Boregasm

It was early afternoon on a cold snowy day when I woke up from a nap, bleary eyed and content. I had been napping for a short time, but still long enough that it seemed my friend had never left for class like she told me she was going to just before I closed my eyes. On the television was Comedy Central, I had been watching stand up specials before drifting off. While trying to fall back asleep for just a little while longer, a name floated off the television and into my head: Dane Cook.

Now, I've had many discussions with people about this guy before, but nothing very serious. As I recalled his name now, however, I remembered an article that I read at Slate.com, an online opinion magazine. The review wasn't positive or negative, but it's probably not something that Dane Cook would put up on his refrigerator either. After reading through that article again, I traveled to a favorite website of mine, the Internet Movie Database. I looked up Dane Cook and like any IMDb page, the most interesting part were the forum posts at the bottom. I was surprised to see a post about somebody who didn't think Dane was funny. I clicked it and expected an onslaught of comments attacking the original poster. Instead, I was surprised that most people agreed with him. This surprised me because every time that I say that I don't think Dane Cook is funny, everyone jumps on my case.

It's not that I don't like Dane Cook (although I have said so in the past), it's just that he's not a funny comedian. It may just be me, but I think that comedians should be funny. I understand that some people think he's funny and a lot of people find much to relate to in his work. I can relate to his work too actually. I grew up Catholic but I don't find his Catholic jokes funny. Accurate? Yes. Funny? No. Dane Cook really is one of the most popular observational comedians, but the way he presents his material just isn't funny to me. I'll chuckle occasionally, but he never makes me laugh hard out loud, he never has.

Again, I like Dane Cook. Since becoming a celebrity, he's treated his fans better than any celebrity I've ever heard of. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and always goes above and beyond the call of duty. This is a very redeeming quality, but it doesn't make his work any funnier. Also, he's a good actor. I enjoy watching him on screen. "Waiting" was quite the funny movie and he was pretty good in it. I also was really excited to see "Employee of the Month" when it first came out and although I never actually got around to seeing it, I still hope to.

A lot of people take offense to this and become defensive when you talk ill of Dane Cook's comedic talent. It's great that Dane has so many people to fight so vehemently for him. Most of these people argue, however, that people like myself don't like Dane only because he's become so popular. Somebody commented that just because the guy who made the thread on IMDb.com wasn't on the Dane Cook bandwagon before he became popular that he's feeling left out now and therefore has turned to berating Dane. This isn't such a horrible theory, it's definitely probable that this could happen to a few people. That same thread on IMDb, however, had another fifty or so people who also think Dane Cook isn't very funny and it's very impractical to believe that their motivation for this is all because they feel left out.

How many people need to be in agreement on something before it becomes an acceptable opinion? It reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite, a movie that many people found hilarious. I was so excited to see it for so long because I heard so many great things about it. When I finally got around to seeing it, however, I was highly disappointed. Not only was I not laughing, but I was getting annoyed by the movie. I quickly found that I wasn't alone in this thought because most of my friends weren't that enthralled with the movie either. So many of my friends felt this way that I started to wonder where all the hype came from... it's still a mystery.

As for Dane Cook, I really like the guy and enjoy watching his movies. I don't think I'm just hating on him because he's popular. The fact that he's popular though, caused me to really look at him and watch his stuff. After doing all of that, I found he just wasn't that funny. There are far funnier comedians out there. Nick Swardson is always good for a laugh, Daniel Tosh can be quite the gut-buster, Ellen Degeneres has always been hilarious, Bob Saget has a form of crude humor that's fairly appealing, Jim Gaffagin is a popular comedian who deserves the attention... I could go on, but I'd have to actually think about more names rather than just pulling them off the top of my head.

Sorry if you don't agree, but this is just a thought that struck my head after coming out of a restful nap. Also, it's my blog, so I can write whatever the hell I want.

If you want to read the Slate article, go here: http://www.slate.com/id/2151046/

Here are some reviews of Dane Cook that I agree with in content even though I think they have a cruel tone to them:

Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone - "Yeah, we get it: the world's hottest comedian, a success story, the MySpace Generation, blah to the blah, but where are the fucking jokes?...It's like he's a lovable character Will Ferrell made up for an upcoming media-prank comedy, Funny Guy: The Legend of Dane Cook."

Comedian Ron White has criticized Dane Cook's lack of real material, calling him a "Smoke and Mirrors" act. (I agree with this, although White goes on to criticize Dane Cook for his arrogance, something I don't really see.)