David Cross Drinks For A Reason

David Cross—he of beloved and abbreviated classics Mr. Show and Arrested Development—released his first book last year, with an audiobook following quickly on its heels. Like David Sedaris and Barack Obama, Cross is one of those guys whose voice is such a part of his, well, voice that I'd never be caught dead reading his book. While there's a lot of throw-away material in the (audio)book—the never-ending "Cigar Corner" sections come to mind—the recording itself should have, at the very least, been nominated for a Grammy Award for Spoken Word or Comedy. Cross is fluid and conversational on the recording, as he is on stage, and little touches like Jon Benjamin (Archer, Dr. Katz) starting off the recording only to be interrupted a few minutes into the preface by David Cross, who was "late" to the studio, a list of potential quirks for film directors made into a song by Les Savy Fav, and repeatedly berating the audience for the lazy act buying (buying?) the audiobook make I Drink For A Reason the literary equivalent of a Charlie Kaufman film. Apparently, the Academy Of Recording Arts & Sciences didn't agree on two counts.