- Christopher Titus
-
Christopher Titus 
Born October 1, 1964
Castro Valley, California, U.S.Nationality American Occupation Comedian, Actor Spouse Erin Carden (April 17, 1991–June 6, 2006) Children Kennie Marie Titus (August 25, 2001)
Jett Evan Titus (May 8, 2004)Website http://www.christophertitus.com Christopher Todd Titus (born October 1, 1964, Castro Valley, California) is an American comedian and actor. He grew up in Newark, California. Titus came to national attention with the eponymous FOX show Titus,[1] of which he was the star, executive producer and co-creator. Time called the show "brutal, hilarious and audacious", while Newsday called him "TV's most original comic voice since Seinfeld". He is also a stand-up comedian whose act revolves around his dysfunctional family and shocking life experiences.
Contents
Early life
Titus was born in Castro Valley, California to Ken and Juanita C. (née Holmes) Titus. His parents divorced when he was a young child, and he was raised largely by his father, Ken, a judgmental, chain-smoking, hard drinker who was married six times and divorced five times. His mother suffered from schizophrenia and spent time in and out of mental hospitals. At the age of four he was taken away from his father and given to his grandparents on his mother's side. His father went to kidnap him back and told the local district attorney of his plans without them knowing. Rather than arrest him, the attorney gave him legal tactics he could use to get his son back which he used and eventually regained custody of Christopher. When he was 12 he ran away from his father to live with his mother, during which he lived in her garage but he shortly moved back with his father.[citation needed]
According to Titus in Norman Rockwell is Bleeding, Juanita was acquitted in 1986 after murdering her second husband who beat her up during Thanksgiving dinner, and committed suicide in 1994 after marrying another abusive man and being sent to therapy for hurling a Duraflame log through the window of a Missouri sheriff's office. This resulted in Titus having a nervous breakdown on his flight a week after her funeral. His father, Ken Titus, died in 2001 of cardiac arrest. Chris Titus dedicated his entire Norman Rockwell is Bleeding special and an episode of his show Titus ("The Pendulum," where Christopher is in a coma following a racecar crash and Ken [played by Stacy Keach] narrated the episode, "Christopher's Neutral Space") to his late father.[citation needed]
Christopher Titus had problems with alcohol and drugs during adolescence until one day, while intoxicated, he fell into a bonfire at a beach party. In the morning, his friends took him to the hospital, where the doctor told him he would have died if he had inhaled the deadly hot smoke inside of the bonfire. He has called this moment his "epiphany" and began to turn his life around and get into comedy.[2]
Comedy
Titus jokes about darkly comedic oddities such as custody battles, mental illness, family suicides, heart attacks, domestic abuse, and the relationship with his judgmental, often cruel father. "I think our collective psychosis is hilarious. With the world moving as fast as it is, if we weren't dysfunctional, we couldn't function", says Titus. He follows an edgy, confrontational format.[citation needed]
Norman Rockwell is Bleeding
After years of experimentation with dark and personal storytelling, he debuted his one-man show, Norman Rockwell is Bleeding, at the Hudson Theater in Los Angeles in 2004. The performance was well received. Already a standout at the 1996, 1997 and 1999 Montreal Just for Laughs Festival, in 2000 Christopher brought his act to the Festival for a sold-out run at the prestigious Centaur Theatre. Norman Rockwell is Bleeding talks mainly about his life as a child, his parents, and his relationships. Titus is the rare comic who seems to write a new ninety-minute show every 18 to 24 months. He got this work ethic from his father and George Carlin who called most current working comics "Pussies, for doing the same act for ten years". Norman Rockwell is Bleeding was released on CD on July 22, 2008, and then DVD in November 2010.[citation needed]
The Fifth Annual End of the World Tour
His special, "The 5th Annual End of the World Tour", premiered on Comedy Central on Sunday, March 18, 2007, at 10:00 pm EDT and was later released as a 2-Disc Cd set by Comedy Central Records. In this special Titus talked about life in America since 9/11, becoming a parent, and scandals that had had recent high press coverage.[citation needed]
Love is Evol
Love is Evol deals with his divorce from Erin (renamed "Kate" in the special for legal reasons) and the toll that abusive relationships take on people, among other things. In it, he talks about how his marriage to Erin fell apart, the ensuing divorce, his analyzing of relationships, meeting his new girlfriend's family, and dating again for the first time in two decades. It was recorded in October 2008 for Comedy Central and aired on February 14, 2009.[citation needed]
Neverlution
Titus' current stand up act is called Neverlution.[3] He debuted it at the Montreal Comedy festival in 2010 to standing ovations. In it, Titus talks about bringing the country back to its former glory, the new generation, and politics. Comedy Central Records released a double CD of Neverlution on June 28, 2011.The 105 minute Neverlution dvd was available for pre order on August 3 2011 and shipped on August 15 2011. In a change from his earlier deals with distribution companies Titus got the rights to his special and will only distribute it through his website christophertitus.com. Titus believes that the web will make it so that artists can make the most with their art and support their fans better. [4] and the special aired on Comedy Central on July 3, 2011.[5]
Television
Titus' stand-up television appearances include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Comedy Central's Premium Blend. He has also hosted Fox's Good Day Live, VH1's Dashboard Dreams and Comedy Central's USO Comedy Tour.
His television guest appearances include UPN's Twilight Zone, CBS's Yes, Dear, Fox's 21 Jump Street, as Damon in Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (1998 "Mysterious Animals"), NBC's Jenny, and ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. His film credits include co-starring roles in Killer Klowns From Outer Space and Remarkable Power. He has been a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, Politically Incorrect and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Awards
Titus received a Writer's Guild nomination for his work on Titus, and the show received an Emmy nomination. In 2004, "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding" became his first televised special, premiering on Showtime.
Post-Titus
After Titus was cancelled, Titus starred in a futuristic one-hour pilot for NBC called Future Tense. The series was not picked up by NBC. He has had writing/producing deals with NBC, Sony, and Showtime. He recently shot Special Unit, a pilot he created for Comedy Central. Titus described the show as The Shield, with midgets and handicapped actors.
Titus appeared on the show Big Shots, which premiered on ABC September 27, 2007. The filming was interrupted by the 2007–2008 Writers' Guild of America strike and has since been cancelled.
Podcast
Since January 28, 2011, he has been airing a podcast from "The Combustion Lounge". His sidekicks on the show are his girlfriend, Bombshell Rae (Rachel Bradley) and Stuntman Tommy, an old friend of Titus, who also did stunt work on the TV show Titus. The show airs once a week and after some early sound problems has become consistent. Within the first four months it broke the top ten podcasts on itunes. The show usually starts with a prerecorded monologue by Titus in form of a comedic rant called "The Armageddon Update", which serves as an introduction into the topic of the day. The official motto of the show is "Never unbiased, always unbalanced", topics usually include news at the time of airing like the predicted rapture of May 21, 2011, plus personal topics.[6]
Personal life
Titus married his wife Erin Carden on April 17, 1991.[7] Their daughter, Kennie Marie Titus (named after his late father Ken) was born August 25, 2001. Three years later their son Jett Evan Titus was born on May 8, 2004. Titus filed for divorce on June 6, 2006, citing irreconcilable differences.[8]
Titus shares custody of his two children with his ex-wife though has stated that the divorce has been "messy,"[9] it served as the primary inspiration for his comedy show, Love Is Evol. Titus currently lives with his girlfriend of the last 5 years, Rachel "Bombshell Rae" Bradley, in California. In his 2011 comedy special, Neverlution, Titus states "my mother was a manic-depressive schizophrenic, shot and killed herself after she had just gotten out of prison. My sister was raised by that mother, she dated this guy and they broke up every couple of days, so one day she went home, after he broke up with her, to his house, got his gun from the drawer, sat at the end of the bed and blew her brains all over his headboard. I just went through a five year divorce that cost me two million dollars."
He is the founder of The Insight Youth Project, a non-profit organization that raises money for children from dysfunctional and abusive families.[10]
Discography
- Norman Rockwell is Bleeding (2004) Comedy Central Records
- The Fifth Annual End of The World Tour (2006) Comedy Central Records
- Love Is Evol (2009) Comedy Central Records
- Neverlution (2011) Comedy Central Records
References
- ^ Los Angeles Times
- ^ Loveline, April 21, 2003
- ^ Theatermania.com
- ^ http://www.comedycentral.com/press/press_releases/2011/601311-christopher-titus-neverlution-wp.jhtml
- ^ http://www.zap2it.com/news/zap-neverlution-story,0,6968846.story
- ^ Titus Podcast
- ^ Profile at Filmreference.com
- ^ TMZ
- ^ KSAN (FM), February 6, 2009.
- ^ http://www.in-sightyouth.com/
External links
Categories:- 1964 births
- American comedians
- American television actors
- American stand-up comedians
- Actors from California
- Living people
- People from Alameda County, California
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