Things were going along just fine for Christopher Titus’ comedy career, and then the unthinkable happened – he got remarried and suddenly found happiness. It nearly ruined him.
“Everything is really good when I have a big ugly mountain on fire,” he says with a laugh.
When he suddenly found himself laughing and smiling and telling his wife and kids he loved them, and they responded in kind, well, he just didn’t know what to do, he says, only half-joking. “It got so bad I found myself for a little while creating problems.”
Titus has built his comedy career around his family and his struggles to remain sane.
“My mother killed her last husband, my father was a raging alcoholic and had six divorces, and my ex-wife’s family are like the worst people on the planet. They’re the type that had like Aerosmith banners for curtains and two broke-down Chevelles in the yard that hadn’t moved in like 10 years.”
So when he remarried someone with parents who held Ph.D’s and regular jobs, he almost didn’t know how to act. His in-laws actually live in LaFayette, Ga. Titus has nothing but praise for them.
“At one point, I was at a family reunion and realized, ‘Hey, I’m the low man here.'”
After overcoming the shock to his system that came with a happy family, Titus regrouped and reevaluated things. These days, his comedy is still about family but with a different edge and tone.
“Life just keeps on happening, and there is always something funny going on,” he says.
He’ll be in town Saturday, Nov. 7, for a show in the Robert Kirk Walker Community Theatre inside Memorial Auditorium. He’s constantly touring and writing material. He’s also developing a TV show and hopes to one day complete a film he started writing at 6 years old.
His latest tour is called “Born With a Defect,” and it deals primarily with his new family, which includes two stepchildren. Laughing about situations, whether good or bad, always makes them better, he believes.
The banner headline on his website reads, “We need comedy to get rid of our desire to kill.”
“It’s true,” he laughs. “I believe if you interviewed all these serial killers and asked them, ‘When was the last time you were in a comedy club?’ they’d say, ‘I’ve never been to a comedy club.'”
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6354.