Christopher Titus: Finding the Funny

Comedian and actor Christopher Titus grew up in a very dysfunctional home. For much of his childhood, he had to deal with a clinically depressed mother who also suffered from schizophrenia, a father who drank too much and brought an endless parade of stepmothers in the house, as well as other issues. Many would use this as an excuse to just give up and do nothing in life, or even escape into drug abuse. Titus decided to follow his "what doesn't kill you makes you funny" philosophy and profit from his hard times.

He started doing stand up routines based on his screwed up home life. He quickly connected with audiences who had gone through similar rough times and let them know they're not alone. He states proudly that screwed up people are the majority in today's world and he thinks it can be a good thing."Normal people," he says, "haven't had enough problems to know how to handle it when something bad happens." He says that a person who has come from a dysfunctional home can adjust much easier when something goes wrong because "after you've driven your drunk father to mom's parole hearing... what else is there?" His routine Norman Rockwell is Bleeding held nothing back. In describing his mother, he says his mom is crazy in a "we, the jury, find the defendant..." way, discusses taping his dad's DUI arrest when it was aired on TV and gleefully sharing it at family reunions, and talks about his humiliation about being scared of an ex who was much smaller then he is, but actually managed to kick his ass at times. He also describes his experiences growing up with a father who did not believe in sugar coating anything and wanted his son to learn his lessons the hard way if need be. While these don't sound like great material for a comedy routine, Titus manages to find the funny in each instance and get it across to the audience.