What's odd about Dane Cook being the reigning king of stand-up comedy is that even two years ago, you would have never thought that he was going to be the guy to redefine stand-up.
He's only released two albums, never had more than fifteen minutes of screen time in a scant handful of films, and, most importantly, he doesn't even have a discernible act. He's not political, he doesn't do racial humor, he doesn't tackle taboo topics, he doesn't even really tell jokes. Cook is almost impossible to pin down. Yet, for some reason, he's the cornerstone of comedy right now, which is not a bad thing, just peculiar.
Dane Cook just never seemed like the guy who was going to revitalize modern comedy. But when you really think about it, he makes perfect sense, inasmuch as he is the next stage in the evolution of the style of comedy Jerry Seinfeld popularized.
Seinfeld is an observational comedian, like the myriad of comedians in the nineties who made jokes out of tidbits of everyday life.
But the problem with that is that it got old.
I saw Seinfeld live last year, and it was pretty much the worst stand-up show I've ever seen, in that the whole thing seemed stale. If I would have seen the same show ten years ago, it would have been transcendent.
Jerry Seinfeld hasn't told a new joke in ten years, or at least it doesn't seem like he has. He doesn't have to; he can tell the same jokes he's been telling since 1994, and he'll still sell out every venue.
The fact that his sitcom ran for eight years, plus four hundred times a day since then in syndication means that Seinfeld is so ingrained into popular culture, he's basically lost all meaning and more importantly, humor. I think he realizes this too, that's why you hardly hear from him anymore. At this point, I think even Jerry Seinfeld thinks Jerry Seinfeld is an overused clich+â-¬.
That's where Dane Cook comes in. He takes observational humor to the next level.
Cook is what Seinfeld would be like if he had just slammed fifteen Red Bulls.
For one thing, he adds a whole level of physical comedy that Seinfeld never covered. Occasionally, Seinfeld would wave his arms in the air or bug out his eyes, but generally, he had a really laid back on stage presence. Cook, on the other hand, is constantly pacing back and forth, hunching over and flopping all over the stage. This adds a whole new level to his act.
Seinfeld was clever, and we're burned out on listening to the observations of clever people.
That's why we're so eager to listen to a guy like Dane Cook: he's not clever.
Listening to his act is like being led through the daydreams of a man-child with ADD. Cook's humor is observational, but in an abstract way. He doesn't talk about things he sees in everyday life, he talks about the random and obscure things he wants to see.
On top of that, Cook has, far and away, the best sense of delivery in stand up today. He has to. Because he's not clever and he really doesn't tell that many jokes, he needs to be able to just say a word like "smithereens" or a phrase like "a fit of joy" and have people in hysterics; and he does. Just the way that he pronounces and enunciates words is funny in itself.
I guess it's kind of fitting. Seinfeld, an avid Superman fan, was like the Superman of stand up.
Dane Cook, on the other hand, wants to shoot anyone wearing a Superman shirt in the chest plate.
Paul Metz is a graduate student secondary education major and writes 'Support Your Local Cynic' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Paul at pjmetz@bsu.edu.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
