Whenever David Cross comes to London, the American comedian feels a strange kinship with the good people of Britain. Part of it, he says, must be because his father is from Leeds. A hankering for gloomy weather and 24-hour sarcasm is in the marrow. And so, it turns out, is that most British of virtues: the love of a good pint . . .

“I drink a lot of beer,” says Cross, “a lot. And when I am in London I feel kind of an obligation to my people to imbibe and partake with them. Except that last time, when I played Soho three years ago, it was every night. By the end I was pretty sick.”

A quick fact check with the Soho Theatre confirms that Cross introduced them to some pretty frisky cocktails, too (an Irish Car Bomb, anyone?). Is this any way for a 43-year-old man to carry himself? Well, Cross is a professional disrespecter of any orthodoxy that doesn’t add up. He’s no time for puritanism, religion, American foreign policy – or political correctness either. That’s made him American indie rock’s stand-up of choice: he’s more likely to share a stage with Pearl Jam or his friends the Strokes than he is with any of the slick gagsmen that clog up his adoptive New York (he grew up in Georgia).

His articulate ragings against Bush and, indeed, American boobyism of all shades has stepped outside the club-comedy ghetto in two concert albums for the Sub Pop label. His countercultural credentials initially stem from Mr Show, a TV sketch series he made with Bob Odenkirk from 1995 to 1998. It never made it over here, but in America it was a cult comedy of almost Pythonesque pull, and it helped to lead Cross to lucrative turns in films such as Men in Black II, Small Soldiers and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

But the best showcase for his comic acting has been as the pompous, pathetic Dr Tobias Fünke in three seasons of Arrested Development, a show fit to take on Curb Your Enthusiasm for the title of the best US sitcom of the decade. And he’s guested on pretty much every other US comedy show or animation of the past five years. No wonder the man’s thirsty.

But it’s not so easy being an angry young man when you’re 43. Cross suggests he’s as politicised as ever in his real life: he’s intrigued by the Blair-Brown handover; he can drop names like “Robin Cook” into conversation. In his act, though – which arrives at the 100 Club in London this week – he’s grown weary of plying the same complaints. “I’m not going to do 60 years of Bush Sucks material,” he says, “I’ll sound like a broken record. But I’m glad to be on record for having said all those things in 2000.”

He admits that years of touring burnt him out. And he’s stopped kidding himself that he can write while he’s working on a film. “It never happened,” he says.

So David Cross is at a David crossroads. He’s developing his own sitcom for HBO, about an early-middle-aged Manhattanite who just can’t grow up. But he’s disdainful of the state of the entertainment business. He was sorry that Arrested Development got cancelled midway through its third season but always knew that this slippery, sophisticated show was an aberration on American TV. His animated series Freak Show was axed by Comedy Central after only three episodes. Still, he’s lucky, he says – some network shows get the chop after two. “That’s it,” he sighs. “They might have sucked, but who even got the chance to see if they sucked? Just knowing how shows evolve and develop, two episodes is not a good indication of a show’s potential.”

So while he figures out how to get his smart, substantial, abrasive comedy out into the world, his stand-up is anchoring his ambition rather than driving it. In the London show he does a half-hour set, then hosts a lineup of US comedians (Todd Barry, Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal), plus a local ringer such as Jimmy Carr, Ed Byrne or Josie Long. They should be great events, but they won’t make anyone rich. Good job, then, that Cross has just finished making his latest film – Alvin and the Chipmunks. .

“In fact,” he says, “because London’s so f***ing expensive, I will walk away with perhaps $24 from these shows. That’s why I do these movies and stuff – to allow myself to spend significant time doing these kind of shows. I balance it out by doing a big kids’ movie or something like that that’ll pay my mortgage – and my hospital bills.”

A Really Lovely Night Out with David Cross and Friends, 100 Club, London W1 (www. 100club.co.uk 0871 2200260), Tues-June 30

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