Christopher Titus | |
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Titus in 2010
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Born |
Christopher Todd Titus October 1, 1964 Castro Valley, California, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Comedian, actor |
Spouse(s) | Erin Carden (m. 1991–2006) Rachel Bradley (m. 2013–present) |
Children | 2 |
Website | www |
Christopher Todd Titus (born October 1, 1964) is an American comedian and actor. He grew up in Newark, California. Titus came to national attention with the eponymous FOX show Titus, of which he was the star, executive producer and co-creator. Time called the show "brutal, hilarious and audacious", while Newsday called him "TV's most original comic voice since Seinfeld". He is also a stand-up comedian whose act revolves around his dysfunctional family and shocking life experiences.
Titus was born in Castro Valley, California, to Ken and Juanita C. (née Holmes) Titus. His parents divorced when he was a young child, and he was raised largely by his father, Ken, who had several relationships during his upbringing that provide comedic material for his routines. His mother suffered from manic-depression and schizophrenia as well as alcoholism, and is also source material for his dialogues. She spent time in and out of mental hospitals. At the age of four, he was taken away from his father and given to his grandparents on his mother's side. His father planned to kidnap him back and inadvertently told a man about his plans who turned out to be a local district attorney. Rather than have him arrested, the attorney gave him legal tactics he could use to get his son back which he used and eventually regained custody of Christopher. When Christopher was 12, he ran away from his father to live with his mother, during which he lived in her garage, but he shortly moved back with his father.
According to Titus in Norman Rockwell is Bleeding, Juanita was acquitted of murder in 1986 after killing her second husband who beat her when he came home to find that she wasn't done cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Eight years later, Juanita committed suicide after marrying another abusive man and being sent to court-ordered therapy for hurling a Duraflame log through the window of a Missouri sheriff's office. This resulted in Titus having a nervous breakdown on his flight a week after her funeral. His father, Ken Titus, died in 2001 of cardiac arrest. Chris Titus dedicated his entire Norman Rockwell is Bleeding special and an episode of his show Titus ("The Pendulum," where Christopher is in a coma following a racecar crash and Ken [played by Stacy Keach] narrated the episode, "Christopher's Neutral Space") to his late father. Titus would claim that although his father "never missed a beer in his life, or a joint, or a party, or a chance to get laid," he also "never missed a day of work, or a house payment, or a car payment. I never went hungry although he did a couple times so I wouldn't".