Writer, actor and stand-up comedian Christopher Titus is coming back to Fresno this weekend for his seventh special “Born with a Defect.”

His new show discusses his personal life but also invites debate on issues most comedians dare not tackle because of how controversial of a topic it can be.

“I always like to push it with my shows,” Titus said. “When the bit challenges the audience, those are my favorite ones. But not everything can. I’ll throw in a bit that nobody wants to laugh at, but they end up doing so.”

Titus has been able to turn some of the worst things someone could experience into some of the darkest yet funniest jokes that comedy has seen in the last 10 years— ­from having a mother who was a manic-depressive schizophrenic, to having his ex-wife commit identity fraud on herself.

What separates him from other comedians is the content he writes and his delivery. He talks not only about his family, but he discusses topical issues that, when stirred correctly, will annoy and frustrate some of his fans and even risk turning them away. A good example of this is his special, “Arm the Children,” which addressed gun control.

“When I wrote it, I really wanted to write about something that tackled the gun thing without actually attacking the gun thing. I wanted people to not know where I was going until the end,” Titus said. “That happened and it pissed off some gun people. When you do a bit that’s funny to everyone and you hit that bit at the end that you really wanted to land with the audience, that’s perfect.”
Titus will be performing this coming Saturday at the Tower Theatre, 815 E. Olive Ave, at 8 p.m.