He was the second comedian[3] (after Andrew Dice Clay) to sell out Madison Square Garden's large arena space.[4] In 2006, Retaliation became the highest-charting comedy album in 28 years and went platinum.[5] He performed an HBO special in late 2006, Vicious Circle, a straight-to-DVD special titled Rough Around The Edges (which is included in the album of the same name), and a Comedy Central special in 2009 titled Isolated Incident.
Early life and education
Cook was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts,[6] the second son of Donna Jean (née Ford; died 2006) and George F. Cook (died 2007).[7] He has an older half-brother, Darryl, and five sisters. He grew up in a Catholic family[8] of Irish descent.[9]
Cook has described himself as having been "pretty quiet, pretty introverted, shy" as a child, although he was a "wild child" at home.[10] He overcame his shyness in his junior year of high school, when he began acting and doing stand-up comedy.[11] After graduating from high school, he studied graphic design in college as a back-up plan, in case he did not achieve success in comedy.[12] He now designs all of his merchandise, including the cover of his album, Harmful If Swallowed.[11]
Career
Early work
In 1990, Cook began performing stand-up in comedy clubs.[13]
On October 30, 1992, Cook and a group of local emerging improv/sketch comedians were scheduled to appear at the Boston Garden as part of local radio station WBCN's "Rock of Boston" music concert. Although they anticipated appearing earlier in the lineup, they were scheduled to perform between popular band Spin Doctors and the final headline act Phish, making them somewhat nervous but determined to do well. Moments after they took the stage however, the crowd, neither expecting nor appreciating a comedy act at this late stage in the evening's program and impatient for Phish to go on, expressed their displeasure by throwing their shoes at the stage. Robert Kelly, also on stage as a member of the comedy group, pleaded with the audience to settle down and let them perform their act; the crowd instead escalated to throwing lighters. Sustaining minor injuries, Cook and the comedy group left the stage. Cook described the incident – as well as how dejected he felt and his resulting determination to someday return to the Boston Garden and perform successfully someday – as part of a web series for The Tonight Show entitled "Worst I Ever Bombed".[14][15]
On April 15, 2005, Cook performed his first HBO Special entitled Vicious Circle. Vicious Circle was filmed "in the round" at the TD Garden. The same year, Cook shot two pilot episodes for his own sitcom, Cooked. The sitcom was not picked up and the two pilot episodes were later released on DVD as the Lost Pilot.[19] That same year, he embarked on a 30-day, 20-show college tour called Tourgasm with his longtime friends Robert Kelly, Gary Gulman, and Jay Davis. The tour was filmed and was later made into a 9-episode documentary on HBO.[20]
On December 3, 2005, Cook hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL).[21] He would then go on to host the premiere of season 32 of SNL a year later.[22] The same year Cook launched his own company, Superfinger Entertainment, in order to produce his own albums and videos.[13]
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.[citation needed] On November 12, 2007, Cook became the second comic to sell out Madison Square Garden's large arena space after Andrew Dice Clay accomplished this feat in 1990. 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,[23] and Rolling Stone magazine's Hot Comic of the Year.[24] The following day, November 13, 2007, he released his third CD/DVD entitled Rough Around The Edges, which was filmed live at Madison Square Garden in New York City. During that time, he embarked on his first arena tour.[citation needed]
On April 10, 2007, Cook broke the Laugh Factory's endurance record (previously held by Richard Pryor)[25] by performing on stage for three hours and 50 minutes. Dave Chappelle would break the record five days later by performing for six hours and seven minutes. Chappelle beat that record on December 3, 2007, by performing for six hours and twelve minutes.[26] On January 1, 2008, Cook broke Chappelle's record, by performing on stage for seven hours.[27]
From May 23, 2008, to May 25, 2008, Cook reunited with Robert Kelly and Al Del Bene for three shows at The Coliseum in Caesars Palace. From May 29-June 4, 2008, the trio went to Iraq to perform for the troops.[28] Del Bene was the Emcee, Kelly was the feature, and Cook was the headliner.
He finished his fourth album, Isolated Incident; a performance 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 the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, on April 25, 2009. This album was the last as part of Cook's four-record deal with Comedy Central Records. The new album was performed at Laugh Factory in Hollywood, which is considered to be Cook's home base, where he goes to work on new material. He released the DVD version of Isolated Incident in November 2009.[29]
2010s
In 2012, Cook caused a minor controversy when a joke he made in a comedy club about the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting was recorded and made the headlines.
So I heard that the guy came into the theater about 25 minutes into the movie. And I don't know if you've seen the movie, but the movie is pretty much a piece of crap… Yeah, spoiler alert. And I know that if none of that would have happened, I'm pretty sure that somebody in that theater, about 25 minutes in, realizing it was a piece of crap, probably was like, 'Ugh fucking shoot me.'
— Dane Cook
He later apologized on Twitter: "I am devastated by the recent tragedy in Colorado & did not mean to make light of what happened. I made a bad judgment call with my material last night & regret making a joke at such a sensitive time. My heart goes out to all of the families & friends of the victims."[30][31][32][33]
In 2014, Showtime aired Cook's Troublemaker special.[34]
At the end of 2018 Cook announced the "Tell It Like It is" Tour, his first full-scale stand-up tour since "Under Oath" in 2013. The tour began in February 2019 in Huntington, New York and concluded in November in Los Angeles, California.[39][40]
Film
Cook began his film career with small roles in the late 1990s, including Mystery Men as "The Waffler", and opposite Dennis Rodman in 1999's Simon Sez.[41]
In 2006, Cook starred in his first leading role as Zack Bradley in Employee of the Month, which co-starred Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. The film made a modest $30 million against a $12 million budget.[42]
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 number 4 at the box office, grossing $10,017,067 in its opening weekend and $48 million in total.[43]
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.[44] 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 number 2 at the box office. As of July 6, 2008, it has grossed $62,745,217.[45]
On November 18, 2010, it was announced that both Cook and Josh Hamilton would be starring in Neil LaBute's 2011 Broadway production of Fat Pig; however, before the show began it was postponed for financial reasons.[53][54]
In May 2012, it was announced that Cook would be starring in the new NBC comedy Next Caller.[58][59] On October 12, 2012, the show was canceled prior to its airing after filming four out of six episodes.[60]
Comedic style
Cook's style is principally "long-form storytelling"[61] and "multipurpose phrases".[2] 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."[62]
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.
Reception
One reviewer noted that Cook attracted a young, growing audience through colorful observations and high-energy performances.[63]
Commentators in a variety of media sources have characterized Dane Cook's humor as unfunny.[1][2][64] 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."[65] 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."[66] 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. In the Michigan Daily, Elie Zwiebel and co-author Jesse Bean wrote that "he's managed to become one of the most overrated comics ever" and that his act is "boringly stagnant".[67] In an interview with Jason Tanamor of Zoiks! Online, Tanamor asked Cook why he was so despised. Cook stated that he'd had conversations with his therapist, attributing some of the negativity to his alpha demeanor. Add to that, Cook's highly successful career. "Unfortunately, what you find is, you know in your graduating class with the guys you came up with, there's going to be some dudes in front of you that don't want you catching up, and there's going to be some guys behind you that maybe they've never had an opportunity. That, coupled with, like you said, reaching the Billboard charts with 'Retaliation' and a lot of people going, 'Who the fuck does he think he is?'[68]
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".[69]
Paul Provenza said that he was not a fan of his earlier work, but "...caught a couple of Dane Cook shows at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, and he was fantastic", and became a fan because he felt he had "matured".[70]
Accusations of plagiarism
Comedian Joe Rogan claimed that Cook performed a bit on an episode of Premium Blend that Rogan had developed on I'm Gonna Be Dead Someday, and claimed to have performed the routine earlier in clubs with Cook present. In 2010, Rogan had Cook as a guest on his podcast, telling him that he was a "good dude" and that he was "...glad we put all that shit past and hung out...I think you are doing some awesome shit." Cook replied: "That means the world hearing that from you, Joe ... You've got a lot of integrity and I've always had a lot of respect for you."[71]
There was also widespread Internet discussion regarding three bits from Cook's 2005 album Retaliation, and similar bits from comic Louis C.K.'s 2001 album Live in Houston.[72] In 2011, Cook played himself in an episode of Louie, scripted by C.K., centering on a fictional encounter between the two comics during which they discuss the controversy.[73] In an interview in 2012, Louis C.K. defended Cook, saying: "I don't think he stole from me knowingly... I think he sort of got some of my jokes in his head and got sloppy. He's a good guy and not capable of maleficence."[74]
Cook's half-brother, Darryl McCauley, served as his business manager until 2008, when Cook discovered that McCauley and his wife Erika had embezzled at least $12 million from him.[82] They were charged with embezzlement and larceny in 2010, and pleaded guilty. Darryl was sentenced to six years in prison and 16 years of probation, and Erika was sentenced to three years in prison and 13 years of probation. Both were ordered to pay restitution to Cook.[83][84]
Cook says he has never had a drink of alcohol or done drugs.[85]
In 2017, Cook began dating fitness instructor Kelsi Taylor, who is 26 years his junior.[86] They became engaged on July 13, 2022.[87] The couple married on September 23, 2023, in an intimate ceremony at a private estate in O'ahu, Hawaii.[88][89]
^Worst I Ever Bombed: Dane Cook. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. October 3, 2014. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2015 – via YouTube.
^"Louis C.K. on Dane Cook: 'I don't think he stole from me knowingly'[usurped]". Laughspin. June 18, 2012. "What I wrote for Dane and me on camera represents what each other feels about the situation. The only difference is that he's not angry about it. Neither of us really care. Dane was generous in allowing me to take him to a place of anger and it was funny the way he did it. I don't think he stole from me knowingly, which is what I said in the episode. I think he sort of got some of my jokes in his head and got sloppy. He's a good guy and not capable of maleficence."
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