When we spoke to David Cross recently, he sounded excited to be doing stand up–in conjunction with his new book–for the first time in four or five years. Barging into the Patton Oswalt/Charlene Yi set last night–where neither headliner actually appeared–that pent-up energy showed. Cross was angry, relaxed, casual in shorts and trucker cap (with beer in one hand), irate about politics, and not afraid to use words that make Seattleites uncomfortable. Yes, he knows which political buttons to push about universal health care, those town hall kooks, and conspiracy theories about Obama. (“He wants to kill Grandma!”) But perhaps because Cross has been doing stand-up for over two decades, or because of his hiatus to write his book and do acting projects like Arrested Development, he’s got stage presence, confidence, verve, the energy to stride around the theater, do character voices, and give the feel–which could be acting–that he’s ad-libbing half his routine or more. The guy is strong, on very good form for his national book tour. He’s also likely to crash others’ comedy acts all weekend long at Intiman and the Vera Project. Just get in line early for tonight’s show, when he’s nominally headlining but sure to be joined by other Bumber-comics. (Eugene Mirman, Sarah Silverman, and Patton Oswalt should be considered likely cohorts.)David Cross Bagley Wright Theater (a.k.a. Performing Arts Stage), 8:15 p.m. Sat., Sept. 6.For all our festival coverage, visit Bumbershoot.SeattleWeekly.com.