Comedian Dane Cook a joke thief, ‘hack’

By Jessica Dugan | September 19, 2008

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STAND-UP COMEDY IS A TREASURED PASTIME IN America. We even have a reality show on NBC dedicated to it called “Last Comic Standing.”

This last season came down to a very attractive young man, a tattooed impressionist and a female that gradually showed more cleavage as the show went on.

The one who did impressions was great and the quirky woman defeated all the competition, but I assumed the cute one would win on his appearance alone.

Why?

Well, because Dane Cook uses looks to get away with his career.

Cook now has a couple of movies under his belt, but he started out as a stand-up comedian.
Girls swoon at the sight of him while men want to be him, mostly because of the swooning girls. These are the people who will defend Cook against all odds — even though he is a vicious joke-stealer and an all-around egomaniac.

It seems when it comes to Cook, comedians and comedy lovers alike are not shy to profess their hate.
A promotional poster for a televised Cook performance that hung outside the famous Laugh Factory was tagged with the loving word ‘hack’ across it.

‘Hack,’ in this case, meaning a joke-stealer.

I suppose that spray-painted message is more family-friendly than a previous message on one of his posters that read ‘herpes.’

Evidence of his sticky fingers appeared from at least three comics.

Cook put out an album of his stand-up that happened to have three of the same jokes Louis C.K. had on his stand-up album, which was released several years before.

Cook cleverly changed the name of two of them, but C.K. wasn’t amused and accused him publicly of stealing.

After another Cook album was released, Rolling Stone critic Joe Rogan wrote that the original performer of some of the material was Emo Phillips.

Then Cook went on “Saturday Night Live.”

Almost word-for-word Dane Cook recited a joke about trying on shoes in his monologue that Saturday that appeared on comic Demetri Martin’s album that was released the Tuesday prior.

To his credit, not only did Demetri Martin do his own joke better, he did it while playing guitar.

It could be that they ran out of ‘airplane food is terrible’ material and decided to turn their attention to another quirky thing that relates to the everyday person.

Or it could be that more people recognize the name Dane Cook since he is hosting “SNL” before they would ever hear the jokes of Demetri Martin, whose only acting credit was in a couple of episodes of “Flight of the Conchords.”

Like any celebrity attempting to keep in touch with fans, Cook sends out mass messages to all his MySpace friends.

Once, in a 356-word e-mail, he mentioned himself as a pronoun 25 times with sentences like, “My new Web site is kicking butt and new visitors are emailing me every damn day.”

How loving.

I decide now to voice my disgust of this man because Cook has a movie releasing in theaters this month.

What drew my attention was that in a blog, Cook complained about how fat the poster makes his face look.

Never mind the fact that “My Best Friend’s Girl” has a plot that can be guessed simply by the title or that it boasts a cast that includes poor Jason Biggs (who has not been in anything good since the “American Pie” movies) and darling Kate Hudson (who is stuck doing all the romantic comedies that Drew Barrymore will not touch).

No, Cook was angry at his fat face.

Yeah, well I’m angry at it too.

And I’m not talking about the poster.

Jessica Dugan is student at Fresno State majoring in mass communication and journalism. When she was four years old, she accidentally set a couch on fire. She then proceeded to try to put it out.

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Comments

  • He's Funny
    Dane Cook is funny. He doesn't win the audience because of how he looks. In the comedy business, that logic doesn't make an ounce of sense. How many sucessful male comics do you know that are attractive? In comedy, it's all about the laughs.
    The Dane Cook performances I've seen have left me laughing so hard my sides hurt. It's not so much what he's saying but how he's presenting the material.
    Is Dane arrogant? Maybe. Did he steal material? Maybe, but so have others (Carlos Mencia comes to mind). The point is Dane is funny. Maybe his style of comedy just doesn't fit you.
  • Ryne Santos
    Amen! Dane Cook is the hackjob to end all hackjobs. I've seen much funnier things if I tune into the Weather Channel than check out that no-talent clown. By the way, I think Demetri Martin is a Daily Show [with Jon Stewart] correspondent. I haven't watched that show in awhile, but Martin is way more legit and much funnier, even though I think he's the poor man's Mitch Hedberg with a guitar.
  • Marco
    Dane Cook represents everything i hate about comedy !

    Nice Job
  • Marco
    even if he does perform for the 12-19 year old girl demographic...he's the Lindsay Lohan of Stand Up Comedy
  • Jessica have you ever done Stand Up? If not, your opinion would carry more weight, if you have done stand up, please write about the experience, but to cut off any guy defending Dane as wanting to be him seems you are very sensitive to any critiqueing.

    Dane Cook is one of the great marketers and as far as stealing material, I wish he would steal mine, it would get me attention.
  • Bird
    Good old Hollywood. It's a fantasy, theres nothing real about it, including Cook.

    Thanks for this.
  • Louis Yun
    So what if he is a thief. He is a funny thief. I saw him in Dan in Real Life and he was really funny. Note, he didn't write his lines in the movie either.
  • Louis
    this is poorly written, empty, spiteful and irrelevant. It matches perfectly to your smug, bummer of a picture.
  • Heather Billings
    The Collegian Staff Comment

    Personal attacks are completely unwarranted, especially on an entertainment column such as this. Please keep correspondence courteous.
  • Louis
    Her entire column is an unwarrented personal attack. It goes WAY beyond reviewing or cultural opinion. It's hateful and outdated. Just read the last few lines. How is this journalism? It's fine if it's her opinion but then why is she protected?
  • Heather Billings
    The Collegian Staff Comment
    Columns' purpose is to express the opinion of the author. She is not "protected." However, it is possible to express your disagreement in a civil manner.
  • Dane Cook's popularity is more difficult to explain than String Theory. He's a two-bit hack and a manic bore.

    I personally welcome any attack on the man, whether evidence-based or ad hominem. The guy is as funny as chemo, a witless, talentless, third-rate stand up.

    What's with a 'have you ever done stand up?' critique? Do movie reviewers make movies? I don't have to be a stand up to point out that the frat boy five-finger discount comic is unfunny.

    Thank you Jessica, for pointing out what real comedians know...that DC is giving them all a bad name.
  • redban
    Hmmm.. I had no idea Joe Rogan was a rolling stone critic.
  • Dani
    He's not funny at all. What's funny is how offended "super fans" get when a person happens to " hate" on Dane Cook. We're all individuals with our own tastes... so what does it matter if I say he sucks and that I find nothing he says the least bit funny. If your opinion differs, that's great for you. I must say the fans of Dane paint an even worse picture of him, to be quite honest. You guys act like he's the second coming of Jesus Christ... if someone were to dare say anything negative towards Mr. Cook you superfans are quick to sputter obscenities and give us the "super finger". Ugh.
  • Kylie Tee
    Okay, so I will admit that i used to absolutely love dane cook. And then someone told me that he was a joke stealer... i was hesitant to believe, but she was right. i looked up some things on youtube and she was absolutely right.
    Me and a few friends have come up with a theory. He doesn't even say funny stuff. He just yells and swears. And you laugh because it is true, but not because it is really funny. And once you have been sucked into his 'vicious circle' (if you will) you don't even care if he is funny anymore. You are so dedicated to listen to him swear and ramble about shit that you laugh and convert your friends.
    Sorry, Dane... i used to love you. IT IS TOO BAD!
  • Keith
    I am by no means a fan of Dane Cook. In fact I would rather watch a 2 hour National Geographic special on the mating habits of mice then to watch his stand up. I however can’t sit here and rant about what I don’t like. It’s my personal opinion. In the scheme of things, he has a massive fan base and overall has succeeded in his career. A comedian that is as poor as described in your article would not be able to achieve this. This is why my opinion is just that; mine and yours opinion is yours. Your article however is so spiteful it’s pathetic and is kind of funny in its self. Mostly because your opinion is of a person that simply does not like a comedy act and simply assumes there are other reasons that people laugh at his shows other than the fact that he makes them laugh.

    To be a successful comic one must present material that will make people laugh and presentation is by far the most important aspect. Take a script from a Robin Williams performance and have a computer read the script to an audience in monotone. Will the audience laugh? Maybe once or twice, will they fall over themselves in fits of laughter like you see his audiences doing on video? No.

    Everyone has their own opinion as to what is or is not funny. Some are extremely conservative and if a comic mentions anything that may pertain to say a bowel movement, the conservative does not find it funny at all and may be offended by the joke. Others are so open minded they make a person described as "liberal" sound conservative when expressing a view. The key is getting enough from one side or another and a large number of people in the middle to be successful.

    As far as his "stolen" material, most material out there is reworded or represented by other comics time after time. There are only so many topics and jokes that will make an audience laugh and again presentation is key. Music, music lyrics, TV plots, Movies and so on, have been done over and over for decades even centuries. Many times the original has potential and flops while the remake turns out to be huge or the original was big in its time and the remake flops.

    Everything aside, Dane Cook has made a career out of entertaining people, making them smile and laugh. First, most people would not be able to achieve this standing in his shoes. Second, with the "serious" times we live in, is it really necessary to attack someone who in hindsight is just making people laugh, not you or I, but millions of others around the world. Are you? not with this article. In fact articles like this are the reason more people don’t smile as much as times of the past.

    If you continue on your career path and become a journalist, when writing opinion pieces, try picking topics that you can express your opinion on in a constructive manner. Your insular approach here made me wonder if I was reading an article or a diary of a teen girl that just hates something.
  • Bea
    Honestly, everyone gets their inspiration from somewhere so no one can really claim a joke as theirs. The only way you can accuse him of stealing is if he delivered it the exact same way which I'm sure he didn't.

    Oh and to Kylie: You're right, we laugh because it's true. If it wasn't then it wouldn't be funny. That's pretty much how all comedians make jokes.

    I wonder why people make such a fuss about this. So he stole jokes. Not his fault he's making more money than you. Like I said: It all depends on how you deliver it.
  • konnor
    i love him
  • Jamie
    I totally agree with this article. I just saw Dane Cook for the first timelast night in Denver and I was sooooooooo disappointed. For $100 for a ticket I would expect something hilarious and more than an hour long!!! I thought the opening comedians were 100 times more talented and actually funny. What a waste!
  • Matt
    I am greatful for the unique brad of comedy Dane Cook brings to the market. If all stand-up comics were the same I doubt we would find ANY of them funny. I am not a "super fan", I am a fan of comedy. I collect comedy. If Dane Cook wants to put his own spin on an old joke and make it his own, I can appreciate that.

    His delivery is refreshing and his use of vocabulary is inspiring. Comedy is an art, lest we all forget. I am greatful for any comic who has the courage to even get on stage and try and make this world a happier place.

    To Dane Cook and any other stand-up comic made or struggling out there who finds themselves on this site, you are good enough because there's only one of you. We all have something unique and wonderful to share with the world. If you can't appreciate that, then you should reevaluate your own position in life and stop trying to tear people down to your level.
  • dan
    To the author of the piece i appreciate your opinion and your views. I do not agree with them but that is why this country is great. I am not a "super fan" I do appreciate Dane he makes people laugh, in these time isn't that what's important. If you do not agree with it that is fine but don't rip him apart because he "stole" jokes who doesn't. I would guarantee you have told a joke that you have heard somewhere. If people do not retell jokes the world would never hear them.
  • Holly
    If Miss Dugan was attempting to write an interesting, journalistic piece on the decline of the state of comedy, She missed entirely.

    If her intent was to whine about how much she hates that "disgusting, fat-face" Dane Cook (like some juvenile would on her MySpace page) then she was spot-on.

    I find it hard to believe that it was even published.
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