I think Dane Cook is a good comedian.
But there seems to be negative comments on every youtube clip of him, and anti Dane COok sites.
I dont get it, what inspires such loathing? What’s the big deal?
Part of it is that he’s been accused of stealing material from other comedians. From his wiki:
“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.[25] 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.[26] 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.[26]”
Other than that, Girl Wonder likes him. I just find him unfunny and tiresome.
Basically, he uses lots of silly words and has this manic, child-like stage presence and few people find overgrown man-children funny. Some of his jokes are really, really similar to the (increasingly popular, but much less known) Louis CK - stealing jokes is the biggest crime that there is in standup.
As always, the Onion says it betterthan any real publication ever could.
Basically, that his general demeanor makes him come off like a dickhead with a high opinion of himself.
Actually, I used to like Cook when I found about him a few years ago. So much that I watched some episodes of an HBO documentary TV show about one of his tours, and he really came of as a very unlikable tit. For instance, he and his buddies kept doing some sort of random small competitions, like riding karts, and he would have a childish tantrum if he lost.
And then there’s his film career. Oh, lord. Up to this day, Employee of the Month is still the only movie I can remember in which I’ve rooted honestly for the antagonist to win.
A friend bought me the “Harmful if Swallowed” CD and I enjoyed it well enough, it’s funny a couple of times through. DC gets really old though, like the class cut-up, you might chuckle a bit but it would be really nice if he’d just shut the fuck up already.
Combine that feeling with a period of over-exposure in film and the fact that he’s stolen the best bits of his act and it’s hard not to hate DC. He’s a ginormous douche who needs to go away.
The impression I always got was that he’s not respected in comedy circles because he didn’t properly “pay his dues” before becoming successful. He shamelessly promoted himself on the internet (when it was still a novel idea to do so) and became something of an online phenomenon, which helped jump-start his career. Meanwhile, right or wrong, he earned the resentment of comics who’d been grinding away at the club circuit for years trying to hit it big.
I don’t get the rabid hatred for him either. I’ll agree that he’s gotten less funny as his career has progressed, but I’ll give him a free pass for his debut half-hour special on Comedy Central Presents however many years ago. I still think that’s one of the funniest short stand-up specials I’ve ever seen (have to give the edge to Mitch Hedberg of the same era however). I know it’s not breaking new ground making fun of religion but his take on Catholic Mass from that special gets me rolling every time.
He was great in Waiting.
I think it’s a combination of him stealing bits, and not paying his dues. Pimping yourself to college chicks on Myspace <> years of grueling tours playing in the armpits of America just to get a spot on Comedy Central (an increasingly slim chance now that CC has scaled back the amount of standup they show).
As for your average Youtuber, they may just be parroting their favorite comic, or they may feel that Cook has passed his “Cool new thing” sell-by date and thus deserving of aimless criticism.
ETA: I should add that he was pretty good in Mr. Brooks - I like him as an actor much better than as a comic.
But what about the other comedians that match that description, like Adam Sandler? Why dont people hate his ‘waterboy’ and guitar-accompanying song spiel? Why no Adam Sandler hate?
Well, FTR, I hate Adam Sandler and Dane Cook.
I saw a bit of whatever that series he was running, with him and two other comics travelling around the country doing shows, and all the side-goofy shit they were doing.
Having watched that, and seen Cook do his big comedy shows, my opinion is this: he seems like a pretty good guy who has decent comedy timing. But his act is moronic. He’s Brian Regan with F-bombs. Just not that thought provoking, if you ask me.
Oh, they do, believe me. Or did, anyway. But Sandler doesn’t really do those sorts of movies any more, and hasn’t for the last ten years or so. If you went back to 2000 or 2001, you could find the same criticisms (minus the joke-stealing) you hear about Dane Cook applied to Sandler almost word-for-word.
Because Adam Sandler isn’t mean.
I have one album of Cook’s. I enjoyed it for a while, but then I started to think about the act. One CD has the following:
- A story about Cook cutting in line and then laughing at the person behind him;
- A story about Cook getting in a polite-insult match with a fast food cashier because the guy wouldn’t let him cut in line for ketchup;
- An exceptionally humorless segment where several guys in the back start getting rowdy and Cook yells at them to shut up or he’ll call security.
The first two stories are more than likely fictional, but that’s what Cook finds funny. The third segment, well…certainly the hecklers were assholes, but IMO a good comedian doesn’t lose his cool in the middle of an act. Better to make the hecklers look foolish instead.
And that’s on top of the allegations of joke theft, which I think have some weight. Cook has great timing and is one of those guys who makes me laugh by his behavior and mannerisms regardless of what he’s saying, but he’s kind of a douche.
I don’t hate him: I just don’t think his schtick is funny. It’s like the Dave Matthews thing: I don’t hate his music, but the dude can’t sing for shit.
Sandler can actually act, if he puts his mind to it. “Click” was a fantastic movie.
Cook was very good in “Dan in Real Life.”
In both cases, both men dialed back the childish quite a bit for the roles, played the adults as adults, and came off as very believeable.
I don’t personally care for him because, in my opinion, he substitutes originality for energy. I think he stands out in the comic world a bit because the world of stand-up comedians is so predominantly populated by the bookish, the nerds and the outcasts; whereas Cook comes across like a fratboy.
Going to listen to an old WTF interview of him now. Further insights may follow.
I am firmly in the camp that says there’s no shame in liking bad movies regarless of how bad they are. But that’s different than saying that bad movies are good.
A lot of his jokes can actually be funny…if he would just tell them and then move on to the next one. But he has this awful habit of telling a joke and then explaining it in this really douchey way.
Here you go, I went to youtube, searched for Dane Cook Joke and clicked on the first short clip that came up.
The joke is basically over at 1:10 (ignore the strange animations). It’s the next 30 seconds that make me change the channel…and a little bit at the beginning when he was talking about eardrums, but I’ll let that go.
The problem is, he does it for every.single.joke. We don’t need every.single.joke explained to us, but that’s his shtick, that’s what some people love, and that’s why a lot of people hate him. He also, as I mentioned above, comes off as very douchey.
Douche. Bag.
Nostalgic man-boy hyperactive bore. That’s just how he comes across to me. I watched one of his specials and hardly cracked a smile the whole time.