Dane Cook the king of overexposure

I’ve been saying this since I attended the filming of Dane Cook’s HBO special Vicious Circle…he’s going to kill his own career.

I had been a fan of Dane Cook when he was just a simple comedian. I’d see him on Comedy Central or a late night talk show, and he’d draw enough laughs out of me to go to his website and listen to his other bits.

When his HBO show Tourgasm hit the air, it showed me another side of the comedian. It should me that yes, he could indeed produce a flop. The show was horrible, filled with recycled material and more was more self serving than funny. The only interesting part of the show was the teenage girlish conflict between Robert Kelly and Jay Davis (along with Jay’s horrendous TLCK killer joke).

After Tourgasm was finished, the public started to speak out. Cook was ripped by both Salon and the L.A. Times. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how Cook built his career. He built it with Internet marketing. It had never been done before by a comedian, and Cook made himself available to his fans. Hands down, I think Bill Burr and Robert Schimmel have better material. But when was the last time someone said to you, “Robert Schimmel is in my myspace top 8″. Cook’s marketing plan was ingenius, and could be enough to carry his career for the next decade. However, every aspiring comic has now seen what he has done, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the new model for comedians trying to make it big; travel the country doing tour shows and make yourself accessible to your fans on the Internet.

One thing that could bring down Cook’s comedic empire his market oversaturation. He was almost speechless in Waiting, and the public may choose to suffer through Employee of the Month on October 26th when it hits theaters. Cook will also be appearing the flicks Mr. Brooks (release set for March 23, 2007), Transformers, and the romantic comedies Good Luck Chuck and Dan in Real Life.

So where will his career go after these movies hit the big screen. Employee of the Month looks like it should go straight to video, Transformers will hold it’s own with the retro eighties crowd, and if the Chuck and Dan fail him we could be looking at the next Norm MacDonald here folks. A FOX tv show wouldn’t surprise me, and after that’s canceled I think we’ll find Cook right where he belongs…telling jokes and making people laugh.

Friends of Don Chavez

Amy

September 6th, 2006 at 2:30 pm

You plugged him pretty hard on myspace yourself, right? Look, ask Dave Chapelle. It’s hard to deliver good comedy when you’ve got evil producers swarming you like flies on filth. And you don’t care so much about making good choices when Teen Choice offers you stacks of cash. Am I correct??
donchavez

September 6th, 2006 at 4:37 pm

Nobody is making him do these movies, he chooses to make them. It could be that this is what his goal all along was; this is what he considers “making it”. I just think he’s hit his peak. So what’s next for him? Does he want to being a stand-up comedian, or become a movie star? The public doesn’t forget about it when you come out with a couple of duds on the big screen. Look at Ben Affleck…he was one of the most sought after leading men in the industry for a while. He stars in a few shitty movies and now you can pay people to go see an Affleck film. Either way, these guys cashed in on their payday, and they do deserve it. If you’ve made it this far in this ramble I’m amazed, but my point is simple. I think Dane’s career could go further with the right choices. We’ll see what happens when the movies a released, he’ll either be a superstar, or he’ll stick with what he does best (stand-up comedy).