Comedian and diagnosed schizophrenic Christopher Titus has a life story that reads like a Tarantino script. For starters, his mother, herself a manic-depressive schizophrenic who had a long history of institutionalization, killed her third husband and later committed suicide. His father was a mean alcoholic who targeted Titus for much of his life. (Titus spread this father’s ashes in a casino.) With such good role models, it’s no wonder the comic had a disastrous marriage (his wife cheated on him — twice — and then cleaned him out financially). Titus took all that hurt and dysfunction and turned it into his own brand of way-over-the-edge observational comedy. To his credit, he never plays the victim, appealing for fans’ sympathy. Instead, he recounts his real-life stories, looking to his audience to confirm, “This is messed up, right?” His often enthusiastic stage rants are more genius than they are lunatic. His humor requires a thoughtful audience willing to explore the, yes, funny side of dark, hard themes like racism, pedophilia and mental illness. Among his milder though equally pointed bits is his take on the use of the word “retard” to describe the differently-abled. “If I ever heard someone calling someone a retard,” he says, “they would have to deal with me physically. But…every woman in here has a girlfriend who’s shown up at her house: ‘Oh my God, we got in a fight and he pushed me…I’m never going to see him again!’ Two weeks later, not only is she seeing that dude again, she’s moved in with him and has agreed to marry him. Retard. Rhianna-tard.”
8 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 p. m. Sunday. 7620 Katy Freeway. For information, call 713-333-8800 or visit improvhouston.com. $22 to $35.
Thu., Nov. 7, 8 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 8, 8 & 10:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 9, 7 & 9:30 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m., 2013
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2012.