I first heard about Dane Cook about three years ago, on a random blog. A commenter threw out his name and I checked out his website. Within minutes of listening to his routine, I was wiping tears from my eyes and gasping for air. I laughed and laughed as Cook talked about his fears of the Kool-Aid Man bursting through his house, and of wanting to name his future children Optimus Prime and Cobra Commander. For Christmas last year I gave my younger sister a DVD of his HBO special Vicious Circle, which I reviewed and is extremely funny.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about his latest comedy CD, Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden. The CD was released on Tuesday, November 13th and contains a bonus DVD.

In Rough Around the Edges, Cook covers a number of topics ranging from childhood disappointments and mannequin sex to his malfunctioning TiVo and odd sexual requests. And while some of the jokes elicited a chuckle, most weren't funny at all. In fact, they were boring. For example, he recounts a story of mistakenly saying the phrase "I swear on my unborn child's life" after being falsely accused by a friend of eating his ice cream. What's so funny about this? Another segment involved Cook discovering that a large number of convicted sex offenders live on his street. Again, where is the joke?

Cook's standard pattern is that he starts off with relatively mundane topics and exaggerates them to the point that it's absurd. Most of the time he can pull this off and the end result is really, really funny. For example, in Vicious Circle Cook explained that as a young child he accidentally saw his father naked when his bathrobe flew open. He went on to describe in his typical, energetic, half-crazed manner that under the robe he saw cities and a wizard on top of a tower cackling. However, in Rough Around the Edges Cook seemed to try too hard in exaggerating his stories that it stopped being funny but instead became stupid. For example, he explained that many guys take specific features of various women and combine them into one fantasy woman when they masturbate (e.g., Hallie Berry's eyes, Angelina Jolie's lips, etc.). By the end of the routine, Cook frantically describes having sex with a woman with giant wings as they're being chased by the government.

Perhaps Cook has been distracted by his newfound status as a " film actor" and starring in movies opposite Jessica Alba. It's possible that he just hasn't been putting as much effort in his recent stand-up material, but he should snap out of it quickly. Considering that none of his movies so far were blockbuster hits, Cook shouldn't forget that his strength lies in his comedy routines.

If you're a Dane Cook fan, skip Rough Around the Edges and enjoy Vicious Circle or his other past efforts.