Dane Cook can no longer be considered a stand up comedian. He has shed that label over the last few years and no it isn't because he is an actor because 1 good movie in 3 does not an actor make, but, Dane Cook has become a Rock Star. He is worshipped by millions and hated by millions. He seems oblivious to the charges that he is only out for himself and that people think he has disrespected the profession of stand up comedy. People think he used his looks and charm to make people forget he has no talent. Before I go any further I do not believe he is talentless. But that is something his critics hit him with. True, he is not social commentator and a good portion of jokes lack the traditional punchline, but what he has been is the funniest guy at the party. He weaves interesting stories replacing punchlines with catchphrases and when they end you feel like he was sitting on your couch in front of a few friends telling stories. That is his true appeal.
Yesterday brought the release of his new album/DVD, Rough around the edges and while it is a comedy concert it plays very much like a rock show, in my opinion. Hence, Dane Cook the Rock Star. Right off the bat, as soon as his name is mentioned the crowd erupts in a chorus of screams from people who seemed to have been waiting for years to see this man live. Madison Square Garden hasn't probably been that loud for quite some time. To lead off Dane says that this night feels like a party and that he came from the back and someone "has shit on all the coats." Just like a rock star, you want to start with something people know. This joke comes from his most popular album and he doesn't do the whole joke, but it sends the audience into fits of screams like they are all experiencing orgasms at the same time. The rest of the album plays very much this way. With the new jokes we get a lot of what we already know, some familiar themed jokes that let his fans know celebrity hasn't changed him.
His energy is still high like a rock band who is playing their first stadium tour, but he also tries his hand at some one-liners and different joke telling tactics. Like a rock star tired of being typecast with his music, Cook wants to be something more than the funniest guy at the party. The results are mixed as his "civil war" joke starts as a total tank but then half way through he finds his rhythm and ends it on a high point, but the high point is apparently what you see not what you hear, so like any live album, we miss something just hearing it. This is often times not a common thing in a comedy album. If you were to listen to Mitch Hedberg, you can laugh at every joke fully just listening to it because we all know he just stood there and dead panned his genius one-liners. Cook is not that cerebral, but his physical presence on stage is part of his joke telling. Much like Tom Morello is a good guitarist but is loved for the tricks he can do with a guitar (better when seen live, Trust me!) Cook is best served with a helping of DVD, or in person, I imagine. The CD is also ripe with references to his old jokes. He isn't relying on things like "banana sandwich" to get cheers but he knows they will get a reaction, much like at a rock concert when the artist puts the name of the current city to get that eruption of cheers.
Also, Dane Cook understands his 15 minutes didn't start at the same time his career started and he was not content to let some of his older jokes go by the wayside just because he told them before. See, not all of his fans went back and watched everything he had done. So he throws in some stuff for those of us who have been behind him for quite some time. We get "You know you are drunk when you think the cab fare is the time" much like a musician might hit you off with a song from their album that was released before their major deal. Consider these "B-side" jokes. Also, about a year ago he performed a few jokes at some special and it was obvious these were feeler jokes, new jokes that hadn't matured fully. Well they show up on the CD as more fully realized jokes. The "Oprah" bit added a whole new dimension to it. To me these jokes are Dane's version of the first single. Often times when we hear this lead single on the radio we think it sounds rushed but when you hear it live, they have more fully figured out where they want the track to go.
Dane is not oblivious to his biggest fan base though- screaming girls. Like Usher removing his clothes, Dane understands there are things his audience demands. They demand jokes about sex, but not sly or slick commentary about sex, but jokes that require him to mimic sex. Like a rock show he is not afraid of the pelvic thrusts and like a rock show he is not afraid to throw them all over the place (this is just a guess by the outbreak of female screams at random moments). He does however fight back when he calls all the screaming girls sluts, in what might be one of the few moments that truly are "Rough around the edges." He seems to have sex on the brain as a good portion of the jokes have a focus on sex. This is not a bad thing as his sex jokes have brought lines like "Smell my eye" and a nice joke about singing the super mario brothers theme during certain alone time. Now we get "the condom fairy" and in describing a broken condom "you look down and it is just a ring and one bit of the condom waving around like a flag from Pirates of Penzance."
This may not be his best material but everyone goes through down spots. There are still flashes of the comic hilarity Cook has provided his legions of fans especially during his bit about needy children, but there are also some moments that sound like they need some fine tuning, like perhaps he should not have rushed to capitalized on the wave of success he is having. Comedy Cds are unique in that they are best when listened to without skipping around, but this one might require some skipping for people. Also, Cook has a unique circumstance even within his profession of stand up comic and that is he is probably the most famous stand up comic ever, in the realm of stand up comedy. People like Dave Chappelle or Jerry Seinfeld are surely more famous than Dane Cook but their fame came from T.V shows, but Cook got famous based on stand up comedy. That presents a problem when touring because everyone has heard everything already and like writing a new song, writing a new joke takes time, so sometimes you have to just understand that you will have heard all of his jokes when you see him. Of course, he is such a Rock Star he could do the exact same set he did two years ago and his fans won't care. When I see him in December I might actually feel a little cheated if he doesn't do "I Want that!"
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