“Comedy is my mistress.”
The lights will dim and silence fall over the crowd of 18,500 as they await the arrival of chart-topping comedian Dane Cook at the Sprint Center on Saturday. Cook’s new tour Isolated Incident – Global Thermo Comedy Tour comes through Kansas City at 8 p.m. on May 16.
His new special, Isolated Incident, debuts on Comeday Central May 17.
Cook recently took the time out of his schedule to dish about the new tour, his inspiration for his writing, and his love life on the road.
DF: What does this tour have that is going to be different from the other tours and stand you have done in the past?
DC: I did an arena tour in ’07 and it was a blast, the larger capacity crowd. What’s new is the material, a new hour. When I did the tour in ’07, the point of that tour was really to share. There was a lot of new material, but that was almost like a best of, it was like, let me do all my favorites and the fans favorites that I have accumulated over 16 years. So now what you have is a completely new hour and a hour of fun and an enthusiastic fan base that has one thing in common when they come to my show, and that’s laugh their butts off.
DF: Do you like the big arena shows better than the small intimate stages?
DC: I wouldn’t even say I like it better, but it’s very rewarding at this point because you know I’ve spent the last I guess two years straight except for the arena tour in early ’07–it’s like night club after night club after night club, working on new material. So imagine, it’s almost like you’re in a lab working on your hypothesis and you’re finally sharing it with the masses, with the people that are waiting for you to kind of emerge from the lab, so it’s just a blast. I love doing clubs and I love doing solo venues, but the energy from an event like this makes it just a really memorable night for all of us that are in the arena.
DF: Being on stage, what is one of the best moments you’ve had?
DC: The first thing that came to mind is the first time that I ever preformed a late night television spot. I was in the village in NYC, just grinding away in 1995, when I got approached by the people from Letterman, and they asked me to do my first five minutes ever. Standing on that stage where the Beatles had preformed and Elvis had performed, that beautiful Ed Sullivan stage, that was just the first of many highlight moments in my life and career and when I think about it I still get chills.
DF: I heard you were a little bit shy back in high school.
DC: A little bit? A lot! I was introverted I was quite…I had panic attacks. I was scared to connect with people. I had a lot of anxiety.
DF: So what do you think it was that helped you to get past that and make it possible to do arenas like the Sprint Center? What was it in you that changed?
DC: It took a lot of years just slowly building my confidence up. It really came down to where I needed to earn some [self confidence]. I knew I wanted to be a comedian since I was a young boy. Certainly my parents and my family knew I wanted to be a comedian. They also realized that my biggest hurdle was, I was so introverted, I was so painfully shy, but what I really just needed to do was be confident in my voice and be confident in my beliefs. That took time and during my formative years as a comedian, there were certainly nights that I was staring straight down at the floor and a little bit trepidatious to show my face or raise my voice up a little bit, but then I slowly began to realize that I felt more at home on stage, where I could be all the things in my imagination and share all those things without really feeling like I’m being judged. It’s just people listening and enjoying and I came out of that shell.
DF: In your comedy, what do you think your strengths are? Do you think it’s the content or do you think it’s the delivery?
DC: Well, first and foremost [there are things] I am very committed to as a performer. I believe in the old traditions that you are an entertainer. You’re always there to put on a show for people, don’t give them 5o percent,or don’t try to be too cool for school. Bring them the authentic you as an entertainer. Strength-wise, I do believe over the years my use of language–I love words. I am a verbologist–I love interesting use of words. Incredible jargons, any way to tell a story with language that helps to paint a picture I think is creating your presentation. So language certainly, physicality–it’s not a put on. I wouldn’t have to pretend to be to be excitable because I just get out there. I love motion, I love movement and I think connecting with people. Who knows, maybe being that shy trepidatious young kid actually enhanced the entertainer in me now because that never goes away I mean that’s still in me. Maybe part of the connection that is very apparent with the fan base is that they know that I am a real person and that I am not putting on a façade. Really, what you see is what you get. I think that’s glamorous to people, a source of respect. I know it is for me and the people that I look up to.,
DF: You had huge success with Good Luck Chuck. Is there going to be a second Good Luck Chuck?
DC: I’ve heard some rumors going around that somebody wants to make a sequel. I have not been approached for a sequel, but I know we had a blast making the movie. We probably laughed too much on the set. For me, honestly, at this point, I feel like I have gone through such a metamorphosis the last couple of years in what really informs this album. I feel that I have really matured and grown up with a generation of comedy fans. So even the content in the scripts and the roles that you’re going to see me enter into over the next couple of years, I feel like I am going to take some risks and step away from what people would expect. So certainly going to still try to find the funny. We’ll have to see about the Good Luck Chuck sequel, but I am definitely moving into greener pastures and hopefully more entertaining stories to tell.
DF: What is your one piece of advice for aspiring comedians be?
DC: That is a valuable question. I certainly know that I sought it out from the comedians that I was entertained by. I always tell the comedians that I meet on open mic nights to be very careful as who you listen to advice from, because it is a really gentle process and it’s all about precision when you’re a new comedian. I say precision because what you really need to get the pin prick on in your personality is, what is really funny to you. There is two kinds of comedians, there is comedians that say funny things that they think of that they think people will laugh at. They go through a process in their mind and they say, oh I bet that will be funny to them. I bet people will laugh at that observation A really great comedian, I feel, says, What’s funny to me and how can I bring people in my world and my observations and share that with them? So try to write from within and don’t listen to too many [people] and trust your core friends, your road dogs, as we call it in comedy, the people who travel with you the most. Don’t listen to too many people. Just let it unfold and get on stage, get on stage, get on stage!
DF: What is your favorite college sports team?
DC: Oh, boy, wow…I always go with my first thought and I have always loved football and my dad went there…I am going to go Boston College Eagles.
DF: Are you single?
DC: I say this comedy is my mistress. I am with her night after night. You’re talking about a tour that it’s just me out here with a couple of my favorite comedian pals, so unfortunately for that part of my life there is not a lot of time for the romance. I am just really enjoying being on the road with stand up. I’m sure your readers will be happy to hear that no [I’m not seeing anyone] at this time, I am just on the road.
DF: Where do you get your inspiration from when you are writing?
DC: My inspiration with my writing is from a lifetime of loving stand up comedians. Listening to early comedy albums when I was a little boy and playing them over and over. On a personal level it will always be my mom and dad. My true inspiration, my true comedic heroes, two funny people that just cracked me up when was a kid. If they didn’t laugh so much and make them laugh so much then I would not be doing this.
DF: You are the second youngest of six kids. Did this have any effect on the comedy in your life?
DC: I definitely had a crowd to perform in front of. I had a couch full of people to entertain with my skits and I was always lip syncing songs and coming up with little comedy skits to do. I had a few people in there to encourage.
DF: Where do you see yourself a in the next five years? What is it that you see yourself doing?
DC: I would really like to…I’ve done a few films that other people have written and made some great friends with some excellent writers and had some wonderful experiences there, but I think I would like to develop my own feature film hopefully even direct it. I am going to direct some short films after the tour. In a perfect word if I was batting 500 I would love to in the next few years branch into producing films that I have written with my group of guys.
DF: Is there anything that we should keep our eye out for?
DC: The tour is my 100 percent commitment. I took everything off the books so that I can be out here on the road. I do have a great new application on the iPhone. It’s called Dane Cook Global. It’s almost like a live documentary. I can update from the phone I have in my pocket with video and photo and text. People can literally be traveling with me. If you can’t be at a show I am posting pics and documentaries from them so I can share some comedy with my fans that way.
May 13, 2009
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