The Dane Cook Episode

Summary

DOPE AS USUAL Podcast – The Dane Cook Episode
Host: Dope as Yola
Guest: Dane Cook
Release Date: October 30, 2024

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1. Introduction and Welcoming Dane Cook

The episode kicks off with Thomas and Dane exchanging humorous banter, setting a relaxed and engaging tone for the conversation. Dane brings his signature energy, immediately connecting with the audience by highlighting his continuous engagement with fans.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [00:39]: "America doesn't want to click on yesterday. America's clicking on what we're doing today."

2. Dane Cook’s Personal Life: Marriage and Its Influence on His Comedy

Dane shares significant updates about his personal life, including his recent marriage. He discusses how this new chapter has enriched his perspective and influenced his comedy material, moving beyond the typical "15 new minutes" fans expect to a deeper, more nuanced approach.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [03:16]: "It just kind of rocked me in the best possible way... my life, everything is just hyperactive, elevated, hyperactive, better."

3. Fresh New Flavor Tour and Upcoming Shows

Dane delves into his current tour, "Fresh New Flavor," outlining the hectic schedule ahead. He emphasizes his dedication to entertaining audiences in innovative ways, balancing stand-up with other creative endeavors.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [07:43]: "The rest of the year will be about 30 dates... It's been a lot of work, but this is what I love. This is amazing."

4. Behind the Scenes: Filming with Kevin Costner

A standout moment in the episode is Dane recounting his experience filming a critical scene with Kevin Costner. He describes the intense environment, complete with unexpected challenges like tarantulas on set, and how this experience pushed his acting boundaries, leading to what he considers one of his best performances.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [12:26]: "I found a moment where I was like, if you told me to do that just now, I wouldn't do that. But in that character, in that moment with Kevin looking at me holding that shovel... I found this piece of performance that might be the best thing I've ever done on film."

5. The Evolution of Comedy: Embracing Realness Over Shock Value

Dane provides insightful commentary on the current state of comedy, advocating for authenticity and personal storytelling over shock tactics. He stresses the importance of comedians drawing from their own experiences to create meaningful and relatable humor.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [52:56]: "If you want to be funny and you're one of those people... it's like heartbreaking because you're like, oh, this person doesn't know what funny is, but they're trying to be funny."

6. Building a Fan Base Through Social Media and Direct Engagement

Highlighting his pioneering use of social media, Dane discusses how he effectively built a loyal fan base by directly interacting with fans and leveraging platforms like MySpace. This grassroots approach allowed him to connect with audiences on a personal level, setting the stage for his widespread popularity.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [31:30]: "I created a cool website. I linked it with the MySpace. So I had social media. I had a great dynamic kind of tour page. And I quickly saw that I could populate my world with fans that didn't have access to my shows."

7. Recommendations: Emerging Comedians to Watch

Dane takes time to spotlight up-and-coming comedians who he believes have the potential to make significant impacts in the comedy scene. He mentions names like Drew Dunn, Adam Mamawala, and Erica Rhodes, emphasizing the importance of supporting fellow comedians and fostering a community of growth.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [64:37]: "Come out, see the show and... you're going to laugh your ass off."

8. Advice for Aspiring Comedians: Staying True and Engaged

Throughout the episode, Dane imparts valuable advice for aspiring comedians. He encourages staying true to oneself, engaging authentically with the audience, and continuously evolving while maintaining a strong connection with fans.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [55:13]: "If you start with those few, you know, what you see is what you get on the real deal. Holy field. That's it."

9. Closing Thoughts and Future Plans

As the conversation winds down, Dane reflects on his journey, acknowledging both the highs and lows. He teases exciting plans for 2025, hinting at upcoming projects and endeavors that aim to further his influence in the comedy world.

Notable Quote:
Dane Cook [65:55]: "I've got a couple of things I can't share here, but are big, very big plans for 2025."

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Key Takeaways:

• Personal Growth: Dane Cook's marriage has provided new depth to his comedy, moving beyond routine material to more personal and impactful storytelling.

• Tour Insights: His "Fresh New Flavor" tour exemplifies his relentless work ethic and commitment to evolving his craft.

• Authentic Storytelling: Emphasizing real experiences over shock value, Dane advocates for genuine connections with the audience.

• Community Building: Through early adoption of social media, Dane successfully built a dedicated fan base, highlighting the importance of direct engagement.

• Support for Fellow Comedians: Dane underscores the significance of fostering a supportive community within the comedy industry by recommending emerging talents.

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This episode of DOPE AS USUAL with Dane Cook offers an in-depth look into the life and mindset of one of comedy's most dynamic figures. From personal milestones to professional insights, Dane provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of his journey, philosophy, and the future trajectory of his career.

Transcript

[Thomas]

Oh, you can.

[Dane Cook]

Perfect. Perfect.

[Thomas]

Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome back to the dope as usual podcast. I am Thomas dope as yolo. This is my co host.

[Dane Cook]

Put my glass down now. I'm just hovering here. No, you're good.

[Thomas]

Dude, slam it.

[Dane Cook]

That was heavy.

[Thomas]

It's all good. Are you ready?

[Dane Cook]

Go Keep. No, we're in this now. You already.

[Thomas]

We're in this.

[Dane Cook]

I it up.

[Thomas]

This is Marty O'Neal. This is podcast.

[Dane Cook]

What's up? I'm blowing people's eardrums this. Well. Okay. They can let me finish my intro. You know the guy, he's funny. And he's here right now. He's here right now, Guys, good for yourself.

[Thomas]

Here we go. This is the episode.

[Dane Cook]

This doesn't care what you did yesterday. America doesn't want to click on yesterday. America's clicking on what we're doing today, and it's good to be with you here today. Thanks for being here.

[Thomas]

It's like you've been on camera before or something or it's really good to see stage presence. So thank you for being here.

[Dane Cook]

First off, sinking. Am I getting lower?

[Thomas]

No, it's just the confidence.

[Dane Cook]

Hold on. I gotta make sure. All right, There we go.

[Thomas]

Okay.

[Dane Cook]

All right.

[Thomas]

So I do this.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Marty O'Neal]

I gained three inches for Dane, so we're still working it out.

[Dane Cook]

Specifically, they built a new set just for me. That is not the truth. Guys, maybe a little more chatter while we're talking YouTube photogs. Maybe you could go off and meet at Sammy's camera next time you guys want to. Yeah, I love that.

[Thomas]

I wish. I'm not even mad at that.

[Dane Cook]

I threw a local reference in there. Just keep it regional. But the top floor is where the.

[Thomas]

Molestation happens because a little bit of.

[Dane Cook]

East coast loving, a little bit scary up. Nothing but love for you guys. But just keep it down. Weigh the down.

[Thomas]

All right, let's get started. You have. You have your brand new tour, fresh new flavor. Let's go. And the next time this drops, you'll be In Ohio the 24th.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, yeah. Yes. We're back. Yeah, I didn't even. I don't know what round it is, man. I'm. It's like I'm in a run and gun moment. It's been.

[Thomas]

How long has it been on this one?

[Dane Cook]

Well, you know, this year's tour has already been a month. But coming off like two years back to back, it's almost like I went from perfectly shattered tour. Then I took a little bit of a break to film something. Then I Went straight documentary. For two years, I've been producing and putting together this wild story of something that happened in my life. Then we dovetail right into the perfectly shattered tour. Then I get married and. And then I've been on like a year long. Boom. Just enjoying it when you get married. Also a year ago last week.

[Thomas]

Oh, congratulations.

[Dane Cook]

And now we go right into fresh, new flavor. So I haven't had an official. Even my honeymoon was like. I was like, honey, listen, we're having a great night. Can I just promote these tour dates for about 15 to 20 minutes every 15 to 20 minutes. So it's been a lot of work, but this is what I love. This is amazing.

[Thomas]

The energy is great.

[Dane Cook]

Getting. Getting into the, you know, into the nitty gritty and having fun and figuring out how to entertain people in a new way with new people is my jam. So it's good to be here. And I gotta go. So thank you guys so much. Get out of this coffin chair that you put me in.

[Thomas]

All right.

[Dane Cook]

Okay.

[Thomas]

So you got married less than a year ago?

[Dane Cook]

I did.

[Thomas]

Okay.

[Dane Cook]

So congratulations on that business, by the way. We don't talk about my personal life. If I bring it up, we talk. Okay.

[Thomas]

What time you go to sleep?

[Dane Cook]

Time to go to sleep. Time to go to bed. It's. It's the best, man. Yeah. You're married. Never been married. And so it's been. People in the comedy game will say it brings you 15 new minutes of material.

[Thomas]

Oh.

[Dane Cook]

But I find that it's bringing even more because it's opened up my world. My thinking just. It kind of rocked me in the best possible way. I always knew I wanted to be married. And then I get married, and suddenly it's like. It's like nitro. My life, everything is just hyperactive, elevated, hyperactive, better. And so that. That's all kind of like finding itself in the new. In the new show. The fresh New flavor tour, which is. Tickets are available [e-mail].

[Thomas]

There we go.

[Dane Cook]

You always have to say dot com in a cool way. Anybody just says dot com, they're fucking moron. That's. You gotta hear like a monster truck guy. Com.

[Thomas]

Something like the old ebay commercials. Remember that was.

[Dane Cook]

Right.

[Thomas]

Okay, so you have the new flavor. I'm asking. I just got married, too, a couple months ago. And you are. I didn't take it. Honeymoon either. So I was like, you know, what do I feel like an.

[Dane Cook]

We did, but it was still just.

[Thomas]

I was working the whole time.

[Dane Cook]

You know, my wife knows that I love you know, I love work. I love it. Not. Not in a way of, like, I'm, like, lost in it. I just, you know, when you get it, it's an embarrassment of riches to do anything in the arts, anything in the entertainment industry. It's so fickle. It's such a zeitgeisty little cunt that sometimes, like, when you get to actually get the throttle and you're, you know, and you're making the rules for a little bit, you know, because things come in vogue, out of vogue, in season, out of season. You take a break, you grow up, you shaved your beard off. People go, oh, grow the beard back. What the fuck happened to you? So there's so many different elements, and when you get on a heater, like, I've been on the last couple of years, you. You. You just want to enjoy it full.

[Thomas]

Tilt, keep it going.

[Dane Cook]

That's it. We're going.

[Thomas]

And you never know, like, what if there's a year? Like, damn, I'm kind of bored. I wish I would have got up.

[Dane Cook]

For the six months 2011. Oh, I had. Listen, bored. But then if I were to go back, and I won't bore you with, like, the out of the weeds, you know, initial, you know, touring life details. But I started Boston, 1990. In those first eight years, like, they blew. It was tough, not fun. It's lonely, it's fucking, you know, nobody. The way I describe it, even in my act now, is I go imagine you start off a job that for the first many, many years, every time you get into a vehicle to go to that job, wherever you're going, they don't give a fuck that you're coming there, and they don't give a shit when you leave. And that's comedy for a very, very, very long time. So I'll take a board year or an off year or a year where it just didn't. You didn't hit the. You didn't hit the mark. Recalibrate. But I never want to do the 90s ever again.

[Thomas]

Oh, man, that is not what I expect. I thought it was the shit.

[Dane Cook]

No, no. I was 21. Yeah. Little fun. Yeah, yeah. There were some fun gigs and, you know, the girls in colleges. But realistically, after, like, the party's over, I've always been more, like, wired to go. Like, I want to be entrepreneurial. I want to build a brand in a business. And, like, so a little bit of fun was great, but I really was spending 23 hours of the day going, how do I win? How do I Win this thing, you know? And then how do I win and share that data with my friends on the come up so they can win? And then how do I maybe, maybe leave something in conversations like this where person up there is going. I'm struggling. I feel like I'm never going to win. I know. Me too. I felt like I. Okay, I'm never going to turn the corner. But you will. You can. And if there's any antidotes here, maybe we'll. We'll spill them on the to table and figure it out. That's what the show's about next episode. Cuz I got to go get me out of this coffin of a chair.

[Thomas]

Damn, dude, I. I like this chair.

[Dane Cook]

Damn it.

[Thomas]

I just changed him.

[Dane Cook]

It's the weirdest. I just changed. It's. It's. It's. No, no, it's okay. There's a little bit. It does feel like thing shu.

[Thomas]

That. That commercial with a fan in front of the guy and he's blowing back. That's.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, what was that? I can't.

[Thomas]

That's what it said.

[Dane Cook]

Let's date how I feel like. Because Magnavox, I don't remember. I swear. He's like that with his mega locks. Right. And the wind is blowing.

[Thomas]

That's how I feel on these.

[Dane Cook]

Can somebody look that up? Somebody in here must have a computer. Yeah.

[Thomas]

In their pocket.

[Dane Cook]

After you take a thousand more photos, maybe take a little break and Google this and help us out over here, guys. All right.

[Thomas]

Yeah, we got one white white man over here running the whole show. Come on. Okay, so you're on tour. How many dates do you have? Like just the life of a comedian, this one.

[Dane Cook]

The rest of the year will be about 30 dates. What is it?

[Thomas]

Max L. The tapes.

[Dane Cook]

Max L. Oh, that's it. The blown away guy. That's it. That's what I feel like sort of in this chair. But instead of a chair, it's a coffin that somehow you cut in half and just turn into a chair. It's so crazy.

[Thomas]

I love it so much too.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. Well, I think that there's some cassettes hidden right at the base of my spine that are actually sticking right into it.

[Thomas]

It's heavyweight.

[Dane Cook]

Invest a little cushion. It's time for your guests. That's 30 dates for the rest of this tour. I just booked a moo. I just booked a movie. So I gotta go now.

[Thomas]

Yeah, into the mov.

[Dane Cook]

Movie from the movie set. And then I'll be going for my Thursday, Friday, Saturday, sometimes Sunday. I'll be Going set flying, doing dates. Back to set, flying dates. So November is going to be pretty chaotic.

[Thomas]

You are a workhorse.

[Dane Cook]

I love it.

[Thomas]

That's all I heard right now.

[Dane Cook]

That's awesome.

[Marty O'Neal]

Do you love doing movies as much as stand up?

[Dane Cook]

He talks. Is he supposed to talk? Let's just cut it. And also, he kind of hit it at such a party.

[Marty O'Neal]

That's my radio voice.

[Dane Cook]

All right. I didn't know you were coming in hot like that, man. Okay, what was the question?

[Marty O'Neal]

Do you love doing movies as much as stand up?

[Dane Cook]

I do, but it. But it is a different, you know, stand up is a solo mission. You're the, you know, you're the producer. You're the, you know, performer, writer, sometimes bouncer. You know, it's sort of a lone gunman type of job. And then you get to go to a set where you're just a piece of a puzzle. Not about you. Literally not about you. You're not you.

[Marty O'Neal]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

Your director's vision. And you think of it like, oh, he wants to make his story come to life. Now I have to be of service to him in a story. And I like that because it takes my, you know, my ego and all the things that go around, like, me, me, me, and stand up. And it turns it into, like, how do I get a scene accomplished with you and you? We might not know each other before we get there. So now, like, you're trying to figure out a puzzle. Yeah, with a great director. So we found a great director. This is a great script. It's kind of a Pulp Fictiony Res Dogs. I'm a bad dude. Oh. I get to be funny on the weekends and then go be covered in blood for the weekdays. So I do. I really do love it. I don't make me pick. I would not want to pick. You know, it's like they. They definitely work different sides of my. Of my creativity. But it is when you get a good one and you get to do a great film or TV show, there's nothing like it, you know, because you really do go, I don't know if this is going to work. We won't know for a year till it's edited, music's in and colorization. And it's so different from the visceral instant of stand up, where it either works or doesn't.

[Thomas]

Instant gratification.

[Dane Cook]

That's it. So two totally different, you know, sides of that spectrum. And. And you're done asking questions at this point, I'm assuming. Okay, good. Maybe next time just, like, wave a Little flag over there. So I know that that voice is gonna haunt my ear.

[Thomas]

All right, so I have a question from all the comedies, and then you switch up to the ending scene of Mr. Brooks. I, I, I, I watched when I was a kid this.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, yeah.

[Thomas]

Severely. Yeah, yeah. So when I was watching that, I'm sitting here with my Uncle John watching Vicious Circle. We're all laughing, and then I'm like, he's dying. He's slowly dying. So what is that a minute? Movie's been out for quite a while. But for real, what is the switch up? Because I know you're acting. We get that. But as a kid, when you're like, oh, I got shot.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

How do you go from, oh, my neck is exploding. It's such a different, I mean, approach for you. Obviously, you like, you like movies, you like comedy.

[Dane Cook]

It's nothing, you know, blown open every day, and then you have to pretend to die in a way that's, you know, very real. Opposite. One of the greatest actors that I also not only grew up appreciating his performance, I just loved him. I grew up watching, like, Field Dreams and Tin Cup. He could do comedy, he could do Dances With Wolves. He could direct. Like, this is sort of like a person that I want as a mentor and not just as a co star. So imagine the day I get there, I know the scene's coming. We're filming in Shreveport in the middle of the night, you know, in an actual cemetery. The take before, before I had to do the throat scene, I had to just fall into the leaves near, you know, graves, right? And so we just do a scene where I fall into the leaves, and some guy comes over very quickly, reaches out his hand, like, come on, get up, get up, get up. And I'm sort of like, lollygagging. Like, how did that look? And then I realized there's tarantulas. Oh, hell no. Full on giant. That come out in the middle of the night. And so he was getting me up off the ground because they were all over the spot.

[Thomas]

Hey, this cemetery has spiders.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, I'm not, I'm not that diva enough to be like, guys, this cemetery is too many spiders. Not Dane Cook.

[Thomas]

Honestly, I would have pulled that car.

[Dane Cook]

I'm like, I get all bougie in a cemetery two in the morning. Hey, Kevin C. Can we. So, so imagine, I. Then they rigged me up, and then Kevin comes over to me, and I think at that point, I was comfortable enough. Called him Cost. That was like my little nickname for him. I got There I was like, cost.

[Thomas]

The first time.

[Dane Cook]

No, at first it was Mr. Costner, and, you know, and then he was like, kevin, you know, I earned my stripes with him. But he finally says. He comes over and he goes. He's. He's pretty dead serious. He's very straightforward guy. I love that about him. He's like, we have one take to do this one rig with the blood. We don't. We're here. It's two in the morning. It's been a long day for everybody. So it's like, die right in one take and die suffering. And I'm going to be across from judging you, and I'm going to be. I apologize. No, you're good. Sorry, guys.

[Thomas]

Die right. Kevin Costner.

[Dane Cook]

Richard, I'm in the middle of a podcast. You just called me, so say hello to everybody, and then I'm going to call you back. Bye, brother. Airplane mode. So.

[Thomas]

So he tells you, die right?

[Dane Cook]

Kevin's like, I'm an actor. You gotta die right.

[Thomas]

One shot.

[Dane Cook]

You got one take.

[Thomas]

And I'm tired.

[Dane Cook]

How you feeling? Are you good? Everybody's tired. It's a long day. And what happens is, like, you know, of course, when you're, like, playing, pretending you're a kid, you're, you know, you're just doing just that. It's. You're just. You're just going like, okay, from what I've seen other people do versus, like, how would this guy. How would this character that I've lived in the body of now and tried to, like, figure out how to elevate certain nuances and the minutia, you know, of his performance, of his life, things that you guys wouldn't care about or know about are things that I did with my hands or, like, the way I would react or the way that, like, I would add sweat or things that I would do to make sure that you felt it was not me, an element of something else. And so I really was like, okay, I feel like I need to find another gear here. And I have a few minutes to do it. And I still. I could either just do a death scene or I could. This character could die if I do it the right way. And so I finally found. And with Kevin's help and everybody on that set, I finally realized, you know, oh, there was really going to be like a. A moment where he. It would be like an exorcism, and he could kind of exorcise who he truly was, which was not a badass guy who wanted to be a serial killer, but a Scared child.

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[Dane Cook]

And he would scream probably like a child. I, I kind of get goosebumps thinking of it because that when I discovered it, I, I, I. The origin in my mind of who this character was, Mr. Smith. I was really like, oh, that's. He wouldn't, he wouldn't call out in. In test and test. What is that word? Like, against you. He wouldn't, he wouldn't scream out like, you. I, I, you know, revenge or, or. Yeah, yeah, he wouldn't, he wouldn't cry out like that. He would cry out as somebody who he's, from the beginning, been trying to circumvent, which is a person who feels insignificant and lesser and probably abandoned and very childlike. So that scream that you hear in that moment, imagine I'm screaming like that in downtown Shreveport in a cemetery. I'd never heard that sound come out of my body. I wish we could play it right now, because when I hear it back or when that clip plays, creeps out a little bit. I'm literally like, wow. I'm proud of it. Because I found a moment where I was like, if you told me to do that just now, I wouldn't do that. But in that character, in that moment with Kevin looking at me holding that shovel.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

I found this piece of performance that might be the best thing I've ever done on. On film.

[Thomas]

Oh, what a great explanation, man. Truly.

[Dane Cook]

Are we gonna grade my explanations at this point? Yes, because I'd like to be you.

[Thomas]

No, it was great.

[Dane Cook]

I didn't really get more table in between us. Can we maybe add, like, five panels, blue, black wood in here?

[Thomas]

We just made it small.

[Dane Cook]

This guy's a. Every single camera in the shop, he's pulling out of his little fanny pack.

[Thomas]

I know he is. All right, so opposite vibe. How many times in public has anybody yelled, check out the batwing?

[Dane Cook]

Get that A lot. Has anybody ever done it? No. I'm shocked. That's a lot of online. Oh, but, like, can I come to the meet and greet in Batwing? Can I come to the meet and greet and, like, but never. Thankfully, has anybody in person come up and said, I'm shocked? Yeah, by the way, not a good idea. Please don't do it. We are.

[Marty O'Neal]

We got the scream right here. Hurts, doesn't it?

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. And then forget about the scream. I go from the scream to the. Into what that felt like. And I never. I never tested it.

[Thomas]

It was a really horrific ass scene.

[Dane Cook]

I never tested it, so I didn't know what it was even going to feel like. And it. When that exploded, my whole neck I thought was gonna concave because it was powerful, man. That. That split. That blows up. And then the scream took probably all the blood out of my head. So when I landed that time, forget about tarantulas. I literally, I was just, like, laying there, like, am I gonna faint? Oh, I'm in this guy. I'm in this, you know, character. I'm in this guy. It's the worst probably.

[Thomas]

I'm inside this guy two in the.

[Dane Cook]

Morning, at night, inside this guy.

[Thomas]

Bunch of cameras, and I am deep.

[Dane Cook]

And I'm screaming this guy. Okay, I am in the same slit of a neck. Deep. No, it was. It was. And then Kevin came over and when he, you know, brought me up and threw that, you know, half hug, good job. You know, talk about, like, just, you know, if somebody revoked my entertainment entertainer's license the next day, it would have been like, okay, I've done something that I feel like is very, very cool. Yeah, why don't you play it nine more times for us and then we.

[Marty O'Neal]

Can pull the balls out.

[Dane Cook]

An iPhone 11. That was the worst speaker system we had. Such a nice. Unh.

[Thomas]

Okay, so no batwing incredible.

[Dane Cook]

No, no, no batwing incredible.

[Thomas]

Can I get your opinion on waiting 2?

[Dane Cook]

Waiting 2? I never saw you, never watched it. They offered it to me. And. Permission to speak freely, please. Okay.

[Thomas]

Because I'm a fan of both. So I want to know.

[Dane Cook]

I. I hated the script of two. I loved. Could we make a little bit more noise with bottles maybe? He's. He's going down to the recycle plant after this. And I mean, I'm hearing rocks and spinning and he's got seashells over there. I have never. I've done fucking covers for Men's Health that have had less photography taking place.

[Thomas]

It's crazy. Three weeks ago we just started taking pictures we never did before.

[Dane Cook]

Well, I love that you're getting the pictures, but you know what? Like, maybe we do them in, like five minute intervals.

[Thomas]

Yeah, we're going to have them on little cranes.

[Dane Cook]

I can actually take, like, A minute. Get all your cameras.

[Marty O'Neal]

He's got the drone going. He's about to bring in.

[Dane Cook]

Awesome. Wait, no, no. I was just on to something and then I heard more scary noises.

[Marty O'Neal]

Hated the script.

[Thomas]

He hated the script.

[Dane Cook]

Waiting too, thank you very much. Okay, so I read it. I thought it was terrible. I also loved Floyd from Waiting so much. He was based on a couple people I knew where I created that character. We'd all worked at restaurants as like, you know, up and coming, you know, hopefully up and coming performers. So everybody was bringing some real stories to the table. Rob McKittrick, our director, who also wrote it, was like, I'm cool with improv, you know, let's bring some real shit. You know, if there's funny. Welcome to Thunderdome. That was something I was saying in my act. I literally just brought it in there because I thought it would be cool for that kitchen scene. But when Waiting to came along, it's terrible. I think I read about 12 pages and I, it was just, you can.

[Thomas]

Tell right off the bat that you don't like something.

[Dane Cook]

Like, I, I, it was like 12 pages and I, I was like, well.

[Thomas]

They made what's his face like? The, the man when he couldn't even piss in the last one, which threw me off in the beginning.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, Calvin, Calvin.

[Thomas]

They made him like the man in part two.

[Dane Cook]

Okay. I don't know anything about it because it was, I wouldn't, I didn't want to see it, cuz I was bad. But I will tell you because I asked permission to speak freely and you granted me that. So now I'll tell you what I've never told anybody. Okay? Inside scoop right here. I'm gonna do a pause in case you want to do any kind of punch in on the camera, okay. And you can build in some kind of click baity bullshit that these guys did. You're never gonna fucking believe what I'm about to tell you.

[Thomas]

I'm excited.

[Dane Cook]

You got it. Okay, hold on one second. Can we grab some more photos? I just, I wanted Floyd to have a spinoff. I thought Floyd should have his own food truck or restaurant. And I was like, forget the rest of these cronies. I know there's some funny people, but Ryan Reynolds is never coming back to this rinky dink, low budget world. And some of the other casts were, you know, were good. But I knew that they were like, there was no real story. I was like, Floyd, there could be a story in a spin off from this guy. Even if we just Waiting presents Floyd and I wanted to have, like, either a day in the life or what would happen to Floyd if he was given the keys to either that place or his own endeavor. And I would still do it. It's a character I love. It's a character that, like, when you get to be, like, funny but, like, you know, irreverent and just up and have no filter, especially in a time. Now we're coming out of that. Now you have the great Shane Gillespie and the Tony Hinchcliffe they're helping. We're getting back into that era where it's, like, it's too dangerous to say that. Well, we're back in that very dangerous place to be able to, like, communicate comedy. So I think it could still be a Floyd moment. But back then, I was like, man, I was hoping it would be more Floyd centric, because I think the fans would dig seeing more of that guy.

[Thomas]

So 100.

[Dane Cook]

At this point, we emoji. We put this.

[Thomas]

This one?

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Which skin color?

[Dane Cook]

The one that is privileged.

[Thomas]

Okay. There you go. The lighter shade. The lighter shade. So as a fan. As a fan, you guys did deter a lot of people from being dicks to waiters in this last generation.

[Dane Cook]

Is that a new word?

[Thomas]

Deter? Sorry.

[Dane Cook]

I like that.

[Thomas]

Thank you.

[Dane Cook]

I like that here. Could be, like, deterring with tears. You could be so sad that they go this way. Who's getting shunned? Could be deterring.

[Thomas]

I like it. Thank you.

[Dane Cook]

I'm here to help you, man. My education's getting better.

[Thomas]

We started off that way. We started off slap, but, like, when dress here.

[Dane Cook]

No, I wanted. You were in a moment, and I came in and I tobogganed you, and I shouldn't.

[Thomas]

People are less dicks to waiters now because I think they're gonna rub their dick on their food.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, well, you should have known that before for sure.

[Thomas]

But no, when that came out at school, like, be nice to the lunch lady, right? Her tits are gonna go in your jello or something.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, well, we always. You know what? Everybody was nice to the lunch. Lunch lady. For me, she was just like. I was on a. I was on. I was in the pro. The system as a kid. We were kind of a welfare family, and so we had the free lunch tickets. And then, yeah, Marianne was always like, give me extra scoop or something or whatever.

[Thomas]

Oh, it was always a new criminal or a new guy released from jail that did ours, which. Which is kind of crazy to me. Like, hey, kids, food touch. Yeah. You just got out of jail. Go for it. I don't know also.

[Dane Cook]

Yes.

[Thomas]

Dane Cook. Pay per view, 20 minutes. How many times have you heard that?

[Dane Cook]

A lot of times. Flattering. Love it. Anytime somebody constant, a family guy or Will Ferrell or Saturday Night Live, like, you gotta realize growing up as a person that knows you, unless somebody's making fun of you, you're not. I'm doing it. It must be done to me. So it's, it's a hazing, It's a rite of passage. And when that line came up in that movie, it was like, damn, man, I am part of pop culture in a way that you gotta like, have at me. Because I, at that point I was on, like, I run, you know, I was like in extra innings for what today would probably wouldn't happen. I don't think most people have like an eight year run, you know, visibly eight year run of like movies, tv, constant, constant specials, albums, support. And I'm, I'm owning the Internet. I pioneered, you know, tech. So I was like, blessed literally to have this incredible run. So when, when they start spanking you, you're like, oh, this also, this is good. This actually brings me back down to earth, especially in people's eyes. And it prepares you hopefully for a new comeuppance because now you've shown like, oh, I can also take some beatings from time to time when it's my turn to have a very funny person come at me. So I hear it probably Pay per view, 20 minutes. Every live I ever do, it's up on the screen at some point. And I love it. I don't take it personal. And if anything, when people come at me, like, with, with things that are. You got to be funny, though. If you think you're funny and you're one of those people, like, that's like heartbreaking because you're like, oh, this person doesn't know what funny is, but they're trying to be funny. And then that comes off kind of weird. But people being actually funny and coming at you with like impersonations and lines or whatever it is that you, you like. You're like, this is all I ever wanted. I wanted to be that guy.

[Thomas]

Yeah, I love that answer. Hell yeah. You actually like doing this?

[Dane Cook]

I love it. Yeah. And it's, you know, all the slings and arrows that come with it. Like, I'm not saying I like that. Failure. And when you get like on because somebody hates your movie or special or. And, and everybody, it's so accessible. Everybody's opinion is right in front of you today. I don't Revel in negative. I try to avoid it, actually, as much as possible. But you do kind of go, like, controversy. Very good for business. Makes your fans even more steadfast. And even Haterade is a version of love. So you're entertaining. Even people that are not entertained by you are entertained by that. Yeah, I'll take it all. I like all of it. There's always room for growth, too, because I've had people come in now and go, I hated you 10 years ago. I wrote you that I actually want to share something with you as a reason to why I like you now. And they explain it, or maybe they went through a hardship or they saw something different. You did. And then people that loved you from the beginning go, your new thing wasn't like your old thing. Yeah. And then. Then they tap out. Yeah. And so you're kind of like, okay, it's all cyclic.

[Thomas]

Revolving door.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, it's all good, you know, so I'm in for it. I'm in for whatever, you know, high watermark moments. And even years that, like, I feel like it's, you know, perfectly shattered was called Perfectly Shattered Tour because I'd had a year before that. I felt like things didn't go according to plan. Everything busted apart, and yet the pieces of my failure were perfectly shattered to lead me to some of the best moments in my life. So I was like, all right, this. This is fucked. But this is my fucked.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

And now I get to explore and go like, oh, there's some things in here I learned, and there's some funny shit in here. And then the whole theme of it is like, this is what a terrible year looked like in my life. And then by the end of that year, I made it funny, so it's all par for the course.

[Thomas]

What's up, guys? Taking a moment to talk about one of our sponsors. And this is Raw rolling papers, the official rolling paper of the Dope As Usual podcast. If you haven't seen it, Raw just brought out the fatty. And I know it's a play on words. I'm fat, but this thing is actually wider than the king size. You know when you see people rolling backwards sitting there with a paper in their hand, you can actually do that with this paper because it's so damn wide. These right here, 32 packs of cones. Three cones per box. You've seen the classic combs that come three a piece. This right here is one giant cone for, like, the seven grammer out there. Josh, Never. They're. They're Willy Wonka. It is The Charlie and Chalk Factory, if you've ever seen one. This person is non stop dedicated his life to making different stuff for papers and smoking. So also with that being said, here's another pack. These are the Ethereals, one and one quarter. I know we had the King size slims. Here's the 1 1/4. The thinnest paper Raw has ever made ever. Go to Raw Life 247 on Instagram. Let them know you saw them here on the podcast. Thank you so much for doing all the giveaways. We just did the sign Goblin Raws and all that. Thank you so much for supporting us. Thank you for supporting the brands that support us. So this has been Raw rolling papers. The official rolling paper of the dope as usual podcast. Let's get right back into this episode. Have a dope ass day. These right here. You are the first person, I think, in entertainment history to utilize social media in the way that you did and then have it take off person.

[Dane Cook]

You think I'm the first?

[Thomas]

I think you're the first person in entertainment, I think.

[Dane Cook]

I think, yeah. I mean, there were other. I can tell you that. I saw Lenny Kravitz. I saw Lenny Kravitz.

[Thomas]

Is Lenny Kravitz, though. Like you. You did something went, hey, I want to make everything.

[Dane Cook]

There was a few people there was like, like Lenny Kravitz was doing on MySpace. MySpace was for you kids at home. It was Tik Tok 1.0.

[Thomas]

Oh, I like that.

[Dane Cook]

And so my stag was the first. Yeah, like presentation portal to the world through, you know, social media clips, you know, what am I doing today online now, all that. So it's like Lenny Krafitz was over here and I was watching him do stuff in music. And then over here, believe it or not, like the US army was already leaning into, like, had a pretty dynamic flash website which was like the. Yeah, yeah. And I saw, I was like, man, the army's got a cool site. I took what little money I had. I created a cool website. I linked it with the MySpace. So I had social media. I had a great dynamic kind of tour page. And I pretty quickly saw that, like, I could populate my world with fans that didn't have access to my shows, you know, regionally, but they were finding my clips and hanging out with me in this, you know, virtual blah, blah, blah.

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[Dane Cook]

So, yeah, I definitely saw a few people, but no comics. And I took full advantage of that and felt like in that first six months of being present in that, I was like, I saw a number hit one day where I was like, I don't know, it went from like 5,000 to 10,000. And my Richard who just called me, okay, my. I call him my brother. He's not my real brother, but he really is my brother. He was my first neighbor, and he's my family, and I love him. That guy who just called. Talk about serendipity, huh? He called. He was the guy who walked into my office and he goes, d. He goes, d, what are you doing? And I go, I'm building a army. And I was in my underwear eating froot loops. And he's like, what? And I was like. And then I showed him. I go, see this number? I go, this. This is so significant. I just went from 5,000 to 10,000. And I walked him through it, and he stood and he looked. And I go, this guy's. And I go, look. And I asked everybody where they're from. And I was like, this guy's in Oregon. This guy's in Delaware. This guy's in Tampa. And I go, this fucking girl's in Toronto. And I was like, this 5,000. I go. And I kind of, like looked around at Hollywood. I go, I already own this place. I got it. I just won. I'm already so far ahead of everybody. And I really did sit there in my office, kind of giddy and giggling, going, they don't even know what's coming. Yeah, I'm going to build an army of fans. And I did that. The industry had to let me in. It did not want to. At first it was kind of like, what's up, Dane Cook? We have a few other people that are sort of buoyant and interesting and more handsome than you and more fucking blah, blah, blah, more, more, more. And you're. But once I had those fans, man, suddenly I was handsomer and more interesting. And, you know, I was checking boxes that the industry beforehand was like, you know, kind of like, whatever, whatever. And then my fans put me on the map.

[Marty O'Neal]

How long did it take to, like, the venues were all MySpace fans.

[Dane Cook]

How long did it take before, like.

[Marty O'Neal]

You were building up your newsletter list and your MySpace?

[Dane Cook]

It was, you know, like the dramatic version was like, by that fourth year, I could hit a button and fill an arena. One, one button at like, I'm in the Air Canada Center. Sold out. But leading up to that, I saw it go from college gigs where we would kind of like do Open Door where you could, you could get me as a college. And then people could come in the community could come in and like buy a ticket or come to the field house that we were renting or however that worked out. I saw it as like, oh, if I click the button, I'm adding regionally upwards of 3, 4, 5,000 people. Because we're now moving from the cafeteria or the small arts performing center to something bigger. And they're calling me going, can we move the. The show to the other theater? Because we have a lot of people. Or people would be outside the doors and windows like, like literally, Literally, like leaning in like this. So it was probably over that two or three year period where I could click the button and saw like, like an instant rapid growth wherever I was performing.

[Marty O'Neal]

Yeah. And it was still years to the other comedians. Really caught up.

[Dane Cook]

Can you sit here? Because he's just actually at this point, it's kind of a kink in the neck moment. No, no, no. What was that again?

[Marty O'Neal]

It was still years. Like, I came up doing a lot of digital media for comedians.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Marty O'Neal]

And even in many years later, so many of them were still like, understanding how powerful it was to like focus on building your news list and.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Marty O'Neal]

Directly connecting with the fans.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, it was, Listen, it was incremental and it definitely was not like an overnight sensation sort of thing. But that era was like. Yeah. A good, like four years of shaking every hand digitally. And I did, I wrote every single person back. I sent them WAV files of, you know, stand up or Kaza Links or Limewire or then later Napster. So I was hooked into the mainframe. But I was also coming up with a generation of comedy fans that were not familiar with comedy or had never seen comics previous. They might have watched Comedy Central. Little watered down, sort of homogenized and a bit boring. So they were seeing somebody contemporary, edgy, you know, cooler, coming up with cool album titles and covers and. And so it really felt like a happening with that group. I didn't know it would get. I would hoped, but I didn't know would get to that place. It finally Got to Boston Garden, Madison Square, all that, you know, vicious circle and the big, you know, rough around the edges. But in that four year period I was like, I'm just building up like an allegiance that will hopefully buy me some time on the clock in this town to show them that I got some, some tools in the arsenal.

[Marty O'Neal]

It was a weird time in comedy between that first like golden era of the LA Comedy Store and then like the. When the Rogan era kind of really set in.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, well that was after. Because Death Squad, sort of after my run, then that group and, and funny because Joe was always as fascinated with Internet in his growth and progress there. We took two different roads. It's kind of funny he took more of a forum in a like his form was awesome. His forum was epic. But it was also like, it was less at that time for him about the, the clips and the files and.

[Marty O'Neal]

He was writing essays and on there.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, it wasn't as much about the, the in real time correspondence and meet and greets. He chose to do something different which worked obviously led him to where he would, you know, explode that into something so much more entrepreneurial in my route was definitely more like, like, like it's a pop up. Come to the show, I'm gonna hang. The after party's gonna just as fun as the grassroots. Yeah. The letting them know it's we, we are the street team, you know, we're shaking up the industry. You're putting me on the map. We were, we were doing all that, you know, together in unison. In a time when the algorithm didn't control us, the corporate entities didn't know how to finesse it and control it. We had like that five year period where like what I posted ruled the day. Yep. It, it, it got to where we wanted it to go was the Wild West. And once ads and once those things started coming in and you were seeing laundry detergents and stuff, you're like, ah, oh man, it's over. Oh, this is going to be like pay, pay to boost. And yeah. And, and it became a different thing but for that era, for that time it was like, you know, growing, growing, growing, boom.

[Thomas]

So you're sitting there doing comments hours a day, talking to people, sending them away, just like, like we do all our comments, right?

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

So for the past 10 years we've been doing all our comments.

[Dane Cook]

It's meaning you're replying to people and you're letting them know, like I, I hear you.

[Thomas]

First thousand comments, every episode, every video, everything. Because it does make a Connection. When you meet those people in person, go, oh, you're Jake 505. Holy. I've been talking for five years. Isn't it the best? They're lifelong fans on top of lifelong fans.

[Dane Cook]

Jake505, such a great guy, by the way.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

You know, he's just a small business owner from Kentucky, doesn't have a lot of time. He's still on an Android, but he still shows. We could all chip in. And, Jake, we're coming for you, man. We didn't forget about you.

[Thomas]

It's true, though, man. Like, I guarantee you, when those first couple years, you show up at shows. Oh, I know all of your screen names.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

It's just.

[Dane Cook]

It's. They knew my AIM screen name at the time, which I am was like, again, the early DM used to be. I am.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

And so all these little accoutrements back in the day were what took me from, you know, not even relative unknown, just unknown to even my relatives, to being like the bell of the ball and knowing I, you know, I am the needle right now. You know, we're setting the bar. My fans, my touring business, my production company, we got to sort of have fun setting the rules for a certain period of time. It was great.

[Marty O'Neal]

Did you know Joe and Bill and Patrice and all them in Boston or afterwards?

[Dane Cook]

I knew Joe from. Well, all of them, yes. But I knew Joe especially once we got in LA because we used to play a lot of Quake the 3 Arena. So we were always like, what's online gamer buddy? It was. Remember, like, Unreal Tournament games like that before. Before Call of Duty, there was games like Soldier of Fortune.

[Thomas]

Oh, he's talking about real gaming.

[Dane Cook]

Gaming, yeah, yeah. No, we were like. We were both. He.

[Thomas]

You guys are video game clans.

[Dane Cook]

We did. I love that. Joe got me on. He called me up one day, he goes, you got to get this computer. I had a Dell computer. He goes, you got to get an Alienware. And he was the guy who turned me on to Alienware computer. And so I built my rig because Joe helped me to get with Alienware. And then we were playing Quake 3. Arena was one of the first. First person shooters, and we were gaming. So we'd come out of Boston, ended up knowing each other. Then Patrice was on the road with me for a number of years. Rest in peace. One of the funniest that'll ever be. Burr. We came up together. He drove me to New York. When I first moved to New York, he literally packed, you know, his little red Toyota up, moved Me to New York, you know, there I was hitting my stride and guys like Bill and Patrice, they were still trying to find their fans. They were still trying to. It's crazy where their, their moment was, you know, and, and so it was kind of cool because every once in a while we could all ten fingers and get each other up to the next, you know, plateau or platform or if nothing else, just hang outside of a club at night going, man, what do I gotta do? Or you know, doing crunches next to each other at Bulldog gym on La Brea. Me and Burr years ago and just stopping every 20 crunches being like, oh man, like this. What the, like what is this all leading towards?

[Thomas]

You know, it's cool to hear that though, because there's a lot of people that go out there like, I'm not Dane Cook. Like no name Cook wasn't Dane Cook either, man. You have to, it takes like hearing you say, I'm stopping, going, what am I doing? My life. Yeah, I know it sucks, but it helps people here go. Oh, it's real.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. Well, it helps people also hear it because I didn't have any. There was no shortcut and I did wasn't like I was the son of a broadcast. Like it was, it was real. Like out of the gate. Like I came from generations of guys that like built railroads and drank and then built a railroad and drank while they're building the railroad. And like suddenly it's like tada. Like this guy like. So I was really, you know, trying to use the generations of maybe tenacity and like, you know, broad shouldered, lean in. But I was trying to do that in a field I had really no business. I didn't even really understand it. Nobody walked me in. No playbook.

[Thomas]

I mean, you just walked up one day. I think I can make people laugh.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, that's how we all started in Boston, you know. How old were you? I was, Well, I was 19. I was. When I first did open mic in Boston, I think I, I was 20 years old.

[Thomas]

I mean that's a bold move. Like, you know, what do I got to say? Let's go try it.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, a couple. I remember one of the first bits ended up on my album a decade later was called Speak and Spell. It was one of the first things.

[Thomas]

That was one of the first things you did.

[Dane Cook]

Because I'd written that in high school and I knew I could do an impersonation of it and it made my friends laugh and so I, I, that was a nugget that I held on To. Then I had another thing because I worked at Burger King and we used to call it the BK Lounge. And so I got that in my hand and I'm.

[Thomas]

Some of your first things.

[Dane Cook]

Oh. Oh, yeah.

[Thomas]

I just shocked that some of the.

[Dane Cook]

First things you write the first night was a couple of bad impersonations. But that bit, a bit called I was raped by a snowman, which actually had an article called I was raped by a snowman. I would take it out of my pocket and hold it up.

[Thomas]

Oh, you take what out of your butt?

[Dane Cook]

No, Raped by a stone.

[Thomas]

When you reach to your box.

[Dane Cook]

I would. I had an article that would. That's. That was. Was the headline. And so some good, bad jokes, some crazy outlandish. But then a couple of bits that actually worked enough that I went, all right, that should stay in my repertoire. And then later became the first album that I ever put out. So that's.

[Thomas]

I'm shocked that you kept your. Some of your first things.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, I mean, that's awesome. I didn't. I mean, you do an open mic, you go, wow. It's probably shit that I thought of in, in high school. I just got out of high school, or hanging around like pizza places that I was working at or video stores. So it was just, you know, what is that? Like, cobbled together ideas. Not really much of an act, just more just spitfire. And. And when you get those few laughs, I left. It was called Catcherizing Star. When I walked out of that club, I just knew I was like, my life, it's. It's totally different, you know, I was like, I'm gonna die doing this.

[Marty O'Neal]

Your family believe in you?

[Dane Cook]

Oh, yeah. Full, full on support from the most important person. My mom was like a real champion of mine. Very funny. She saw that in me. So when I said, you know. And she saw me do theater in high school, so she knew I had, like, the chops. She saw I could hit my punch lines in a play and was getting laughs in the theater. She saw that I could, you know, I could sing, I could dance. I was doing all the. She was like, oh, you're. You. You are an entertainer. She probably saw my report card and realized, you're not a mathematician. You're not. You're pretty much not anything that has to do with school, but drama. You seem to.

[Thomas]

You're dramatic.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. Creative writing, drama, journalism. She saw that I had a certain, you know, like, creative flair there. So thankfully she was supportive. And people around me, they were like, they were my friends. They were like my best Friend in the world. His name is Al Delbenny. He lives in Australia with his wife. He's a comedian down there. Very, very successful comedian. I knew him since I was 14. He was the first person I said to in drama. What are you thinking about doing after high school? And he's like, I'm not sure. And I go, I want to be on Saturday Night Live. I'm in ninth grade. And he goes, I actually want to be on Saturday Night Live. And so we both want to be comedians. We want, you know, who doesn't want to be on Saturday Live, by the way? But at that time, we. We. We had a certain kind of, like, connection. And when we graduated high school, we did that open mic together at Catch Rising Star. And then he went to Bunker Hill Community College and called me and said, I'm in a comedy group called Al and the Monkees. Do you want to come be in our comedy group? And I was like, yes, anything. And so I joined that group. And then we became, for about four years, the, like, premier comedy group in New England. Because we would, if you booked us, we would do an hour of sketch and improv, and we would open up. There's four of us. We would open up with cop. We would all go up and do a set. So we would give you seven minutes each of comedy, which was good for us because now we're practicing before we even go up and, like, you know, play music or do freeze tag or whatever games we're playing or sketches. So we're learning. We're doing stand up, we're ending with sketch, and we're leaving people in this variety show. It's a variety show. That's exactly it. So that was all our beginning years with Burr, with Gary Goleman, with Patrice O'Neill, with Bobby Kelly, with all the Aldell, Benny, myself, and, you know, other great Bob Marley, who is so fun, still one of the funniest guys in New England who comes out of Maine. There's more I'd like to name, but just we. We had our crew, man, we had our squad, and we. We were not going to take no for an answer.

[Thomas]

It's really true. I've never heard of a comedy group like that. We don't. I grew up in the Central Valley. We don't have stuff like that. That sounds amazing.

[Dane Cook]

It's not really out here as much. They have groundlings and stuff, but I think they're synonymous. Synonymous with, like, learn to improv to better improve your auditioning in your career, as opposed to, like, Second city in Chicago, which is like, this is a means to an end. You might come and watch this, right? This is. This is an art form. This. This writing, this character, the what's happening in the room. Like, all those things in certain regions lead up to, like, that being a successful endeavor. So for us in Boston, there were troops. We hated that word. We were like, we don't want to be called a troop. We weren't like, hoyy toity. We were scrubs. We were Boston. Like, we were like the outcasts of, like, traditional troops. We were group. And I'll tell you one funny thing, and maybe some of your viewers will find it funny. Maybe you will. Like the first. Do you know the first rule of improv?

[Thomas]

You can't say no, don't deny.

[Dane Cook]

Can't say no. This is how bad we were in and how, like, uninformed. Our first rule of improv in our group was deny.

[Thomas]

What the fuck?

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. So when you came in and you were coming, like, pantomiming, holding a cute little baby, you just look at the person to go, why are you holding a dead bear? And be like, I just said I'm holding a little baby. Look at the beautiful little baby. And then, like, it was just denied. Deny, deny. Off the rails. Hard to follow it just like, hard, like. Because we knew we weren't that funny as writers.

[Thomas]

It's like the outsiders.

[Dane Cook]

Here's our great idea. We knew that it had to feel like something that was completely unusual in order to make it work, and we did. We were very successful. If we kept it going, we probably could have done great things. But one had to leave the group and ruin it. And that was me. I was like, guys, I'm tapping out. We had a good run.

[Thomas]

My space.

[Dane Cook]

I can make more money by myself. And I think this thing called the Internet is going to be in my favor. But no, we were. We killed it. We. We played it to the hill. We had a lot of fun. We met a lot of cute girls and then tapped out.

[Thomas]

Sounds great.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

There's one thing we cannot get by. I need to know. I was raped by a snowman. I need to know what's happening.

[Dane Cook]

The article. I actually am talking about it some nights in my new standup set because I ended up doing that bit for the first year, and it was an article. It was. It said I was right by a snowman. I cut off the article, and I would take it out of my pocket, and then I would go through, obviously what are gonna come across as you Know, probably puns or something here, but being like in the court document. She touched his snowballs. She was a snowblower. Like, you name a good bad snow winter related bit, your boy was tearing up the charts.

[Thomas]

Wait, we had school or what?

[Dane Cook]

No, this is. I'm doing open mics. I'm doing.

[Thomas]

I'm saying the radio.

[Dane Cook]

The article is probably like, okay, remember like those. The rags that used to come out like, like Globe newspaper. Okay, so not the Boston, but it was really printed. Oh, this is the actual article. So with a woman. With a woman's face who they probably found in like an old obituary. And we're like, all right, we're going to use her. This is an article that I cut out was like, hey, somebody wrote it. I can make fun of it. And so there I was, I laminated it. And by the way, it's in my office behind me. If you ever see me podcasting on, you know, that's for my.

[Thomas]

It's right there.

[Dane Cook]

It's behind me.

[Thomas]

Yeah, I thought you meant you wrote a story and got it published called I was raped by. That's why this whole time, like, no, that's why you said, you know. And then I pulled it out. I was like, what did you pull out?

[Dane Cook]

Make a lot more sense. My comedy lifestyle. Where did this all come from? Drama. And it comes from the saddest wintery.

[Thomas]

Day, the second that leaves fall.

[Dane Cook]

The name of my story is Blood in the Snow. And no, it was a real article. It turned out to be a real interesting part of my routine. It got me. Laughs I was, I was the title. I was out there, I was fudgeing, saying like. And by the way, I. I haven't even touched upon where we really took it. In some of the even more hardcore nooks and crannies, we would take a joke like that. But at that time, man, there were no rules. It was unbridled today, like even saying certain words, I'm sure people trigger flag people like even that it's like it. The algorithm might hear that word and like suddenly we're going to get less views. There's a million things that work against you at that time. Here's a simple explanation. If you want to know if you should be offended by something or somebody. It's real easy if you watch something or somebody. First of all, you have to watch the performer in its entirety. You have no rights to speak on anything if you haven't watched it. If you watch an excerpt, you're a fucking loser. An excerpt is just One piece without an in or an out, and you don't fucking know the context. But here's the keyword. And you might want to take a picture for this. Or 4,000 in a row. Here's the key word. The key word is malice. And if somebody doesn't have malice, okay? And you can sense that by educating yourself, by just listening. If there's no malice, you're gonna know, okay, this person's operating on maybe just an observe and report level or something else that isn't like he's trying to victimize. He's trying to be mean.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

Or just so malice. And then also understanding that the. The number one rule for all you comedians and people that want to either sing a song about your life or perform a joke, the rule is this. If it happened to you, if you heard it, if it's of you, say it. You could say whatever the fuck you want. It's America. That's our right. And especially when you're elevated two feet on a stage above people, you're in the dome. You're in this, the magic space, okay? If it happened to you, now, if it didn't happen to you and you're making it up, or it's not your story to tell, or you're trying to talk about a lifestyle that is not of your own, like, maybe leave that to that person to share their story. I do believe comedy has changed in the. The one way it's changed that I'm in. In favor of is, yeah, you're just gonna pick on somebody for the sake of picking on them if you're not involved in that person's narrative. Like, maybe you are just trying to be shock value.

[Thomas]

Yes.

[Dane Cook]

Maybe you are just trying to be a fucking prick. And. And, I don't know, maybe something happened to you where you want the crowd to turn on you. Maybe you want to walk the crowd. I don't know. Okay, if those are your intentions, fine. But being a showman, being a performer, being somebody who wants to, like, have those tentacles go out and find more fans, like, you're. You're only gonna do it. You can still have shock, but do it with the stories that actually you've experienced. And if those words are words that people said to you or those things have happened to you, like, that's yours, you can go for it.

[Thomas]

Great advice.

[Dane Cook]

That's it.

[Thomas]

We had one comedian, Justin May Peluso, on here. She's hilarious.

[Dane Cook]

I've known her for many, many years.

[Thomas]

She's so funny.

[Dane Cook]

Very funny. In fact, the first Time I met her, I think was the improv. And on the way home, I happened to see her in the car next to mine. And I'm probably misremembering, but I think I was like. We both pulled over, we. We chatted on the side of the road for about 10 minutes and I was like, you're very funny. And we just, you know, shared some niceties and then she went on her way. I didn't see her for a lot of years and the next time I saw her, I was like, wow. It was just like she was crushing.

[Thomas]

Yeah. Which was one of our first guests we ever had on the show. She's so funny. The reason why I bring her up, because she's like, say whatever the fuck you want, as long as it's you. Because I had this character, I'm like, I don't want to say that.

[Dane Cook]

Say it.

[Thomas]

She's like, she was talking about some horrific shit that happened to her and then her mom had as. I have a character. He's. He's the, he's a dementia ridden rapist. Because you wasn't sure if he did it or not. And it was like a stupid joke. And then she's the one that's like, keep going, I'm going to use it. So when you say like, if it's.

[Dane Cook]

Real and it's you, then yes, if it's.

[Thomas]

If it's. It was so up.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

But I was like, yo, but if.

[Dane Cook]

It'S not of you, then you're gonna, you'll know you still make it last because you're gonna.

[Thomas]

Oh, this is not a stage thing.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. But anyway, just anywhere, skits or whatever, you know, even something on here, like something off the cuff, what you're trying to do is stay in the pocket of like, even in banter mode. Who am I? You know? Because if you start doing things outside the lines that really are. It's in poor taste. You're gonna step in like it's just not even worth it, you know, just. Just like play your notes. And, and people, if they do their due diligence, they're going to see if you do say something outside the lines. If there's no malice, then, like, that's the main thing.

[Thomas]

When in the history of comedy, it's very rare where people are seriously being pieces of to people. I don't see it often.

[Dane Cook]

Well, yeah, I mean, you know what.

[Thomas]

I'm saying, When they say over the line, like, whoa, that was a little crazy. You meant that.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. It's still the opinion of the audience member. And there's so much that we could kind of put on them to be like, okay, easy, relax. But you don't know. You listen. The front row of any comedy audience, you know, there's somebody in that row who's been through the terrible trauma that you might. There's somebody who's just been through the procedure. Operation that you might touch upon, you know, too soon, too soon. There's. It. We can't read minds because you'd be up there going, I don't want to hurt his feelings, her feelings, their feelings. You know, they were just divorced. I have a divorce job. Like, oh, why tonight? I'm political. Like, I don't want to vote that way. And suddenly, like, I'm the. It's just like, it's all hogwash. Observant report from first person perspective. And it doesn't mean, you know, stay out of trouble. Does make you any funnier. But at least they're sensing something real. And real is more important than funny. Real Trump's funny. Real. Real over funny. If you're. If you're very funny but not real, you're sort of like the song of summer. It's kind of like a toe tapper dissipates. You're kind of forgettable, but you're kind of funny. Maybe. Ah, we. We like that person. Right? But if you're real and then funny. No, forever. Now you're into people's skin.

[Thomas]

Joey. Joey D is effect.

[Dane Cook]

Joey D has such a great example. Like, real and then not just funny. Like, we're gonna put him in his own. I think Joey's sort of in his own. You know, he can just speak, but real. Yeah, yeah. It's a lot of things with him. He. He got, like, kissed by the comedy gods.

[Thomas]

Yes, dude.

[Dane Cook]

There's history, backstory, you know, foibles, you know, come up, and there's a number of reasons that you want to root for Joey Diaz. But for the most part, most comics, especially in the precarious day we live in now, which is very corporate and very like the algorithm, you know, you gotta. You got your testimony. Your. Your personal constitution has to come from what you know and who you are. And that will sort of save you from getting, you know, stalled or people impeding on it, because you can always go, this is. This is real. This is my. So people in the front row have a problem with it. It's not like I came out of character to just purposely with you. Yeah, yeah. And so again, it's like the shell game of what works when and zeitgeisting and the comedy gods. And there's a billion things that work against. And if you start with those few, you know, prerequisites, then you're at least setting yourself up for success because you're like, what you see is what you get on the real deal. Holy field. That's it.

[Thomas]

What's up, guys? Taking a moment to talk about one of the coolest products I've ever seen. And this is the Nova by Cipher. Right now. Go to Nova by Cipher on Instagram. Let them know you saw them on the Dope As Usual podcast. You've seen this product on my main channel before. It is shockingly awesome. I know this is going to catch on. This is in the next two, three years. It's going to be one of the biggest things in the world. And you heard it here first. I'm saying that with full confidence. Coming up very soon is an art contest. And what's that? Art contest. You're going to be able to put your own Novas available on the website from the artist, putting your art out to the world honestly, and your art on things that we actually love and use. If you don't know what the Nova is, it is a pipe, it's a bong, it's a butler. It's every single thing you can think of. It's. What do you want it to be? Right here inside of the pods. All right? You fill these up with what you want, put it right in, all in one system. Done. Hold this button, rip it, or you want to make it a bong. Water attachment right on the top. Turns it into an actual on the go piece. I can fit this in my pocket on a hike. I know it doesn't look like I hike often, but when I do hike, this is the go to. Nobody wants to carry a full beaker up a mountain. This is the ultimate way to go. This is the best thing you can possibly have in your pocket when it comes to flour and or concentrates. What's up, guys? Taking a moment from this episode to talk about my bookie. If you don't want. My bookie is. My bookie is the number one place to bet on anything, anytime, anywhere. Special sports, the presidential election, a bunch of things. All right, all right. In the next couple weeks, UFC 309. Huge, insane giant card. John Bones Jones is coming back 1000%. I'm betting money on Jon Jones. That's where my money's going for everyone out there right now. My book. You can bet on anything, anytime, anywhere. Go bet on the rounds. Go bet on the elbows, Go bet on the knee. Go. You go bet on any single thing, not just ufc. You want to go bet in the live casino, you can do that. Use our code at checkout. Dope, as usual. Or click the link. It's going to take you to our website, go to our sponsorship page. That right there is going to match you up to $1,000. Listen to what I'm saying. Dope as usual. My bookie. This is the deal we're doing. If you use our code, you bet $630, they're going to match you $630. You bet 999. They're going to match you 999 all the way up to $1,000 on your first bet. So shout out to my bookie, as always, for supporting our show. Double up your bet just by watching the show. That's awesome. Thank you so much. And if you're going to bet on any sports, anything, anytime, anywhere, make sure it is with my bookie. Use our code back to the episode.

[Marty O'Neal]

That's. That's great advice. Thomas just did his first stand up at the improv.

[Thomas]

Yeah, I just did the first. First one. That was very super tight the whole time. I'm shocked. I wasn't nervous at all.

[Dane Cook]

It was super loose. I. Yeah, super loose.

[Thomas]

You want to see you hear something funny? I almost fell flat in my face. First step up there.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, no. I have great balance.

[Thomas]

And I was like, yeah, I almost slid on my chest. That would have been great.

[Dane Cook]

That illumination hits you and suddenly you're. I don't know what happened. That's it. I know. What? 34 years in, dude. Listen to the old bull on the hill. I know what happened. Your eyes didn't adjust to the light properly. And then that one step, right? You can't calibrate it because you get vertigo in that moment.

[Thomas]

Oh, thank you.

[Dane Cook]

Yes. And your heart's racing like a. I was just hyped.

[Thomas]

My.

[Dane Cook]

Oh. Oh, yeah. It's all. It's all happening all at once, right? Your adrenaline, your dopamine. Right. I don't really say, you know, it was so fun, right? It is so fun.

[Thomas]

Within 30 seconds, I'm like, yeah, yeah, just fun.

[Dane Cook]

It's fun. And then you leave. And it's weird. It's the only thing that I think is really fun until after. And then you start seeing all the holes in it and the places where you could have been more fun or more proficient. So you go like, I'm Having fun. And. And then like five hours later you're.

[Thomas]

Like watching the piece, like, oh, God, Wow.

[Dane Cook]

Why did I move my idiots to laugh at that? I didn't even say the right line and they laughed anyway.

[Thomas]

Like, I feel so much better you saying that right now, man. I watched the thing back went. That's how you look.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, this is what I want. That's the side thing. I would say this. Congratulations. You stink.

[Thomas]

Thank you.

[Dane Cook]

But congrats. Thank you.

[Thomas]

Very fun. Super fun.

[Dane Cook]

Good man. Good for you.

[Marty O'Neal]

Is it true you did a seven.

[Dane Cook]

Hour show before I did I. People make deals. I did. It was at the Live Factory. It's not a world record, which is like 38 hours straight in England somewhere.

[Marty O'Neal]

Oh, God.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah. It was just a. It was just a local. It was a local thing.

[Marty O'Neal]

But did it just keep going? Like, did you not plan?

[Dane Cook]

I just did seven hours. I really. I wish I had a more interesting way to say it. I just stayed up and I was like, I don't want to go home. I. I remember thinking like, oh, if I go home, I'm just kind of going to be bored and lonely tonight. And I just was like three hours in, I'm like, like, you guys want to stay up here? The record's five and a half hours. And they were like, keep going. It just. It was just a thing. And then we all left the next morning and open up the door and like the sun. I never left a comedy club and had the sun, like, just kill me. And 48 people that stayed. It was 63 people that started the night. 48 people. 43 people ended up walking out of the club with me at six.

[Thomas]

Wow. That's a. That's a huge number.

[Dane Cook]

But honestly, of all, it wasn't that big a deal. It really wasn't. I know it sounds, but no, I didn't leave the stage. I never peed. I never sat down. It was true. Stand up for seven hours. But it's not any kind of record. It was just a local thing that I felt like doing because I'm still awesome.

[Marty O'Neal]

It's crazy.

[Thomas]

Very cool.

[Marty O'Neal]

You have that much in your head that you can just keep talking, keep riffing, man.

[Dane Cook]

That much in my head, it was just me. Like, I knew everybody in the crowd by the end. I. I would just. There were many moments where it was probably very cerebral and kind of like just, you know, trying to figure my way through, but it really was just like one of those things that when I did it and I was finally done, I was like, all Right. I'm never doing that again. I don't need to do that again. But for what it was worth, that night, I was like, all right, that was kind of an adventure.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Something you never did.

[Dane Cook]

Never did.

[Thomas]

Okay, my last question for you.

[Dane Cook]

All right. Better be the best question.

[Thomas]

It's a question. I want to know if, like, from. From. From an opinion.

[Dane Cook]

Okay.

[Thomas]

Because you. I know you're watching. I know you're seeing.

[Dane Cook]

Yeah, hold on a second. I'm just gonna get my picture. Picture taken real quick.

[Thomas]

Go. It's probably the coolest picture of the day. It's probably the coolest one.

[Dane Cook]

Rock. What do you got?

[Thomas]

You're watching comedy. You're seeing this.

[Dane Cook]

I thought this was going to be one of those gay questions that it's like, favorite cereal. No. Apple Jacks.

[Thomas]

We should definitely do.

[Dane Cook]

Who are you? I thought you were just setting me up for one of those weird last questions, but instead, you really. You're gonna ask you a real question. Hold on, let me. Let me adjust in my coffin. Yeah, okay. Oh, my God, dude. My fell.

[Thomas]

There's tarantulas right there.

[Dane Cook]

Like, 15 questions ago and 80,000 snaps of his shitty old camera.

[Thomas]

Okay, are there anybody that Ask comedy fans.

[Dane Cook]

Okay, Weird way to start the question.

[Thomas]

Is there anybody out there that we should be watching as?

[Dane Cook]

I'm that guy. I'm such a little prick.

[Thomas]

Go. Go for it.

[Dane Cook]

Okay.

[Thomas]

Who, as comedy fans, is there anybody that we should just go check out.

[Dane Cook]

That you think has potential to be anybody who's featuring? For me, I feel like I name, so I feel like. Yeah, I feel like I'm always trying to, you know, find that next person, and I want to highlight and showcase people that I think are going to, you know, change the landscape of comedy in some way. I also think that, like, if you're a decent comic, decent person, that you want to challenge yourself and put somebody very funny on, and you want to also present somebody, right?

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Dane Cook]

So I've had on tour for the last two years Drew Dunn.

[Thomas]

Drew Dunn.

[Dane Cook]

And Drew. I mean, I feel like he's. This is a weird kind of person to. To relate him to, but, like, he reminds me of, like, somebody who's just like, a great voiceover actor who can kind of play any kind of character. And I think he's going to be a guy that, like, ends up creating, you know, a great animated series. He's so funny. He's quick off the cuff. He's got great material. So people have been loving Drew Dunn. He. He really. He kills It. And then I've got a guy right now that I really like named Adam Mamawala who's on tour with me. He's actually going to be on tour for the next month. I have Erica Rhodes who I love and she's going to be with me in I don't know when this is but like in my Washington D.C. date.

[Thomas]

Okay.

[Dane Cook]

And I feel like Erica is one of. I hate like when people go funniest girl or got like Erica's funny comedian. She's just funny. And so Erica, Adam, Drew Dunn. And it's kind of funny because on the tour last year, not the perfectly shattered tour that was Drew Dunn, but the year before that was Matt Rife. Oh, Matt Rife was on the come up featuring for me. And I'm privileged to say that I've had guys like Matt that have just come up the ranks and you know, they kind of blown out, you know, have their, their moment and then I get to sit back and watch and be like, oh man, it was cool. Because you know my, my fans are true comedy fans and some of them got on to me because another comic that you know, showcased me and so that pay it forward kind of attitude is something that's deeply important to me. So come out, see the show and. And by the way, special guests, sometimes people pop in. You never know who might, you know, swing through and want to do some time on the show. So Fresh New flavor tour. Interesting. Fresh New flavor Ticketmaster. Yeah, it's on Live Nation actually. Dane.

[Thomas]

Oh, Live Nation. Dane.

[Dane Cook]

If you're on Bands in town, I tell people like, because everybody's always like what's the best way to stay bothering me with like emails. I do Bands in Town because it just gives you updates on dates. They also give like, you know, great like there's like packages and stuff that they do on there. So it's kind of like a great place to if you want to keep all your concert going needs in one convenient location. And then I just keep like I keep a mailchimp and I just send out personal emails to people. Sometimes I'll send out swag. Sometimes I just do like upgrades giveaways. So if people follow me across the board there's always I, I say it like this. When I'm winning, my fans win. If I'm having a reaping a great harvest, like I want to do as much as I can to keep people going. Not only was the show funny, but I, I'm a part of, I'm a part of this community. Yeah. It's a community. And I will say, if I can just pat myself on the back here a little bit coming out of COVID you know, my goal that year was to do a victory lap moment that would lead to what I think is going to be an incredible, prolific year ahead. Because I've got a couple of things I can't share here, but are big, very big plans for 2025. And so I do feel like it's been with incredible support from fans through high times, low times, whatever, no times to what's been happening out there now, which, like, there's a real rumble and the pendulum swing is going into a place that I think is going to be some of the most interesting times ahead for me that I've had the privilege of experience. So I hope people will jump on and be a part of it. And if nothing else, just come out to a show and you will laugh your ass off.

[Thomas]

That's the best picture to give us right there. Yeah. Hell, yeah. Thank you for being here, dude, man.

[Dane Cook]

Thank you guys very much. I. I really want to. I really want to, you know, say that, you know, reaching out and, you know, DMing and the way sometimes these things come together, that's another thing. It kind of goes back to the beginning. Be proactive, you know, reach out to people. You know, find people online, you know, don't. Don't burden them with too much information. But, you know, straight shot. I like you. Here's what I'm trying to do. Is there any way we could join forces and be a little bit of a Justice League? Yeah, I appreciate it. Creative people are always looking for ways in this hard system of distribution to figure out, how do we win together? And so stuff like this really makes the. All the difference in the world. Appreciate part of your growth. Thank you for being a part of my.

[Thomas]

Thank you.

[Dane Cook]

Next wave, away we go. We should do a photo, right?

[Marty O'Neal]

At least one. Should get at least one photo.

[Thomas]

I would say two, tops.

[Dane Cook]

This has been the dope as usual podcast. I'm Dean Cook. I'm one of the best. You know it, I know it. Some people will ask you from time to time, you know, who's on the Mount Rushmore of comedy? And what I. What I like to say is. You mean the other three. Oh, I like that. Would it be great if my neck just exploded? Squibs. And I went. And it was just like. And can we add some. Maybe we can animate some blood.

[Thomas]

I gotta be honest.

[Dane Cook]

And then have a tarantula crawl up across my face? Like this. And then we do one of those, and it closes with like a Looney Tunes. And then I come through the thing and I'm like, cartoon folks, yo.

[Thomas]

Ending alive with you. Must be 90 minutes I take.

[Dane Cook]

Oh, man, I'm sorry. I'm a low blood sugar. All I had was a banana. Five catch ass shoes. Hey, man, no, seriously, dude, this was so fantastic. Thank you so much.

[Thomas]

Thank you for being here. Guys, guys, man, Double juicial podcast. It's been Dane Cook. Have a dope ass day.

[Dane Cook]

All right, dude, thank you so much.

[Thomas]

For being here, man.

[Dane Cook]

That was fun, man.

[Thomas]

That was fun.

[Dane Cook]

Thank you. Dude.

[Thomas]

Ridiculous.

[Dane Cook]

That was a good one. That was ridiculous. Those are the ridiculous can. Perfect. Perfect.