For example,
South Park
has covered the very same ground in terms of joking about Mormons by going through the Joseph Smith story (which was what
     Cross went through as well).
South Park
explicates the story to hilarious (and irreverent) effect by making it into a musical, complete with ditties about translating
     golden plates, angels appearing, and the plates conveniently disappearing whenever outside sources ask for evidence. Cross,
     on the other hand, simply laid out the story of the religion’s foundation, and at the end of major points essentially said,
     “Isn’t that dumb?” “Can you believe how stupid these Mormons are?” Baddum-chee! Get the joke? We didn’t. Showing why something
     is ridiculous is comedy, telling you it’s dumb is more of a soap-box lecture. People at the club paid for comedy, not a lesson
     in religious beliefs punctuated with statements like “How dumb is that?” The letdown here is that
SFist
, like a lot of fans there, were hoping for the type of awkward comedy Cross does best, not the kind of bit you’d expect from
     a talk radio show host.
    It was surprising and a little confusing that a comedian of Cross’s stature and talent would spend so much time on pure vitriol.
     Cross seemed to deflate some of the exuberance of the evening (which was buoyed by a strictly enforced two-drink minimum),
     and the lag showed with paltry applause. Moreover, his bit seemed derivative of recent attacks on Mitt Romney’s candidacy
     that have appeared in
Slate
and elsewhere, and which are based not on his political record so much as on his Mormonism (which is the way Cross began
     his piece). The