Tear Jerker / Christopher Titus

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• Norman Rockwell Is Bleeding is a tour-de-force of Black Comedy, perfectly establishing Titus' knack for finding funny in dark places, right up until the most devastating moment of the special: Titus gets a call from his dad about Juanita, who moved to Missouri, hooked up with yet another abusive man, and went crazy (this time, chucking a Duraflame log through the window of the sheriff's office), and was sentenced to court-ordered psychiatric therapy. After a year of therapy, Juanita has a breakthrough and finally takes some responsibility in her life — by killing herself. As Titus tells it, he was rather apathetic and in denial (but was relieved that Juanita didn't kill anyone else, as she was deranged enough to do just that), up until he suddenly had a panic attack during a flight when the smell of a Thanksgiving turkey platter served to him for lunch triggered all his memories of Thanksgiving with his mother, and spent 53 minutes ^note He was wearing a watch. crying in the airplane bathroom. This whole section of the performance - even after subsequent specials of very emotionally charged material - is some of the most disarming material Titus has ever performed.
  • The dead silence when he says "she killed herself" speaks volumes. A hush is firmly over the audience, even when Titus carries on.
• Love Is Evol: Titus' rant about how God doesn't exist because of how badly his married life fell apart is heartbreaking to hear...at least until the part where Titus (as God) tells him that the divorce happened so Titus could meet a woman who was worlds better than his ex-wife.
  • His confession that he was almost Driven to Suicide in the wake of his ending marriage is uncomfortable at best and heart-wrenching at worst, especially when he reenacts the moment he was just about to end it all, brokenly sobbing about his wife inevitably taking all the good things in his life like his house and his children... and the new hot-rods he built himself, the latter of which immediately causes him to put the gun away and decide to call a lawyer.
  • Apparently that was close to reality, except Titus was considering killing himself between sets at the comedy club he was playing at when he found out the news. He was at his lowest, and thought there'd be no greater Black Comedy than a comedian killing himself between sets at a club.
• Any time in Norman Rockwell Is Bleeding when Titus is gushing about his relationship with Erin is much Harsher in Hindsight if you've seen Love Is Evol and you know how their marriage eventually ended up.
• 5th Annual End of the World Tour: Near the end of the special, Titus starts talking about how scared he was raising his children without his father around to help him or guide him. It becomes funny immediately afterwards, but it's clear that he was terrified about becoming a father without having one to guide him through it.
  Step up, or step aside, isn't that right? Step up, or step aside, and what happened? World's coming apart, I got two little kids, and you're not here! You stepped aside!
• In Carrying Monsters, Titus reveals that in 2017, after going to court sixty times in thirteen years, he lost custody of his kids, in part because he blew up at his son slacking off in school and partly because he talked too much in court. He reconnected with them in 2019, but he didn't get to see his children for two years.

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