Cross’ lack of St. Louis shows since 2001 was more a result of the way tours work. Routing, which he doesn’t control, never pointed him to St. Louis.

His track record with audiences here wasn’t good anyway.

“It’s a city (where) I’ve never done well,” he says. “So it was a very easy thing to go, ‘If St. Louis isn’t on there, I’m not going to fight to bring it back.’ It’s easier to go somewhere else. That’s how it is with most stand-ups. America is a big country, and there are lots of places to do comedy.”

But this time, when St. Louis wasn’t on his schedule, he requested it. He didn’t want his friend to have to drive to Kansas to see him.

“I’m looking forward to this,” he says of Sunday’s show. “It’s a fun set to do. I’m getting toward the end of it. St. Louis is the third -to-last show that I will ever do this set. So I’m gonna enjoy it and have a good time. And I’m looking forward to performing in St. Louis for years to come.”

Cross, whose latest stand-up album is “... America ... Great” (2016), says his current live set is made up three parts. One third is “jokey jokes, some of it dark, some of it silly. It doesn’t matter what your politics are. You can just enjoy it.”