Tragedy Plus Time

With his Lundgren-esque bone structure and wide-eyed intensity, Christopher Titus' performances hover somewhere between comedy and a scared straight lecture. His 2004 special, Norman Rockwell is Bleeding, was a searing monologue of uniquely American tragedy but his demented perspective, shaped by an abusive upbringing, both self-inflicted and involuntary, is funny primarily because he survived it. The story of drunkenly falling face first into a bonfire would not be nearly as amusing had it been told from a full body-cast-likewise the tales of beatings and less than stellar parenting, thus proving that one man's misery is the same man's stand-up.
Aug. 14-16, 7 p.m., 2008