Dane Cook-related stories
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 9:32AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
Since programming anything new is probably a waste on a holiday weekend,
Comedy Central is programming roughly 4,000 previously aired stand-up specials (okay, just 40, but that's a lot) from some of the biggest names on its rosters, including Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham, Katt Williams, Louis C.K., Lewis Black, Brian Regan, Demetri Martin, Ron White, Lisa Lampanelli, and Jim Gaffigan. They'll also sprinkle in some of their
Comedy Central Presents half-hour showcases. It's called the Stand-Up Blowout Weekend.
The first special is at 3 PM -
Aisha Tyler is Lit: Live at the Fillmore and end, officially, with Drew Hastings:
Irked and Miffed at 3 AM Monday morning. Sunday at 10PM is the network premiere of
Dave Attell: Captain Miserable, which originally aired on HBO on December 8, 2007.
Continue reading Comedy Central's holiday weekend Stand-Up Blowout
Posted May 18th 2009 7:32PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
This is the Dane Cook quandary. Around his second album,
Retaliation, he became so popular that the inevitable backlash began. He was touring huge arenas.
Retaliation was a three-disc package that should have been a two-disc package. Some people mentioned that, and the die-hard Dane fans, flashing Cook's Su-Fi sign, wouldn't tolerate it on his chat boards. Just about everyone weighed in, from magazines to fans to other comics. And it got to the point where you couldn't defend Cook without being an apologist, and you couldn't criticize him without being a "hater."
That's the environment that Cook is working in now, the water he had to tread thinking about his new special, last night's
ISolated INcident. And there were already conflicting ideas surrounding the hype for the show. There were the constant commercials hyping how unbelievable the show is, setting an unfair standard from the very beginning. We were told this would be unlike anything we have seen from Cook, an innovative, groundbreaking special.
Continue reading Dane Cook steps forward
Posted May 7th 2008 7:41AM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reaper, Reality-Free
(S01E16) "Trust, honesty, integrity...I don't like those words, not one little bit. - Jerry
I found it funny that Sam and Andi were comparing scary demons when they got attacked, because for my money, very few things are scarier than an chainsaw wielding dude in a mask. It's like Leatherface, Michael Myers and Casey Jones all rolled up together.
I really wish we could see more of Gladys. I find her to be really funny. I think it would be great if she had one small scene in every episode ala Carlton Your Doorman. Just the idea that the DMV is where demons do the work of the devil still makes me laugh.
Continue reading Reaper: Greg Schmeg
Posted Sep 20th 2007 12:25AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Last Comic Standing, Episode Reviews
(S05E15) When I used to teach high school English, one of my biggest pet peeves was reading a paper from a student who was obviously stretching two pages of ideas into the required four pages of the assignment. I actually preferred it when students came up short in page count instead of insulting my intelligence with superfluous words, plodding pacing, and ridiculous font and margin tweaks.
Watching the two hour -- that's right
two hour -- finale of
Last Comic Standing, I couldn't help but be reminded of my teaching days. Tonight's finale was like an essay written using Comic Sans 16 point font...
Continue reading Last Comic Standing: Season Finale
Posted Aug 27th 2007 6:29PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD
Beyond Belief - Season 1 - Dane Cook - The Lost Pilots
- Danger Mouse - Complete Series
- Dark Shadows - The Beginning
- Flight 29 Down - Vol. 2
- Friday Night Lights - Season 1
- Heroes - Season 1
- I Shouldn't Be Alive - Season 1
- Masters of Horror - Season 1 Limited Edition Set
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide - Field Trip Edition
- The Odd Couple - Season 2
- The Outer Limits - Season 1, Vol. 2 (original series)
- Samuari Jack - Season 4
Posted May 25th 2007 5:59PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, TV Royalty, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show
Charlie Rose: Al Gore- The Late Show With David Letterman: Kevin Spacey and Alexis Bledel
- Jay Leno: Dennis Miller and Dwight Yoakam
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: David Spade, John Ratzenberger, and Kaiser Chiefs (repeat)
- Tavis Smiley: Jonathan Demme, Chick Corea, and Bela Fleck
- Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Dane Cook and Apolo Ohno
- The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Bob Saget, Jade, and Guy Torry
- Last Call With Carson Daly: Silversun Pickups and Hi-Fidelity
Posted Apr 18th 2007 12:40PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Industry, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities
Dave Chappelle is back on the stage after
his departure from Comedy Central's
Chappelle's Show in 2005. On Sunday night, he took the stage at Los Angeles' Laugh Factory for
six hours and seven minutes! Not much is known about what he said or did, but the owner of the joint says the audience was howling with laughter the entire time.
Earlier this month, unfunny "comedian" Dane Cook set the Laugh Factory record for endurance at three hours, 50 minutes. The previous record was held by Richard Pryor, who was on stage for two hours, 41 minutes back in 1980. Does anyone else think Chappelle was trying to stick it to Cook for busting Pryor's record? I sure as hell hope so.
Posted Mar 12th 2007 3:56PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Cable, TV Royalty, Celebrities, Talk Show
Veteran comic/director/writer David Steinberg has a lot of stuff going on.
The second season of his TV Land talk show, Sit Down Comedy, began a couple of weeks ago with an interview with Jerry Seinfeld. This Wednesday, Steinberg sits down with Daily Show host Jon Stewart. The show airs at 10pm. The following weeks, Steinberg will interview Garry Shandling and then Ray Romano.
But that's not all: Steinberg also has a book coming out in June, The Book of David. And he's a busy guy in his life as a director too. He's directing his seventh season at Curb Your Enthusiasm, episodes of Campus Ladies, and a pilot for Dane Cook.
There might be a lot of people who aren't familiar with Steinberg since a lot of his work has been behind the camera for a while, but he has quite a resume.
Posted Mar 7th 2007 12:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Web, Celebrities
I don't like Dane Cook's brand of comedy, but hey, I don't have to like everything. There are plenty of other comedians more suited to my palate on the comedy salad bar, so while I personally feel his "material" is all delivery and no punchline, it doesn't mean other people can't enjoy him with croutons.
CC Insider points to a funny satirical piece from The Onion about Cook's new HBO special, Burgasm, in which the young comedian riffs on Burger King's Texas Double Whopper for a full hour. In the article, Cook explains his plans for the special:
Continue reading The Onion sticks it to Dane Cook
Posted Jan 2nd 2007 4:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Celebrities
I'm not sure if I'm a fan of these "What's In and What's Out" lists that seem to pop up every December or January. They seem to embrace trends instead of just quality. But I like Hank Steuver's writing and lists like this are a good conversation starter as the new year begins.
That doesn't mean I agree with him on everything. I mean, David Sedaris is "out" while John Hodgman is "in?" That's ridiculous (though I like Hodgman too). And Dancing with the Stars will never be "in" with me. But I love that he picks America's Next Model as being "out" and Ugly Betty being "in." Ditto his picks for Laguna Beach being "out" (Meerkat Manor is "in") and Dane Cook being "out" (thumbs up to Jim Gaffigan!).
What do you think is in and out, TV-wise? I'm sure they'll be a lot of opinions on Steuver picking Battlestar Galactica as being "out" and Heroes as being "in."
Posted Dec 27th 2006 3:18PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD
Well, OK, I'm a day behind with this. I blame Christmas and lots of food and booze. Looks like it's not a big week for DVD releases anyway:
- Airwolf - Season 2
- Davey and Goliath: The Lost Episodes
- Girls Behaving Badly - Vol. 1
- New Adventures of He-Man - Vol. 1
- Simple Life 4
- Tourgasm
Posted Dec 12th 2006 1:02PM by Julia Ward
Filed under: OpEd, Deadwood, Festivus, The Office, Project Runway, Ugly Betty
Wow - an invitation to list all of my TV-related wishes for the coming year. This is just like sitting on Santa's lap except without the horrible awkwardness and guilt. When I was a kid, I felt like I had to ask for world peace instead of a bike. That's what happens when you grow up Catholic. It was selfish to have "wants" and worse to state them aloud.
This would explain why it was such an unprecedented joy for me to spend time reveling in the frivolity of my own TV desires this holiday season. I have been given a momentary, guilt-free license to indulge. And, I pass that license on to you. Feel free to offer up your own television wishes in the comments section. I couldn't recommend it to the recovering Catholic portion of our readership more.
Continue reading All Julia wants for Festivus
Posted Dec 4th 2006 1:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, FOX, Video, Celebrities
If you've been sitting around all day waiting to see footage of someone from an unfunny sketch show make fun of an unfunny comedian, your wait is over. In the clip after the jump you can watch Ike Berenholtz of Mad TV throw down on the comedy stage as he does his impression of comedian Dane Cook.
I've never been a fan of Dane Cook, and I think the best description I've ever heard of him came from comedian Michael Schmidt on Jimmy Pardo's "Never Not Funny" podcast: "Dane Cook is KISS. He's the KISS of comedy. Just like, crazy, wild, bombastic phenomenon with the most pedantic, pedestrian content ever."
Berenholtz's Cook impression isn't too bad, and heck, I give him credit for trying to make people laugh by being unfunny on purpose, but I only laughed maybe once during the whole thing, which is still more than I've ever laughed at Dane Cook.
Continue reading Mad TV spoofs Dane Cook - VIDEO
Posted Nov 27th 2006 7:29PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, HBO, Industry
Last week's
Comic Relief telethon raised $4 million for victims of Hurricane Katrina. It aired simultaneously on TBS, HBO and AOL. Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal headlined the Comic Relief telecasts of the 1980s to raise money and awareness about homelessness. The original Comic Relief stage shows raised about $50 million.
Did anybody watch
Comic Relief on November 18th? I caught a little bit of it but had to turn it off because A) Robin Williams is
no longer funny, and B) Dane Cook
isn't funny either. I was actually more interested in the on-location stories about the current situation in New Orleans than the performances by a long list of guest comedians.
Posted Oct 1st 2006 12:32PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Music and Variety
(S32E01) "And we're baaaaaaack!" Anyone? Anyone? No? OK, well it's SNL season premiere time (that came fast) and Dane Cook is already hosting again. I can't remember the last time someone hosted two episodes so close together. He was just there last December. Well, it's understandable I suppose. I can't think of anyone else that's bigger on the comedy circuit right now and his name automatically attracts attention. He's all over the place, from touring to HBO specials. Anyway, the show was pretty decent I thought, but not because Cook was the host. He was barely in it.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Dane Cook and The Killers (season premiere)
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