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.
Article comments
1 - Bailey
Darn. I was hoping that this CD would surely be funnier than Dane's previous work. Oh well... he's still funny in all of my fantasies and that's all that really matters -- that and that he's AMAZING in bed!
2 - Kaonashi
Bailey - Yeah, I was hoping that this CD would be at least as funny as his past material, but it simply wasn't. It was as if he wasn't trying hard enough. Yeah I laughed a little here and there, but not nearly to the same degree as I have when watching/listening to his older stuff.
3 - Namssorg
Yeah. Bail on this one. I got a little of this 'not funny Dane' on Retaliation, but I was surprised when I had not even smiled up until the "15 Cents" track (The only joke I laughed out loud on in the entire album.. too bad it was buried in the middle!)
Ah well. Glad I got to see him way back when every joke he had was a winner :)
4 - SPB
i just went to his show in seattle and it was way way way funnier than his rough around the edges in New York.. way more variety way less repetitions.. give him a break.. that was his first show of the tour its not going to be perfect.. i personally loved the new cd/dvd.. if your a true DC fan you wouldnt pick his shows apart youd try to find the humor.. i laughed at all the parts you said sucked.. i completely disagree with this review.. go get it..its worth it
anyways thats my 5 cents
5 - Kaonashi
SPB,
Considering that I was asked to review his CD, yes it was my job to pick it apart.
And frankly, true fans of anyone or anything know that their favorite can sometimes make mistakes and will not readily accept something just because it's from their favorite actor/musician/etc.