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{{Infobox Comedian
{{Infobox Comedian
| name = Dane Cook
| name = Dane "The Tool" Cook
| image = Dane Cook ComicCon.JPG
| image = Dane Cook ComicCon.JPG
| imagesize = 267px
| imagesize = 267px

Revision as of 19:07, 19 May 2010

Dane "The Tool" Cook
Cook at Comic Con 2007 promoting Good Luck Chuck
Birth nameDane Jeffrey Cook
Born (1972-03-18) March 18, 1972 (age 52)
Boston, Massachusetts,
United States
MediumStand-up, film, television
NationalityAmerican
Years active1990–present
GenresStand-up comedy
Subject(s)observational comedy
Notable works and rolesRetaliation, Dane Cook: Vicious Circle, ISolated INcident
Websitewww.danecook.com

Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album in 28 years[when?] and went platinum.[1] Cook performed an HBO special in the Fall of 2006, Vicious Circle, a straight-to-DVD special entitled Rough Around The Edges (which is included in the album of the same name), and a Comedy Central special in 2009 entitled Isolated Incident.

He is credited as one of the first comedians to use a personal webpage and MySpace to build a large fan base[2] and by 2006 had become "alarmingly popular".[3]

As an actor, Cook has appeared in films since 1997, including Mystery Men, Waiting..., Employee of the Month, Good Luck Chuck, Dan in Real Life, Mr. Brooks (in a non-comedic role), and My Best Friend's Girl.

Early life

Dane Cook was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States,[4] the second son of George and Donna Cook. Cook has an older brother, Darryl, and five sisters. He was raised in Arlington, where he attended Arlington High School.

Career

Stand-up

Cook performing in 2008.

In 1994, Cook moved to New York City, NY and began performing. Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he still lives today.[5]

Cook's big comedy break came in 1998 when he appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend. This started a relationship between Cook and Comedy Central that has lasted many years. In 2000, Cook did a half-hour special on Comedy Central Presents. Since then his special has won the Comedy Central Stand-up showdown twice in a row.[6]

In 2003, Cook released his first CD/DVD, Harmful If Swallowed. The success of the album landed him a recording contract with Comedy Central Records. The album is certified platinum. He released his second CD/DVD in 2005, entitled Retaliation. This album went double platinum and made Cook the first comic in 29 years to have an album at #4 on the Billboard charts.[6] This earned him a place alongside best-selling comedy vets Bill Cosby, George Carlin, and Steve Martin. The success of the album also landed him a comedy performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, and then afterwards he joined Snoop Dogg (who introduced him) in presenting the award for Best New Artist.[6]

On April 15, 2005 Cook performed his first HBO Special entitled Vicious Circle. Vicious Circle was filmed "in the round" at the TD Banknorth Garden. The same year Cook shot two pilot episodes for his own sitcom, Cooked. The sitcom never got picked up and the two pilot episodes were later released on DVD as the Lost Pilot Episodes. That same year he embarked on a 30-day 20-show college tour called Tourgasm with his long time friends Robert Kelly, Gary Gulman, and Jay Davis. The tour was filmed and was later made into a 9-episode documentary on HBO.

On December 3, 2005, Cook hosted Saturday Night Live. It was one of the highest-rated SNLs of the season".[7] He would then go on to host the premiere of season 32 of SNL a year later.

In 2006 Cook headlined for Dave Attell's Insomniac Tour and hosted the 2006 Teen Choice Awards alongside Jessica Simpson. The following year he won the award for Best Comedian. On November 12, 2007, Cook became the second comic to sell out Madison Square Garden. He did two sold out shows in one night. The show was filmed and would later be put onto a DVD to be sold on Cook's third comedy album. Cook won the Big Entertainer Award at the VH1 Big in '06 Awards, and Rolling Stone magazine's Hot Comic of the Year. The following day, November 13, 2007, Cook released his third CD/DVD entitled Rough Around The Edges, which was filmed live at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart.[citation needed] During that time, he embarked on his first arena tour.

On April 10, 2007, Cook broke The Laugh Factory's endurance record (previously held by Richard Pryor)[8] by performing on stage for 3 hours and 50 minutes. Dave Chappelle would break the record five days later.[9] On January 1, 2008, Cook broke Chapelle's record, by performing on stage for 7 hours.[10]

From May 23, 2008 to May 25, 2008 Cook reunited with Robert Kelly and Al Del Bene for 3 shows at The Coliseum in Caesars Palace. From May 29, 2008 to June 4, 2008, the Trio went to Iraq to perform for the troops. During all of these shows Bene was the Emcee, Kelly was the Feature, and Cook was the headliner.

Cook finished his fourth album, "Isolated Incident"; a performance of which aired on Comedy Central on May 17, 2009, with the release of the record following two days later. He kicked off that tour at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Connecticut on April 25, 2009. This album will be the last as part of Cook's four record deal with Comedy Central Records. The new album was performed at The Laugh Factory in Hollywood which is considered to be Cook's Home base, where he goes and works on new material.

Cook released the DVD version of Isolated Incident in November 2009.[11]

Critique

Dane Cook's style is principally "long-form storytelling"[12] and "multipurpose phrases"[13] with a casual attitude. Cook says his onstage persona is a combination of the personalities of his mom, Donna, and his dad, George. "My mother is like a Looney Tunes cartoon. She's wiggly ... She has the ability to tongue in cheek a lot, and do it in a way where she's being physical. My dad is the polar opposite. He always had a little 'what the fuck' in his voice. Even if he knew nothing about what he was talking about, he could sell it. So I looked at these two extremely funny people and created a style of comedy from absorbing their actions."[14]

He explains:

I wanted to create a stage persona for myself that allowed me to really speak about anything I want... So I can be a storyteller, I can be jokey, I can be corny, I can be a little vulgar, I can be a lot vulgar. And I'm not afraid to go anywhere to get the point of the joke across, even if I have to just blabber like a retard until it becomes apparent that I'm a retard and that the audience should laugh.

Commentators in a variety of media sources have characterized Dane Cook's humor as unfunny.[15][16][17] Comedian Ron White has criticized Dane Cook for his lack of real material and for his inflated ego; saying "[He] does not make me laugh, at all, in any way, shape or form."[18] When asked about his opinion of Cook on The Howard Stern Show, comedian Nick DiPaolo said "he doesn't make me laugh, but that doesn't mean he's not funny."[19] On Boston radio station WBCN, Dane Cook was named by radio show Toucher and Rich to a tournament of the top 16 "Worst Comedians" and, based on listener voting, was voted the "Worst Comedian" of all.[20] In the Michigan Daily, Elie Zwiebel wrote that "he's managed to become one of the most overrated comics ever" and that his act is "boringly stagnant".[21]

Comedian Joe Rogan has claimed that Cook performed a bit on an episode of Premium Blend that Rogan had developed on I'm Gonna Be Dead Someday (sketch titled "Tigers Fucking"), and claimed to have performed the routine earlier in clubs with Cook present.[22] Other comedians have also accused Cook of stealing their material. A 2007 article in Radar magazine about joke theft included not only Rogan's allegations, but also those of a different anonymous "veteran comic" who accused Cook of appropriating one of that comic's "very physical routines", despite a direct request by the comedian that Cook stop using the routine in question.[23] The same piece also noted widespread internet discussion of the similarity between the bits "Struck by a Vehicle," "Itchy Asshole," and "My Son Optimus Prime" from Cook's 2005 album Retaliation and the bits "Guy on a Bike," "Itchy Asshole," and "Kid's Names" from comic Louis C.K.'s 2003 album Live in Houston.[23]

Jim Breuer talked about Cook's reputation within the comedy industry, saying: "Everyone kills this guy ... Not one comedian comes on [my Sirius radio show] and says 'I'm so happy for him', which is weird. ... They can't stand this poor guy." Breuer went on to say that he personally thinks Cook is a "tremendous performer".[24]

Film

Cook has had small movie roles but his two most noticeable ones are Mystery Men as "The Waffler", and opposite Dennis Rodman in 1999's Simon Sez.[25] Also In 2005 he appeared in the film Waiting... as the assistant chef, Floyd.

In 2006 Cook starred in his first leading role as the slacker box boy Zack Bradley in Employee of the Month, which co-starred Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. The movie debuted at #4 just behind Open Season. The movie was made on a $12 million budget, and has earned a little over $28 million in the United States.

In June 2007 Cook co-starred in his first dramatic role as the devious photographer "Mr. Smith" in Mr. Brooks, which starred Kevin Costner. The film debuted at #4 at the box office, just behind Shrek The Third. The movie grossed $10,017,067 in the opening weekend.[26]

In September 2007 Cook starred as Dentist Charlie Logan in Good Luck Chuck, which co-starred Jessica Alba and Dan Fogler. The film was the second-highest grossing film (#1 Comedy) at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, grossing $13.6 million in 2,612 theaters. The film went on to have a total box office tally of approximately $35 million U.S. and $24 million foreign.

A month later, Cook co-starred as Mitch Burns in Dan In Real Life, which starred Steve Carell. The film grossed $11.8 million in 1,921 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #2 at the box office. As of July 6, 2008, it has grossed $62,745,217.

In 2008 Cook starred as air purifier call-center supervisor Tank Turner in My Best Friend's Girl with Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, and Alec Baldwin. The film grossed $8.2 million and debuted at #3 at the box office, just behind Burn After Reading, and got a 50-50 rating on fandango.com.[27]

Cook confirmed that he auditioned for the role of Captain America for First Avenger: Captain America, although the director, Joe Johnston, did not have him on the short list for the part.[28]

Tours

  • Tourgasm 2006 (w/ Robert Kelly, Gary Gulman, Jay Davis)
  • Rough Around The Edges Tour 2007
  • Globo Thermo Tour 2009 (w/ Robert Kelly and Al Del Bene) - In a Shave Magazine review of the Globo Thermo tour, Jake Tomlinson expressed that "his live performance quite enjoyable", and gave the concert 4 out of 5 stars.[29]

Discography

Albums

Year Album Peak chart positions Sales
US US
Heat 		US
Indie 		US
Comedy 		CA
2003 Harmful If Swallowed
  • Released: July 22, 2003
 67 19 25 2 -
  • US Sales: 1,215,409
2005 Retaliation
  • Released: July 26, 2005
 4 - 1 1 -
  • US Sales: 1,264,748
2007 Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden
  • Released: November 13, 2007
 11 - 3 1 20
  • US Sales: 92,000
2009 Isolated Incident
  • Released: May 19, 2009
 4 - 22 2 -
  • US Sales: TBA
"—" denotes the album didn't chart.

Other releases

Singles

  • (2006) I'll Never Be You - #100 (U.S. Pop), #4 (Germany)
  • (2007) Forward
  • (2010) Drunk Girl/Red Car[30]

Cook co-wrote and performed the song "Ruthie Pigface Draper" for the Dan In Real Life movie with Norbert Leo Butz.[31]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1997 Flypaper Tim
Buddy Fair Cop
1999 Spiral David
Simon Sez Nick Miranda
Mystery Men The Waffler
2000 Comedy Central Presents Himself Stand-up comedy series
Episode: June 28, 2000
1999–2001 The Late Show Himself Episode: April 12, 1999
Episode: March 14, 2001
2002 L.A.X. Terrell Chasman
The Touch Bob
2003 Stuck on You Officer Fraioli
8 Guys Dane
Windy City Heat Roman Polanski TV Movie
2004 Mr. 3000 Sausage Mascot Voice
Torque Neal Luff
2005 Waiting... Floyd
London George
2006 Employee of the Month Zack Bradley
2007 Farce of the Penguins Online Penguin Voice
Mr. Brooks Mr. Smith
Good Luck Chuck Chuck/Charlie
Dan in Real Life Mitch Burns
2008 My Best Friend's Girl Tank Turner
2010 Answers to Nothing Ryan Post-Production
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dane Cook.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Dane Cook.

References

  1. ^ Time's 100 Most Influential People
  2. ^ "Dane Cook - Not Funny?"
  3. ^ "Overcooked", Salon.com
  4. ^ "Biography for Dane Cook". biography. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  5. ^ Punchline Magazine interview
  6. ^ a b c Comedy Central.com biodata on Cook
  7. ^ TF.org
  8. ^ Dane Cook breaks comedy endurance record
  9. ^ Dave Chappelle's standup marathon: 6 hours, 12 minutes
  10. ^ Dane Cook breaks Dave Chappelle's endurance record
  11. ^ Dane Cook refines comedy act Jam.canoe.ca
  12. ^ Dane Cook finds humor in darkest times on latest tour, coming to Van Andel Arena on Friday Grand Rapids Press
  13. ^ "Overcooked", Salon.com
  14. ^ Dane Cook: All Aboard the Dane Train, Punchline magazine
  15. ^ "Dane Cook - Not Funny?"
  16. ^ "Overcooked", Salon.com
  17. ^ "Pop Life: The Joke's on Us: How can any comedian get as famous as Dane Cook has with no jokes?" by Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, October 19, 2006.
  18. ^ "Ron White Interview" by David Medsker.
  19. ^ Scott the emotional engineer - The Howard Stern Show
  20. ^ http://www.nypost.com/seven/04012008/gossip/pagesix/pagesix_u.htm
  21. ^ "The Michigan Daily, "Dane Cook? Not so much."".
  22. ^ "Joe Rogan Exposes Dane Cook"
  23. ^ a b Getlen, Larry. "Take the Funny and Run", Radar magazine, February 14, 2007.Archived 2007-02-17 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ "Comics Question the Rise of Dane Cook", Free Press Release, November 9, 2006.
  25. ^ IMDb
  26. ^ Mr. Brooks gross earnings
  27. ^ My Best Friend's Girl Fandango rating
  28. ^ "Dane Cook and the Jonas Brothers Auditioned for Captain America Roles?
  29. ^ "Review: Dane Cook Global Thermo Tour". ShaveMagazine.com. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ http://www.twitvid.com/P7GY7
  31. ^ Dan in Real Life (2007) - Soundtracks


News articles and interviews


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