Dane Cook’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Personal life

Cook was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second son of Donna Jean (née Ford; died 2006) and George F. Cook (died 2007). He has an older half-brother, Darryl, and five sisters. He grew up in a Catholic family of Irish descent. Cook was raised in Arlington, Massachusetts, where he attended Arlington High School.

Cook has described himself as being “pretty quiet, pretty introverted, shy” as a child, although he was a “wild child” at home. He overcame his shyness in his junior year of high school when he began acting and doing stand-up comedy. 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. He now designs all of his merchandise, including the cover of his album, Harmful If Swallowed. Cook has stated that he does not drink or take drugs.

Cook’s half-brother Darryl was Cook’s business manager until 2008, when it was discovered that Darryl and his wife had embezzled millions of dollars from him. Both were convicted and sentenced to prison for the embezzlement.

Career

Early work

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”.

Stand-up

In 1994, Cook moved to New York City and began performing. Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he still lives today. His big break came in 1998 when he appeared on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend. In 2000, Cook did a half-hour special on Comedy Central Presents. Since then his special has won the Comedy Central Stand-up showdown twice in a row.

In 2003, Cook released his first CD/DVD, Harmful If Swallowed. He signed a contract with Comedy Central Records. The album is certified platinum. He released his second CD/DVD in 2005, entitled Retaliation. This album went double platinum and made Cook the first comic in 29 years to have an album at #4 on the Billboard charts. He performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, and then afterwards he joined Snoop Dogg in presenting the award for Best New Artist.

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 never got picked up and the two pilot episodes were later released on DVD as the Lost Pilot Episodes. 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.

On December 3, 2005, Cook hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL). He would then go on to host the premiere of season 32 of SNL a year later.

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. On November 12, 2007, Cook became the second comic to sell out Madison Square Garden. 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, and Rolling Stone magazine’s Hot Comic of the Year. 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.

On April 10, 2007, Cook broke The Laugh Factory’s endurance record (previously held by Richard Pryor) by performing on stage for three hours and 50 minutes. Dave Chappelle would break the record five days later. On January 1, 2008, Cook later broke Chappelle’s record, by performing on stage for seven hours.

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. 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 will be the last as part of Cook’s four-record deal with Comedy Central Records. The new album was performed at The Laugh Factory in Hollywood, which is considered to be Cook’s home base, where he goes and works on new material. He released the DVD version of Isolated Incident in November 2009.

In 2012, Cook caused a minor controversy when a joke he made in a comedy club about the 2012 Aurora shooting was recorded and made the news 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 f—king shoot me.’” He later took to Twitter to apologize, “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”

In 2014, Cook had his special Troublemaker air on Showtime.

Style

Cook’s style is principally “long-form storytelling” and “multipurpose phrases”. 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.”

He explains:

Reception

Commentators in a variety of media sources have characterized Dane Cook’s humor as unfunny. 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.” 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.” 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”. 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?’

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”.

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”.

Accusations of plagiarism

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. Other comedians have also accused Cook of stealing their material. A 2007 article in Radar magazine about joke theft included Rogan’s allegations, as well as the allegations of an 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.

The 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 2001 album Live in Houston. 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. 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.”

Film

Cook began with small film roles in the late 1990s, including Mystery Men as “The Waffler,” and opposite Dennis Rodman in 1999’s Simon Sez.

In 2006, Cook starred in his first leading role as the slacker box boy Zack Bradley in Employee of the Month, which co-starred Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. Poorly received by critics, the film made a modest $30 million against a $12 million budget. 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 #4 at the box office. The film grossed $10,017,067 in the opening weekend.

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. It was received very poorly by critics. 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 #2 at the box office. As of July 6, 2008, it has grossed $62,745,217. It received moderate to good reviews from critics.

In 2008, Cook starred as air purifier call-center supervisor Tank Turner in My Best Friend’s Girl with Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, and Alec Baldwin. The film grossed $8.2 million in its opening weekend, debuting at #3 at the box office, but received poor reviews from critics. In 2010, Cook claimed that he had auditioned for the role of Captain America for Captain America: The First Avenger, although the director, Joe Johnston, did not have him on the short list for the part.

In 2013, Cook voiced the character of Dusty Crophopper in the animated film, Planes, a spin-off of Pixar’s Cars franchise. He reprised his role as Dusty in the 2014 sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue.

In 2015, Cook starred in the film 400 Days with Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, and Ben Feldman. The film was directed by Matt Osterman and executive produced by Cook himself.

Stage

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, with intent to reschedule it for the 2011-12 season instead.

Television

In October 2005, during an interview with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, actress Charlize Theron leaned forward and allowed Cook to kiss her backside.

In May 2012, it was announced that Cook would be starring in the new NBC comedy Next Caller. On October 12, 2012 the show was canceled prior to its airing despite having already filmed four out of six episodes.

Tours

• Tourgasm 2006 (w/ Robert Kelly, Gary Gulman, Jay Davis)
• Rough Around The Edges Tour 2007
• Globo Thermo Tour 2009 (w/ Robert Kelly and Al Del Bene) – In a Shave Magazine review of the Globo Thermo tour, Jake Tomlinson expressed that “his live performance quite enjoyable”, and gave the concert 4 out of 5 stars.

Discography

Albums

Other releases

• 2006: Dane Cook’s Tourgasm (3DVD)
• 2007: The Lost Pilots (DVD) Sony Pictures Television.

Singles

• (2006) “I’ll Never Be You” – #100 (U.S. Pop), #4 (Germany)
• (2007) “Forward”
• (2010) “Drunk Girl/Red Car”

Cook co-wrote and performed the song “Ruthie Pigface Draper” for the Dan In Real Life film with Norbert Leo Butz.

Cook provided guest vocals on the 2011 song In the Future by Steel Panther from their third studio album Balls Out.

Filmography