Todd Margaret

In-depth interview with writer and star of Todd Margaret, David Cross.

Stand-up comedian, writer, and star of Mr Show and Arrested Development, David 'Todd Margaret' Cross talks about his life, and this new show for Channel 4.

Please note that this unedited interview contained some strong language, which has been left in the transcript.

I took this information from Wikipedia so not sure how accurate this is... but, is it true you went to a performing arts school in Atlanta?
Yes that is true.

Have you always been destined to perform? Has it always been a passion of yours?
Yeah, kind of. I don't know how much I did until I went to that school. I started the school when I was around 15 years old. Before that, I was in a typical suburban lily-white school and it was awful - I hated it. Everyday my life sucked. So that was a big deal for me.

Are you familiar with the term 'magnet school'? It is where certain high schools are designated within a city as a magnet school. One would be specifically for math and science, another for language and others for the performing arts. The idea being that it was for students who had shown an aptitude for excelling at an early age in a certain of the aforementioned fields - so, instead of taking courses in a bunch of crap that I was never going to utilize. You can concentrate a third of your day in that specific field.

For me, it was really important and couldn't have come at a better time in my life. As great as it was to take theatre and acting classes, it was just being able to get out of out of that conservative and restrictive jock type school.

Was your school very like Fame? Was everyone getting up singing and dancing in the cafeteria every lunch time?
Well, one of the funniest and most pathetic things I have ever seen was when I started going to that school. It was right when Fame came out. I remember after Fame came out, do you know that part in the movie that's called 'Hot Lunch Jam' when a guy starts banging a tune with his knife and fork in the cafeteria and then someone joins in with a saxophone and then everyone starts dancing, and all that crap?

I remember being in the cafeteria when a couple of a people tried to make this happen, and it was the saddest thing ever. There were five or six people in on it, and that was fine, but for everyone else who was sitting there with sandwiches in their mouth, they were going 'What the fuck are you doing?' Are you seriously trying to do that thing you see in the movies that was all made up and actually choreographed for two weeks? We're eating our lunch - stop it.'

Your career is nothing but varied, from pretty risqué stand up to Alvin and The Chipmunks - do you ever feel a little schizophrenic?
No; I mean, not really, because of the way my mind works while I'm doing Alvin and The Chipmunks, sitting on the set that day I'm thinking about those awful risqué things that you described earlier. I guess if I watched all my stuff all the time then I would be a little schizophrenic, but you know I haven't seen any of that stuff.

Talking of your risqué thing, I read that you were once booked to perform in a Jesuit college to people who had never seen your stand up? I'm guessing that didn't go too well.
That was one... I wouldn't call it the worst gig I have ever had as I have had worse. It was the most unnerving - that's how I would describe it. Believe me; I have been in plenty of situations when the audience didn't like me. And I've felt physically threatened. I didn't feel like that, but it was not good. Three hundred people walked out. And one guy came up onstage while I was doing my set and that was unnerving. And of course there were people waiting to talk to me about Jesus afterwards who were very upset. You know, because I was making fun of their 'best friend'.

When I was on my way over to the gig, I asked the people, students, who picked me up in the car, 'So what's the town like? What are the schools like?' And they replied, 'Yeah we're pretty established, been around 150 years, probably one of the highest-rated Jesuit schools in the nation, we have a pretty good baseball team', etc, etc. And I was like, 'Jesuit school?! Have you guys seen my act?', and they said, 'No, not your stand-up; you're the Chicken Pot Pie guy from Just Shoot Me.'

You were also in Arrested Development. To many fans, it was the best comedy ever made. Why was it not successful - in the sense that it was brilliant and the critics loved it but it never seemed to get the audiences - was it too subtle, or what was it?
I think it was a couple things. One is that it was a tough show to come into in the middle. It wasn't extremely difficult but there was some information about the characters and their relationships that would be helpful to know if you were coming into it late and had missed the first Episode or so. Also it was so pushed by people; people who loved it really loved it. People wouldn't just go, 'Oh man you got to check out this show,' they were like 'Oh man you got to check out this show and you're a fucking asshole if you don't like it.' People who were on the fence about it were put off by that attitude and that was a tiny part of it.

But the biggest part, which outweighs any other part, on why it wasn't successful, was because it was purely a victim of bad timing. When Arrested Development was cancelled, they hadn't yet started counting as viewers the people who tivo'd or pvr'd the show to watch later. Technology got better but the rating system they were using was quite old even though people had started to change the way they watched TV. They didn't start calculating those factors into 'viewership' until the year after we were cancelled.

So you have this new series on Channel 4: The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. Can you sum it up briefly?
Well it is a bit different than an American show; it is not your typical American sitcom. There is a story told that has a beginning, middle and end. Each episode takes place the very next day, and we start with Todd in the dock and then flashback to two weeks earlier. So we get to see how he got there and what's going to happen. We follow this kind of ambitionless, soft, kind of nothing guy who's a temp in some unnamed company, and he isn't doing very much in his life and just completely flukes into an opportunity to immediately go to London to head up a satellite office and sell energy drinks to the UK.

He is in way over his head in absolutely every aspect of this, and he bluffs his way into the job because he has an equally ignorant boss, who is played by Will Arnett. He lies about his familiarity with the UK and his knowledge of energy drinks. And he knows nothing. He's never even been outside of Portland, Oregon, where he lives. He's just in way way waaaaay over his head and nothing like he expected; he can't bluff his way out of anything. He is well meaning, but his poor decisions to try and make everything right by telling these often ridiculous lies just increase, and compound the situation as the show progresses.

Do you enjoy the role of being the leading man? In the past it seems you have been part of something with many characters rather than specifically being the lead?
I don't mind it; I have never approached anything with the thought of being the lead or being in an ensemble. Work is work and a role is a role. I wish I had more time to do the other off-camera stuff though. I wish it wasn't so time consuming. I would love to sit back and be at the video monitors and concentrating on writing, and what the whole show looks like and stuff. I certainly enjoy the role that I'm going to play. I just wish there wasn't so much of it as there is other stuff that I would rather be doing. I really should talk to the writer about lessening my part.

The series is being shown in the US, but it is basically a British project and a British production; why did you decide to do something over here?
I didn't really; I was approached by Clelia Mountford and Jane Bell at RDF Media. I was in London doing some stand-up shows and they came up to me after one and asked me if I was interested. They said, 'We are trying to create a project to team up an American actor/writer with a British writer/producer to create a show to star you, co-written by you for the UK with the potential to sell it to the US as well.' That's where the whole thing came from. The show and its story are my idea, but the idea to do it was their idea.

How did you find the experience to work with Shaun Pye, who people will know here for playing Ricky Gervais's acting rival Greg, Extras but obviously he is a writer too? How did you find the experience of writing with him?
You know, it was painful. But any time I can tutor and mentor an up-and-comer, I feel like karmically it is my duty, and I was happy to help him along, and pass on my wisdom for a reduced fee.

Do you think there is a different sense of humour here in this country than in America?
Not really; I mean, I have been asked that by nearly every single person I have done an interview with, both in the US and UK, and now we are getting into the 75th interview. It is tough to generalise the sense of humour of 335 million people. You could say that the Brits enjoy the cringe humour more than the Americans, but that still means that there are more Americans than Brits that enjoy cringe humour. It's just not represented well; you don't see a lot of it on TV here.

There really isn't much more of a difference. The one subject thing that is brought up here in Britain is class and that's not a big source of humour for us. We also have shows or comedy shows that are based on race and ethnicities, and that's not the biggest source of humour for your guys. The differences are very slight though.

You've got great co-stars in this show. Sharon Horgan is really building a name for herself over here. She has got it all: beautiful, funny and successful.
Sharon was great to work with; she is a great writer too. 'Alice' was the character that changed the most because of the actor. When I had written the pilot, Alice was initially sweeter and not as self-aware, but Channel 4 were very keen on Sharon. I had never heard of her before we were casting the pilot, and Channel 4 sent me over episodes of Pulling. I immediately really really loved that show, and then I met with her. She is a tougher, more savvy and smarter than how Alice was initially concieved to be.

In the series, Dave is played by Blake Harrison - have you had a chance to watch The Inbetweeners?
Yeah I managed to catch a couple episodes. It was good; That was another show that I wasn't aware of but really enjoyed. I especially would have appreciated that show when I was that age.

Was it fun to hook up with Will Arnett?
Yeah, absolutely. it was nice to be able to fly my friends over to London and have them visit and ensure they would be on set with me to keep me company while I dealt with all these smelly Brits.

The show was originally part of the Comedy Showcase. Did you have the whole series worked out then? Or did you do the Comedy Showcase, see how that was, and then start writing the rest of the series?
A little bit of both. I definitely had an idea of where I wanted it to go. I knew I wanted to start in the dock, and I kind of always knew what the end was going to be and, certainly, the beginning; but the middle was not written or conceived, so that's the stuff I had to come up with.

Does that mean that this series will take us six days in? Is there going to be any further series of Todd Margaret in the future?
Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. Yeah, I could go four more series pretty easily and feel good about it and with each episode taking place the very next day. I have that mapped out now should we be asked to do more.

How long were you in the UK filming?
I was here for a total of six months: writing, then doing pre-production, then shooting, and there was about six or seven weeks of editing and mixing and stuff. I was able to get home once in the pre-production. I was only able to go home once for a little bit.

I am going to put you on the spot now. In the show, Todd convinces his boss he knows all things English, and quite clearly he doesn't. I want to see how much you have learned about British culture.

Can you tell me what bangers and mash are?
Yeah: sausages and mashed potatoes.

What is Eastenders?
The soap that has been on forever about working class people in the East End - these questions are easy!

Who is Cheryl Cole?
She is the chick from some group girl group whose football-playing husband, Ashley Cole, cheated on her.

How many children does the queen have?
Is it just Charles?

No I am afraid there are four. Can you name our prime minister?
Yes: David Cameron, and Nick Clegg is the Deputy.

Very good, you have passed the citizenship test.
That was so easy. Come on! I had to walk past all the newspapers every single day on my way to work. Also my dad actually is from Leeds - that is one very true piece of trivia. He was born and raised in Leeds. He is one of five kids and he was like 14 or 15 when he moved to the Bronx, just right after the war.

Finally, what kind of reception do you get here in the UK? Do people recognise you? And what from?
Yeah, well, by far the most recognition comes from Arrested Development. It had a huge, appreciative bunch of fans here who watched it daily and then of course there are people who recognise me from Alvin and The Chipmunks... but 8 out of 10 times it is Arrested Development.

Interview by Benjie Goodhart.