Yank's Divine Intervention

US stand-up David Cross isn't expecting his bank balance to soar over the next fortnight in London. 'I love spending literally thousands of dollars in a week,' he declares dryly. 'It's insane. The exchange rate f***s you. I'm kidding, of course. I'm totally looking forward to it. But I'm not going to make any money...'

Last time Cross was in town, it was with a full-length solo set at Soho Theatre. Since then, you'll have spotted him in Golden Globe-nominated TV comedy Arrested Development.

This time, he arrives with fellow US stand-ups Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry and Kristen Schaal - friends whose work Cross admires and who offer material he thinks will translate well on British soil - for an altogether more relaxed, looser variety show.

Also pitching up to join the foursome on various nights will be some star names more recognisable on these shores - Ed Byrne, Josie Long, Andrew Maxwell, Tim Minchin and Jimmy Carr among them.

Cross's own stints will be made up of his favourite bits of older shows, plus new stuff. 'Casually provocative' is how he sums up his material.

'I've been accused of being bigoted,' he sighs. 'Which is kind of true as far as my intolerance of religion. Actually it's not that I'm intolerant of religion - I tolerate religious people, I haven't taken a gun against them or taken any legal action, but I find it all kind of insipid.'

Cross's entertaining skits include him riffing on the Virgin Mary, fundamentalism and Jesus. But don't get him started on the rise of creationism in the US.

'It's one of the most fiercely strident, anti-intellectual philosophical positions one could take,' he fumes, 'It's so phenomenally lazy.'

Cross's first gig was in 1982, when he was at the end of high school, at a club in Sandy Springs, Georgia. 'I followed a guy who brought a toilet seat lid and put it on a chair and demonstrated the different ways to wipe your arse.'

Now he has a pile of film and TV credits to his name - including writing for Ben Stiller and sketch series Mr Show, a cult hit despite attempts by the network to bury it and which also featured Jack Black.

But force Cross to choose between TV and stand-up and he'd pick the latter for being 'more immediate and more personal'. Expect the unexpected in these outings.

'It's certainly not a tightly rehearsed set,' he confesses. 'I'm not interested in that. I'm not that professional. But it's worked so far...'
Sharon Lougher

Tomorrow until Jun 30, 100 Club, 100 Oxford Street W1, Tue to Sat

7.30pm, £17 adv, £20 door. Tel: 0871 220 0260. www.the100club.co.uk Tube: Tottenham Court Road