David Cross: "There's No Arrested Development Movie"

David Cross is probably best known for his role as Analrapist Tobias Funke on Arrested Development, but long before he was wearing cut-off denim shorts and painting his body blue, the comedian was known for his legendary HBO sketch-comedy program Mr. Show and his alterna-comedy stylings in his standup. Cross brings his standup routine back to the small-screen with David Cross: Bigger and Blackerer, which comes to video-on-demand service Epix this weekend. (Epix is currently giving away free trials—click here to sign up.)

We spoke to David about his new standup special, the potential Arrested Development movie, and his upcoming series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.

TV.com: This is your first standup special in a long while. How'd it come about?
David Cross: It's the first one to air in ten years. I had a book come out and they had no plans to promote it, and I hadn't toured in a while. I toured across the country and parts of Canada, and it was a good way to do book signings and readings and also do standup because I hadn't done it in a while and I certainly had the material. I was about a third of the way into the tour and it was going better than I expected—not that I didn't expect it go well, I just forgot how much fun it could be. I figured, "You know what? I should tape a show." As opposed to going to HBO and going, "Hey will you film my show and buy it?" I just had my friend Lance Bangs, who's done a lot of work with me, shoot it in Boston and then sold it to Epix.

I love your bits on politics and religion. What is it about those two subjects that make it your bread and butter?
I've always done a bit of political stuff, and then when Bush was elected a lot more, because it was in my consciousness. It's less about politics than just the tenor of discourse in America. That's more specifically what I'm talking about, and misinformation and stuff like that. Religion, since I was a kid, I've always loved talking about it. I never lost that little kid quality of going, "Well wait a second, if you said A and B, then how can A and B equal F?" That's not really very eloquent, but you know, [it's like] when you see kids' adorable questions to nuns. And they're actually really smart questions, but the nuns can't answer them. But they're always treated as "Oh these kids." I still have that quality. It's just obvious to me. [Religion is] obviously, blatantly, made up.

You mention A&E;'s Intervention in your standup. What other guilty-pleasure TV shows do you watch?
Well first of all, I don't feel guilty watching that. It's a pleasure, guilt-free. Those people f***ed up their lives and put it on the air for us to see? God bless them, thank you. As far as guilty pleasures, I don't really watch a lot of TV, and the stuff I watch I like. I like The Daily Show, Colbert Report, South Park, Battlestar Galactica, but that's off the air so I don't watch that anymore. Oh, and Top Chef, I really like Top Chef.

Should I even ask you about the Arrested Development movie or should we just move on?
[Laughs] I hope this is a harbinger of things to come, because you're the first person who has ever asked me whether you should ask me the question as opposed to just saying "So what's up with the movie?" Hopefully this ushers in a new era of people understanding that there is not going to be a movie. I just don't see it happening. It's been years. Michael Cera is 32 years old now. I will be the first to say it ain't going to happen.

Mr. Show is one of my favorite shows of all time. Bob Odenkirk said he really wants to work with you again. Do you think you'll be getting together again anytime soon?
Not really. We did work together on one thing that just didn't go. We were hoping to create a new sketch show for HBO but they eventually said there's no more money and didn't get back in touch with us. That was two years ago. One would imagine they're not psyched about working with us. But Bob and I have always, and always will, continue to talk about finding stuff we can do with each other. It's tough because we're on two different coasts, he's more involved in the writing producing aspect of stuff, and I'm more involved in the acting and standup stuff. He was working on a show, I'm not sure what's happening with it. I'm actually working in London right now on a show for Channel 4, so that will keep me busy.

Which leads us to my next question, about The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: How the hell did three Americans get starring roles on a UK show?
Well, let me gently correct you on that. I got the starring role because I wrote it and came up with the idea. Todd is the main character and there are two other main characters, but they're both English. Will [Arnett] is in it, I think he's in three of the six episodes. And Spike [Jonze] is in two episodes. It's mostly English. I... I can't give anything away, Tim. I can't!

Catch David Cross's standup special, David Cross: Bigger & Blackerer, on Epix starting April 10. The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret premieres this fall on IFC.