''Let America Laugh'' is a 2003 documentary film 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 Yeah ...

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

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 sitcom ...

's tour of small alternative rock 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 Jack Thomas Chick (April 13, 1924 – October 23, 2016) was an American cartoonist and publisher, best known for his fundamentalist Christian "Chick tracts". He expressed his perspective on a variety of issues through sequential-art morali ...

(''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 Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

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, Sub-Pop,

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

Corporation, and the

Alternative Distribution Alliance Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resource ...

. 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 English-language documentary films {{arts-documentary-film-stub