''Let America Laugh'' is a 2003

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

produced and directed by

Lance Bangs Lance Bangs (born September 4, 1972) is an American filmmaker and music video director. He has created videos for Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Neutral Milk Hotel, Green Day, Arcade Fire, The Shins, The Thermals, Belle & Sebastian, Menomena, Yeah Ye ...

of stand-up comedian

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix si ...

's tour of small

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

clubs. While it does feature small portions of Cross's stand-up routines, it consists mostly of interactions between David and the people accompanying him on tour. Each segment on the DVD has a title taken from a Bible tract by Jack T. Chick (''Is There Another Christ?'', ''Gomez Is Coming'', ''This Was Your Life''). The DVD has several

easter eggs Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...

. While on the special features menu, after idling, the disc will play phone messages. The viewer can also press up from 'Pilar Tells a Story' or down from 'Main Menu' to make Cross's glasses black, and click on for a secret feature.

Legal case

In October 2005, Cross was sued by Nashville club manager Thomas Weber, accusing Cross of taping him without permission for ''Let America Laugh'', in violation of Weber's privacy rights. In April 2006 the case against David Cross himself was dismissed, leaving Thomas Weber to face

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

Sub-Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are ofte ...

, WEA Corporation, and the Alternative Distribution Alliance. In June, the four companies together offered Weber an 'offer of judgement' of $30,000. Weber then attempted to force each of the four companies to pay $30,000 and in the end received nothing. The case was dismissed on July 25, 2006.

References

2003 live albums Works by David Cross Documentary films about comedy and comedians Films directed by Lance Bangs 2000s English-language films {{arts-documentary-film-stub