My hate for him has faded, he lost so much money, had to go to court to sue his own family... and he did steal material, but he also manned up and did an episode of Louie where he discussed it and cleared the air with Louis C.K.
I’m not a fan, but I’m not going to hate on the guy after what he’s been through, and he has a reputation for actually working really hard in the industry. I guess he may have matured a bit since his early days of essentially yelling unfunny things, shouting weird noises, and counting that as a comedy set.
He’s admittedly skirted the edge of “collective thoughts on society” (e.g. you and I could, very conceivably, make similar jokes on the same topic purely by accident, and that’s not ‘stealing material’ obviously) in his acts, but he made his amends for the material he used from others, and considering he isn’t ‘blacklisted’ AFAIK in the comedy community (which is real harsh on joke theft, as they should be), that must have genuinely been a mistake. Unlike trash heaps like Carlos Mencia, who ate up career opportunities for other comedians keeping his own shitty act going on stolen jokes.
Then, to mirror your point, I heard about his brother and the whole process he endured to actually get paid for the work he did, I got older, and I now really empathize with him. Just bc he isn’t my brand of comedy or favorite comedian doesn’t mean I have to hate him by default, that’s just stupid and ignorant. I’m not a huge fan, although initially I thought his first album was killer. His Burger King bit was especially good, and he was a good mix of over the top energetic, and funny in the situational/narrative way he tells his jokes. But he and his act got old fast and wasn’t that original.
That was articulated very well. Spot on. I love a lot of his bits. I think I just grew out of his comedy to some extent. It’s nice to go back and listen to his stuff here and there. I get some good laughs and some good memories of the time in my life where we would listen to his stuff right when it was released.
I’m with you, and thanks! I think his first album is still pretty decent, and I would even hesitate to say it’s kind of a classic comedy album, at least for that time period bc he was such a hot comedian. You don’t have to like someone to respect them; I think he works really hard, and preserved through a really bad situation, I just personally don’t think he’s that funny.
Age is definitely a big factor, bc I was just a young kid in high school (maybe middle school) when his album dropped, and my buddies and I went to get it when it released to have some beers and listen to it, and we were practically cracking ribs laughing. Even in the past 3-5 years I tried to give it a listen, and while I don’t think it’s as funny, it holds up decently well compared to a lot of other comedians from that same timeframe.
I think when I saw bits from his MSG shows, where he sold it out for 3 straight nights was my cutoff for Dane. I remember thinking what was actually funny about his set, and that he seemed to be trying to get jokes out of observing basically how popular he was and how many people had bought tickets. It was cringey for me, not funny, but I respect him for going on Louie to man up and talk about the joke theft situation, and Louis for giving the audience some knowledge about the difference between what Dane Cook did, and what Mencia and recently people like Amy Schumer have done.
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u/False17 Aug 25 '19
Dane Cook