Honest answers from David Cross

From cult-hit comedy series like "Mr. Show" and "Arrested Development" to such mainstream fare as "Just Shoot Me," "Modern Family" and the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, comedian David Cross is both indelible and ubiquitous. "I've got about 187" film and TV credits, he observes, then jokes, "When I get to 200, I get 10 percent off my next 10!"

He's certainly earned his frequent-comedy miles. Cross, 47, started in stand-up comedy in hometown Atlanta, where his father, an immigrant from Leeds, England, abandoned the family when Cross was young. He honed his act in Boston, where he attended Emerson College and briefly roomed with stand-up comic Louis C.K. While touring the country, he's had Jesuit students walk out en masse and has even been physically threatened for doing his act.

Now starring in the IFC series "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret" -- the season 2 premiere debuted Friday and repeats Sunday at 11:30 p.m., Monday at 11 p.m. and at other times -- Cross spoke with frequent Newsday contributor Frank Lovece.

Well, I mean, he's not a bad guy. In his heart, he means well. He's just foolish and I would say infuriating, and I myself know people like that. Not to that extent, of course, but I know people who will say something and you're like, 'Why did you make that thing up? Now, you're stuck with this stupid lie.' And you know that in every opportunity to rectify the situation, they won't, but their heart's in the right place.

Right, right. Yeah, in a real-life situation [like that], if somebody is offering to basically change your life, [you'd say] "Yeah, I know London!" That's all you need to say -- you'll deal with it when you get there. But he doesn't even get a guidebook or anything; he's just so clueless.

That's really funny -- I didn't even think of that. I can't believe you're the first guy who ever asked me that! Yeah, perhaps, unconsciously, on some level, there was something there. [Pauses.] I should have said, 'He's dead to me!'

Yeah, I even, during [production on] the first season, went up to Leeds in a rather pointless exercise in getting to my roots. But it was ridiculous. I got off the train and I'm like, "Why the ---- did I come here? I don't know anybody here. I don't know the first thing about Leeds. Who gives a ----?" It's like going to St. Louis because your grandpa went through there once.

Because of what you're saying. In Baton Rouge, that definitely happened. In Boston, I had somebody throw a glass ashtray at me at the old original Stitches [comedy club]. I did a show in Vermont where a guy was so upset because I made Jesus jokes, he poked his finger in my chest. There was another gig, in Killington, Vt., where the person who was opening for me went out and started the car so that when I closed my set, I literally ran through the crowd, ran out the door and into the car, and we left because it was that bad.

There are some serious Jesus people there.

Important? No. For me, personally, I appreciate it, certainly if somebody can do those things, but I don't think it's important, no. Not at all.