Why hello there and no, I’m not using the picture to blatantly tell you all to fuck off… no, no I don’t roll that way. That my dear friends is a picture of my latest hero, a person who through the worst moments in his life has come through it with not only a smile on his face, but also willing and able to bring some humor and happiness to others in this world. His name is Dane Cook… “Welcome to Thunderdome Bitch.”

I have to admit that I didn’t follow him through his career climb, through his movie career and to the high point of his career thus far, no I was fortunate to accidently happen upon his comedy when one of his HBO Specials came on and to say that I was instantly a fan, would be the understatement of this year for me. It was and is my current favorite set by him: Vicious Circle.

Vicious Circle

What I love the most about Dane Cook is his pure ability to simply turn a story or a small fragment of his life into a hilarious ride of clever word play, pure energy and raw honesty that is complemented by his totally out there sense of humor. He just seems to realize that people like the everyday sense of humor, like having a bad day at work or for some reason you just have to cry and not just cry but like fucking cry hard Even small yet odd tales from your childhood are transformed into hilarious bits that you cannot help relate too. He covers it all. My favorite bits from Vicious Circle are the ones dealing with relationships, because we all have those times when a relationship is just heading down the drain. Side note: He likes to refer to a bad relationship as an “relationshit” classic and yet oddly fitting. Everything from his vulgar, raunchy sense of humor to his “yeah that makes perfect sense” view on the everyday makes him seem so likable, so relatable just so entertaining that I am making it my personal quest to share him with all my friends and acquaintances. Yeah even people I don’t know, I want them to at least experience Dane Cook’s patented comedic style.

Rough Around The Edges

If Vicious Circle was what Dane Cook’s lifetime goal was in life the Rough Around The Edges is proof that not only can he still pack in the house, that he can do it with new material and bring the laughter once again. Madison Square Garden…New York City and he packed the place, sold out the place, twice in a row. If Vicious Circle was dedicated to his late Mother; Donna Cook, its unfortunate that RATE was dedicated to his late Father; George Cook, who passed away a few months after seeing his son play a sold out show in Madison Square Garden. The best part about this show was how much more Dane delves into his past and present to come up with new material. Things such as a parent saying “It’s not going anywhere” when you aren’t going to something that was promised to you. Or how whenever we see those poor kids on the TV, no matter how low it would cost us to send any money, we don’t, we just don’t. The best part of this bit is how he makes you imagine how different it would be if an angry tough dude who apparently swears profusely was there trying to get you to spend your money instead of the old nice fellow who just seems too perfect. Add in the usual array of high energy, physical comedy, wandering around instead of staying stationary, vulgar and NSFW language and material and you have a typical Dane Cook show and that’s never a bad thing…unless you hate him, which leads me to my next part.

Isolated Incident

Now I’m not saying that the overall feeling of his latest work is completely caused by the haters, but it is clear that it has taken it’s toll on him. Taking a bit from RATE, “there are two kinds of Dane Cook shows, one is where he is over the top, high energy, mobile, vulgar and just on and it’s entertaining as hell. Oh, but then there is this other Dane Cook show, not so fun, Dane Cook doesn’t come in all silly.” I mean to say that yes, Dane Cook is still funny [ I’m on my 5th time through listening to it by the way…] but he is not nearly as over the top and full of energy as before and there is an overall feeling of “darker” more personal material that seems peppered throughout the set. Sure he is as graphic as ever and that vulgarity is still there, but it’s much more refined and a more personal level of Dane that we just haven’t quite seen before. He talks about his parents a lot, one bit features him contemplating deleting his mom from his cell phone, which of course turns into a joke, but still it’s heavy stuff. The other notable thing from this set is the Hater email that he got from some anonymous and how this guy told him that his parents got cancer and died to get away from his shitty comedy. Ouch, but of course DC uses comedy to help get over it. Not quite as upbeat, but still funny as ever and it’s proof to me that Dane Cook is way more talented than most people give him credit for.

Conclusion

He’s been accused of stealing. He’s been called unfunny and the worst comedian in the world. He’s been mocked for giggling at his own jokes while telling them [ I find this aspect actually kind of endearing, I like that he laughs at his own jokes, it just means he’s having fun while trying to provide entertainment for others ] That he sucks as an actor and that he uses the stadium to hide the fact that he couldn’t tell a joke to save his life. All terrible, terrible things that I hate typing, but he’s had it as rough as much as he has had it good. Which of course reminds me of this bit off of Vicious Circle “They’re just jealous of you Dane, they are lost souls.” I kind of botched it, but you get the point. Keep you head high Dane, you have brought humor back into my life and I am eternally grateful for that, SU-FI!