Just for laughs

Comic Dane Cook set to perform in Anchorage on Thursday

By Seth Boyer
Daily News correspondent

Published: October 15th, 2009 11:04 PM
Last Modified: October 15th, 2009 11:39 PM

More photos

More Features stories »

'Savage' love

The main attraction

Chasing a dream

Play it again

Presenting Ludacris

Story tools

Comments (0)

E-mail a friend | Print

Comic Dane Cook has gone from viral MySpace video star to Hollywood icon with millions of real-life followers turning out in droves to sold-out shows.

The transformation made Cook successful and also brought out scores of detractors.

One of the sticking points is Cook's film career. He has had a streak of flops that tend to break even commercially due to low budgets and high DVD sales. His most recent attempt at a lead role was opposite Kate Hudson in "My Best Friend's Girl," a movie that matched its $20 million budget nationally, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews.

Even with strange feature choices, Cook's stand-up has been incredibly successful. His 2005 CD "Retaliation" went double platinum, and he consistently sells out arenas.

The initial run of tickets to Cook's Anchorage show sold out quickly after going on sale in late August. More were made available recently to accommodate demand.

Cook's style certainly is divisive and there's no denying his intensity. After all it's not every day you see a grown man manage to remove half his clothes in a fit of misguided rage in the middle of a stand-up comedy routine.

Since his rise to prominence in the early 2000s, his audience has grown in numbers and his naysayers have grown in volume.

Local filmmaker Bryant Mainord finds his material to be lacking as of late, but said he appreciated Cook's angle at the advent of his popularity.

"I first heard his CD about seven years ago and I thought it was really funny," Mainord said. "When it was new, it was good, but the hate really got rolling after his movie career took off."

But no matter how hard his critics berate him, Cook seemingly takes it in stride.

"Nothing has made me happier than coming up with a new joke and learning how to present it," Cook said in a June interview with The Comic's Comic blog. "I don't even care bout the detractors and their new ways to tell people that I'm not funny. I'm trying to find out a new way to just simply make it funny and do my job."

That's not to say it doesn't get to him at all. In an interview with Cleveland.com, Cook said, "When you see it hurting your fans and your family, that's when it hurts me."

In a move that may sway former fans, the special features section of his latest DVD release -- Cook's touring to promote "Isolated Incident," which came out earlier this year and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard charts -- contains a short documentary on Cook's process of testing new material on smaller crowds and finding the humor in some dark places in humanity like death, suicide and abortion.

Comedy reporter Sean L. McCarthy said, "Certainly (this is) a much different Dane Cook than you probably remember."

Still the Cook that shows up in Anchorage will likely be the one who riffs on brain ninjas with sound effects and exaggerated movements. Chances are, that's giving thousands of Alaska fans just what they paid to see.

Dane Cook Performs at the George M. Sullivan Sports Arena, Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $31.50 - $101.50 and are available at the box office or at ticketmaster.com. Wet section seating is available for patrons over the age of 21.

ADVERTISEMENT