Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972 in Cambridge, Massachusetts), is an American stand-up comedian and screen actor. Cook grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts and attended Arlington High School.
Cook's stand-up comedy material is mostly observational humor. His recent routines include such diverse topics as car accident mayhem, Cook's time spent working at Burger King and assorted geek humor. Cook often refers to specific places or things using his own slang terms. For Instance: Burger King is the "BK Lounge", Walgreens is "The Wall", and a sandwich is a "sangwich". He also coined the word bamf, short for Bad Ass Mother Fucker. Among Cook's numerous television credits are performances on Comedy Central Presents and Comedy Central Bar Mitzvah Bash.
Career
When he was a teenager, Cook discovered his comedic talent when his father, former radio personality George Cook, gave him a tape recorder and microphone. He was inspired by watching and listening to a variety of comedians, including Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson, George Carlin and even Red Skelton.
In seventh grade, he watched Saturday Night Live one night and saw Martin Short performing his character Ed Grimley. He suddenly realized a goal in life: To be on the show.
He started performing stand-up comedy in 1990. By 1995, Cook was performing stand-up comedy every night, usually in Boston and, when he made it to Los Angeles, at The Laugh Factory. He stated in a 2005 interview with Entertainment Weekly that he "never walked toward a stage and felt heavy. Ever. Even in bad places, I always learned something." Also in 1995, Cook made his television debut as Kyle in five episodes of the short-lived ABC series Maybe This Time, starring Marie Osmond and Betty White.
In 1999, he made his first (albeit brief) appearance in a major motion picture as "The Waffler" (a superhero who uses waffles to fight crime) in Mystery Men. A year earlier, he was featured on Comedy Central's stand-up comedy showcase Premium Blend and, the following year, Comics Come Home. It would begin a partnership with the basic cable channel that would help launch Cook's career to new heights. He made his own half-hour feature segment on Comedy Central Presents in 2000.
Two years later, Cook pooled $25,000 of his own money from savings and retirement accounts and launched DaneCook.com, his own interactive website to help further his career and help stay personally connected to his fans. Although other comics mocked him, his website, along with his MySpace account, turned out to be a success. He is often referred to as 'the most popular guy on MySpace' (next to Tom Anderson, the creator of the service.)
In 2003, Cook released his first comedy album, Harmful If Swallowed, which also included a DVD of his appearances on Comedy Central.
2005 to present
In 2005, Cook launched a nationwide tour dubbed "Tourgasm" and followed it up with his second album Retaliation, which debuted at #4 on Billboard magazine's Top Albums chart, the most successful comedy album debut since Steve Martin's A Wild and Crazy Guy in 1979.
The album's success launched a slew of public appearances and magazine articles that fall, including a three-minute routine on the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28. He also performed three sold-out shows in two nights at Madison Square Garden in mid-September without any press but his own website.
He also appeared on Dave Attell's Insomniac Tour.
Cook starred as Floyd in Waiting..., and he finished his own television pilot called Cooked, which he is writing and starring in, soon afterwards.
On December 3, Cook finally realized his dream of hosting Saturday Night Live. His appearance was unique because he was one of the few stand-up comedians (as opposed to actors) to appear as guest host for the show. He performed the longest monologue in the show's history and it was the highest-rated SNL of the season. He portrayed fictional versions of himself in some sketches.
On January 13, 2006, after months of keeping a "BIG secret" to his fans, he announced via his website an April 15 gig at Boston's TD Banknorth Garden where his first HBO special is to be filmed. A documentary series and a scripted program are also in the works for HBO. [1]
Cook is currently in Santa Fe, New Mexico filming Employee of the Month a comedy co-starring Jessica Simpson, Dax Shepard, Efren Ramirez and Harland Williams.
The Super Finger
The Super Finger or Su-Fi (pronounced Soo-Fie) is a hand gesture created by Cook. It consists of raising the middle finger, ring finger, and thumb on the same hand while lowering (or curling) the index and pinky fingers. Cook's website explains his idea behind the Su-Fi:
- One night I did a bit on stage about 5 years ago at the Laugh Factory. I was talking about how the finger is lame now and it's lost its pizzazz. I said I wanted to upgrade the finger and so from now on people should use both the ring finger coupled with the middle finger. I called it the SUPERFINGER (or SU-FI).[2]
Cook is considered to be "double-jointed."
Talk Show Appearances
He made his stand-up television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman on August 28, 1997. It would be the first of many notable appearances on late-night talk shows.
He co-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live for a week in January 2004.
At one point on an appearance on May 27, 2005, he parodied Tom Cruise jumping the couch on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show, showing off his "tattoo" of Katie Holmes (actually a picture taped to his back) and barging into the women's restroom to get her.
On October 4, 2005, he literally kissed Charlize Theron's butt after she allowed him to do so on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Dane was re-enacting a previous act in wich Charlize kissed Shirley MacLaine's butt at a Premiere magazine tribute to women in Hollywood.
On November 24 2005, Dane made a second appearance on a special Tonight Show with members of all branches of the Military in attendance. Dane sported a custom uniform, which was a motley assortment of elements of the different branches of military uniform put together.
Discography/Videography
- Harmful If Swallowed. DVD and CD. Comedy Central, 2003.
- Retaliation. DVD and two CDs. Comedy Central, 2005.
Filmography
- Flypaper (1997)
- Buddy (1997)
- Spiral (1999)
- Simon Sez (1999)
- Mystery Men (1999)
- LAX (2002)
- The Touch (2002)
- Stuck on You (2003)
- Mr. 3000 (2004)
- Torque (2004)
- Waiting... (2005)
- London (2006)
- Employee of the Month (2006)
- Dan in Real Life (2007)
References
- "Everybody Likes Dane" Entertainment Weekly article; Sept. 30, 2005
- DANECOOK.com Official Site
External links
