If you are a fan of comedy of the 2000s or generally a fan of comedy, there is a great chance that you know the name, Dane Cook. There is also a chance that you are a fan—or a critique of his style.
At a point, Dane Cook owned the comedy scene in America and beyond and achieved massive feats that only superstars like Eddie Murphy and a few others could achieve. As a matter of fact, Dane Cook, regardless of criticisms sold out the Madison Square Garden sometime in 2006.
Breaking records and achieving unbelievable feats are not exactly new to Dane Cook: Cook remains one of the first comics to make use of a personal webpage and MySpace to build a large fan base; in 2006 Dane Cook was described as “alarmingly popular.”
Born March 18, 1972, Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comic and film actor. Cook has released six major-selling comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Vicious Circle; Retaliation; Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident.
In 2006, the album “Retaliation” became the highest-charting comedy album in the past 28 years and it went platinum. Dane Cook performed an HBO special in late 2006, “Vicious Circle.”
The Special was a straight-to-DVD Special with the title “Rough Around The Edges” (which is also included in the album of the same title), and also a Comedy Central special in 2009 with the title “Isolated Incident.” Cook is widely known for his use of observational, vulgar, and sometimes dark comedy.
Although at a certain point, Dane Cook was so successful to the point of earning almost $20 million per tour, it was also reported that Cook was the most mocked and hated comic act of the past 20 years.
As complex, and contradictory as this might sound, sometime around 2010, Cook’s carrier suddenly met an unexpected decline. This got many people asking (still asking), “What happened to Dane Cook?”
It might be that his fans suddenly fell out of love with him or his haters finally caught up with him or his transition to TV and other business moves were not exactly the best of moves. Whatever the case is, we will take a deeper look at it in this article. Just read on!
Table of Contents
Who Really is Dane Cook?
Dane Cook was born in Cambridge, Massachusett into a catholic family. His father was George F. Cook and his mother was Donna Jean Ford. The fifty-year-old comedian has seven siblings in total.
Two brothers, and five sisters. Cook’s older brother is a half-brother to Cook. Dane Cook talking about his childhood shares how calm, timid, and introverted he was outside. However, he was rough and loud inside the house.
He grew out of a timid, pretty quiet, and introverted lifestyle while in high school. In his junior year, he could act and do stand-up comedy.
Dane Cook is also a graphic designer. He does all the designs for his brands. Harmful If Swallowed is one of the incredible album covers designed by Dane Cook.
He studied Graphic design in college after he graduated from high school. Getting a skill as a Graphic designer was a plan B in case comedy does not work out in the future.
In August 2022, Dane Cook engaged Kelsi Taylor whom he has been dating since 2017. Kelsi Taylor is 26 years his junior.
Dane Cook has been involved in a lot of comedy and other music-related activities. The following table will show these activities and their respective years.
Albums and tracks by Dane Cook
| Title | Year | Track |
| Harmful If Swallowed | Released on July 22, 2003 | 1. Intro – 0:46 Parking Structure – 1:28 2. Umm, Helllllo? – 3:50 3. Car Accident – 2:43 4. Tire in the Face – 2:07 5. Would You R ather… – 6:03 6. Fireman & Policeman & Miniature Golf Course Security Guard – 2:07 8. The BK Lounge – 3:29 |
| 9. Pregnant Lady – 1:48 10. Five Sisters – 0:58 11. Slip ‘n’ Bleed – 0:59 – referencing Slip ‘N Slide 12. Speak ‘n’ Spell – 1:03 13. Operation – Monopoly – 2:16 14. Don’t Tickle Me – 0:48 15. Bathroom – 2:24 16. Pranks – 1:48 17. Fuk and the Finga – 1:44 18. Just Wanna Dance – 4:18 19. Head – 2:34 20. Nightmare – 3:05 21. Hopped Up on the Q – 1:12 22. Not So Kool-Aid – 1:28 23. Pick a Number Please! – 1:44 24. Bonus Track – 7:36 | ||
| Retaliation | Released on July 26, 2005 | 1. Intro / Riot” – 2:00 2. “Struck by a Vehicle” – 3:33 3. “Superbleeder” – 0:39 4. “Legacy” – 1:15 5. “Someone S#!t on the Coats” – 1:33 6. “Abducted” – 2:54 7. “Punkass / Are You Out of Your F!#kin’ Mind?!” – 1:13 8. “Driveway Intruder” – 1:15 9. “Car Alarm” – 3:42 10. “Heist / Monkey” – 4:38 11. “BAMF” – 2:20 12. “Dream House” – 3:59 13. “At the Wall” – 10:44 14. “The Chicken Sandwich the Heckler and the Kabbash” – 12:31 Disc 2 – Nelll |
| 1. “Intro / The Dane Train” – 0:53 2. “Itchy Asshole” – 0:44 3. “Superpowers” – 2:00 4. “The Friend Nobody Likes” – 2:23 5. “Obby” – 3:05 6. “Creepy Guy @ Work” – 3:23 7. “L-O-V-E” – 2:01 8.”Turn On’s Slash Turn Off’s” – 1:47 9. “Exaggerating GF / Bachelor” – 2:05 10. “The Nothing Fight” – 6:06 11. “Making Up” – 5:59 12. “My Son Optimus Prime” – 1:53 13. “One Night Stand / DJ Diddles” – 10:53 14. “Where’s the Handle?” – 3:49 15. “Let’s Do This, I’m a Cashew” – 4:11 DVD 1. Cook Appearances on Shorties Watchin’ Shorties 2. Cook Appearances on Crank Yankers 3. Unedited Comedy Central’s Bar Mitzvah Bash 4. Unedited Comedy Central’s Denis Leary Roast 5. Tourgasm Teaser | ||
| Vicious circle | Released on November 28, 2006 | DANEgerous 1. Intro – 2:25 2. The Truth About Lying – 8:32 3. My One Regret – 5:36 4. Painful Shits – 0:43 5. I Did My Best – 9:13 6. The Atheist – 9:18 7. My Son Optimus |
| Prime – 1:26 8. The Robe – 3:52 9. B&E – 9:46 10. Kidnapped – 3:46 11. Hopes N Dreams – 3:37 12. Jake-Uh – 1:58 13. The Game of Love and How to Destroy It – 22:05 14. Post-Battle Sex – 0:39 15. Cheater 2.0 – 11:50 16. Cinematic Adventures – 12:11 17. Birthday Girl – 1:34 18. One Night Stand – 3:32 19. DJ Diddles – 10:06 20. Goodnights – 1:17 21. Encore – 2:41 22. I’ll Never Be You – 4:58 Edited 1. Intro – 2:37 2. The Truth About Lying – 8:32 3. I Did My Best – 9:20 4. The Atheist – 9:19 5. My Son Optimus Prime – 0:38 6. Robe – 3:52 7. B&E – 8:41 8. Jake-Uh – 1:58 9. Bad Relationships – 9:53 10. Post-Battle Sex – 0:39 11. Cheater 2.0 – 11:50 12. Cinematic Adventures – 12:11 13. One Night Stand / DJ Diddles – 12:52 14. Goodnights – 2:55 | ||
| Rough around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden | Released on November 13, 2007 | 1. Intro – 1:56 2. Benson’s Animal Farm – 5:13 3. Regrets – 4:59 4. TiTo – 1:50 |
| 5. War Flute – 4:28 6. Copy Machine – 2:42 7. 15¢ – 4:11 8. Paedophiles – 5:42 9. Mannequin Sex – 2:13 10. Herpolie Urpolies – 4:25 11. A Condom? – 7:09 12. Come to Fruition – 6:14 13. Video Game Strip Club – 6:06 14. Motorcycle Helmet – 4:15 15. What Do You Want Me to Do to You? – 4:40 | ||
| Isolated incident | Released on May 19, 2009 | 1. Intro – 0:25 2. Obama – 3:45 3. Self Assassination – 1:52 4. Vernacular – 2:45 5. Pissed Off – 1:49 6. Twat Swatters – 2:21 7. Banter #1 – 0:35 8. Mom & Pops – 3:10 9. Haters – 4:30 10. Adoption – 1:24 11. Syncing Feelings – 1:01 12. W.W.Y.D.I.?? – 4:21 (What Would You Do, If??) 13. Interracial Tail – 2:01 14. Remote Location – 4:48 15. Push and Pray – 0:58 16. Big Shot – 2:40 17. Rigamarole – 2:26 18. Role Play – 4:56 19. Hidden Gems – 1:08 20. Peanut Butter Smack – 7:04 21. War Gamer – 1:47 22. Banter #2 – 0:33 23. The ‘C’ Word – 2:19 24. Novel Ideas – 1:23 25. Spiritual Comeback – |
| 1:23 26. Alternate Ending to Track 13 – 0:26 27. Banter #3 – 2:53 | ||
| I did my best: Greatest Hits Album | Released on November 22, 2010 | 1. Struck by a Vehicle 2. Car Accident 3. Car Alarm 4. B&E 5. Bathroom 6. Not so Kool-Aid 7. The Friend Nobody Like 8. Paedophiles 9. Creepy Guy At Work 10. Role Play 11. May I regret 12. Robe 13. My Son Optimus Prime 14. Operation – Monopoly 15. Bensons Animal 16. The Bk Lounge 17. Haters 18. I Did My Best 19. The Nothing Fight 20. Tw*t Swatters 21. The Truth about Lying 22. A Condom? 23. W.W.Y.D.I.?? 24. Someone S#it on the Coats 25. Umm, Helllllo? 26. Heist/monkey 27. Would You Rather 28. Video Game Strip Club Speak N spell 30. Let’s Do this I’m a Cashew 31. Where’s the Handle 32. The Athiest 33. 50 34. Hot Air Balloon 35. Robot Leg 36. Spa Music 37. Jerking And Jilling Off |
Dane Cook’s Acting career
| Film Title | Role | Year |
| Maybe this Time | Kyle | 1995-1996 |
| Flypaper, Buddy | Tim, Fair cop | 1997 |
| Spiral, Simon Sez, Mystery Men. | David, Nick Miranda, The Waffler | 1999 |
| Comedy Central Presents | Himself | 2000 |
| The Late Show | Himself | 1999-2001 |
| L.A.X. The Touch. | Terrell Chasman Bob | 2002 |
| Crank Yankers | Foreign Guy | 2002-2007 |
| Stuck on You, 8 Guys , Windy City Heat Mr. 3000 Torque | Officer Fraioli Dane Roman Polanski Sausage Mascot Neal Luff | 2003 |
| Good Girls Don’t | Max | 2004 |
| Waiting, London, Duck Dodgers | Floyd George Van Chancy | 2005 |
| Employee of the Month | Zack Bradley | 2006 |
| Farce of the Penguins, Mr Brooks, Good Luck Chuck, Dan in Real Life | Online Penguins, Mr smith, Chuk/charlie, Mitch Burns | 2007 |
| My Best Friend’s Girl | Tank Turner | 2008 |
| Laugh Factory | Himself/Comedian | 2010-2019 |
| Answer to Nothing, Hawaii Five-0, Louie, Detention. | Ryan. Matt Williams, Himself, Principal Karl Verge | 2011 |
| Guns, Girls, and Gambling | Sheriff Hutchin | 2012 |
| Next Caller | Cam | 2012-2013 |
| Planes: Fire And Rescue | Dusty Crophopper | 2014 |
| Comedy Bang Bang 400 Days | Himself, Cole Dvorak | 2015 |
| American Gods | Robbie | 2017 |
| Robert Chicken, The American Meme | Dave Seville, Himself | 2018 |
| American Typecast | Alex | 2019 |
What Happened to Dane Cook?
Dane Cook has suffered a great deal of bullying since he became active and popular. This resulted in a great loss of confidence.
It is likely for anyone who is a victim of a bully to feel more vulnerable. And this is what Dane Cook was undergoing—A loss of self-esteem.
Dane Cook tweeted on his Twitter page that he had been diagnosed with depression in October 2013. This was followed by a video he uploaded on his Facebook page In December 2013.
The video shows Dane Cook Going to the Rehab centre. Dane Cook in an interview in Cincinnati, claimed his acting career went cold because he was not going to play false for fans.
Since he often was not the one creating and writing the script for the movies he acted in, it is difficult to step into comedic roles. He had to pause from accepting roles.
Apart from fans not bullying Dane Cook, and him finding it harder to continue with some written comedic roles, the American stand-up comedian has also been accused of stealing jokes.
All this and more are all the things that contributed to the disappearance and decline of Dane Cook and also what contributed to his piping low for a while.
Was Dane Cook the Owner of his Jokes? – Plagiarism Case with Louis C.K.
Copying an individual’s creative content is a BIG NO in the entertainment industry and not to talk about a comedian stealing jokes.
Dane Cook was already dropping hits and funny Jokes before his plagiarism case with Louis C.K. However, three of his skits from the Retaliation Monster Splash album were almost like Louis C.K.’s skits.
Dane Cook claims Louis C. K, who was a major Hollywood star, was trying to use him as a ladder to achieve a higher feat. Dane Cook negated the Plagiarism case and gradually maintained that he did not copy or steal Jokes from Louis C. K.
Louis C.K. gradually also became tired of granting interviews about the plagiarism case with Dane Cook. He fictionalized versions of the comics by writing and including Dane Cook in the season 2 episode of FX Louis.
Season 2 episode FX Louis airs on Primetable cable TV. This singular action turned Louis into a persona grata.
In February 2019, Dane Cook told The Hollywood Reporter that Louis C.K. knew the only way he (Louis) could be more popular was to accuse him (Dane) of plagiarism.
Massive Criticisms – Why Was Dane Cook Hated?
Dane Cook is a very funny stand-up comedian that delivers raw jokes that you can feel and can also relate to.
Unfortunately, the same cause of laughter also makes people hate Dane Cook. In one of his comedy albums titled Friend Nobody’s Like, he jokes about a girl named Karen.
He said Karen is annoying and bitchy. Anybody that is not Karen will laugh at this joke but not Karen or anybody related to Karen.
Dane Cook originated the Karen slang in 2005. Karen is now used by some people to describe an authoritative and problematic woman.
He talked about the Karen character often in his jokes and the internet has come to see Karen as a bad character.
This Joke definitely Placed Dane Cook on Karen’s bad list, Karen’s Husband and sibling. Earning haters from a funny joke just because a name was mentioned.
Another reason would be his manner of delivery. Since Dane Cook shared Jokes people could relate to, the ending most times would likely be predicted.
Also, it is possible that people hated Dane Cook after Louis accused him of stealing jokes. After the whole Plagiarism case, every joke is now considered stolen.
Louis said that the delivery of Dane Cooks was the reproduction of his jokes. Louis also said whether he admits to the plagiarism case or not, it is obvious the jokes were stolen from his skits.
It is hard for some fans to know who to believe. Over time, this plagiarism case accusation has become a symptom to hate.
Dane Cook’s “Failed” Transition to Acting
Dane Cook feels the reason for his failure in acting is that most of the comedic roles are often already scripted for him.
He claims it is hard for him to play roles that are not relatable. An ardent fan of Dane Cook can recall that he does a lot of real-life comic shows.
Regardless, it is tough to believe that someone like Dane Cook who has been successful in standup comedy will have a failed transition to acting.
How Dane Cook’s Family Members Embezzled His Funds
In 2008, Dane Cook discovered that his half-brother Darryl McCauley and his wife Erika had embezzled about 12 million from his Funds. Darryl McCauley was serving as Dane Cook’s manager from the 1990s.
He admitted to embezzling millions from Dane Cook between 2004 and 2008. Darryl constantly transferred money from Dane Cook’s Company to his account until he was discovered.
Darryl McCauley and his wife pleaded guilty and were sent to jail in 2010. And they were both ordered to pay restitution. Erika was sentenced to 3 years in prison with 13 years of probation while Darryl was sentenced to 6 years with 16 years of probation.
Dane Cook’s Romance With A Woman Half His Age
50 years old Dane Cook is dating Kelsi Taylor who is 23 years old. The age differences have brought a lot of criticism on the internet.
In August 2019, Kelsi Taylor posted on her Instagram @itskelsitaylor about her engagement with Dane Cook after about 5 years of dating.
If the calculation is accurate, it means Dane Cook dated Kelsi Taylor right from when she was 18 years old. There has been a lot of criticism and surprise since Kelsi made that post on Instagram.
But this is not the first time we are seeing lovers with a weird age difference and it won’t probably not be the last.
Dane Cook’s Permanent Ban from Laugh Factory for Being a “Jerk”
Dane Cook was a popular and frequent comedian at Laugh Factory in Hollywood. At one point, he performed on stage for seven hours straight.
Dane Cook’s seven hours performance at Laugh Factory is a pace-setting record that has not been broken yet.
However, things got twisted one of those days at Laugh Factory when Dane Cook cursed out a waitress putting him in a ring of argument with the owner of Laugh Factory.
In the heat of the argument, Dane Cook yelled and said “I own this place.” This statement never went well with the actual owner of Laugh Factory.
For making such a statement and being “a jerk,” the original owner banned Dane Cook from Laugh Factory.
How Both Of Dane Cook’s Parents Died Of Cancer Within Nine Months Of One Another
Dane Cook experienced a very personal tragedy at the height of his career when both of his parents died of cancer.
Cook’s mother died of cancer in 2006, and his father died 9 months later of the same cancer in 2007. It was so painful that Dane Cook’s parents died nine months apart from one another.
He had to take some time off. Regardless, Dane Cook later admitted the fate and accepted it to be a push to a greater accomplishment.
What is Dane Cook Currently Doing?
Dane Cook is working on a confidential comeback. One can imagine the quality of his content and delivery, and can only anticipate.
In an Instagram post in January 2022, Dane Cook tagged himself as a big thinker and exposed what is planning.
Dane Cook also claimed some musicians copied him and made his style their own. However, he is coming back to reclaim his stage.
Dane Cook’s Net Worth
Dane Cook has a net worth of $35 million. He performs as a stand-up comedian and also an actor with notable credits.
Conclusion
It is quite a sad story that Dane Cook who stands up and acts to relieve people of pain from thoughts and life reality ends up being bullied by the same fans who once loved him or no longer love him.
Whatever really Happened to Dane Cook will never take away the fact that this American actor and stand-up comedian was on top of his game irrespective of the feedback.
A lot of fans have admitted Dane Cook is very funny. However, it seems since most of his comedy is pretty relatable, some fans hate him for this very reason.
While some loyal fans are hoping for Dane Cook’s comeback, they are expecting raw, authentic, and new material. These were just the exact terms used by Dane Cook as he revealed his plot to launch a comeback.
Hopefully, Dane Cook will find himself back on track. And whatsoever hate and what transpired won’t matter. He has been through this his entire career.
