Plot: Stand-up comedian Dane Cook performs his latest special live from Las Vegas.
I’m going to come clean — Dane Cook makes me laugh.
His records Harmful if Swallowed and Retaliation brought tears to my eyes with his musing and wild gesticulations about Burger King, shoes, car alarms and schematics. At one point, I could honestly say Dane Cook was my favorite stand-up comedian.
In 2007(ish), I saw him at Madison Square Garden, and it all went to hell. There was nothing funny about the show — he was seemingly on cruise control incorporating half-baked new material mixed with a set “greatest hits.” The shine had come off Cook for me and slowly but surely his albums and specials became less a part of my daily comedy consumption.
Five yeas ago, I caught his darker, less popular special, Dane Cook: ISolated INcident. It was dark, mean-spirited and raw — a comedic catharsis for a man dealing with betrayal and the fall-out of superstardom. In one of the first pieces ever written on this site I commended him for the risk he took, but ultimately it did nothing for me to hop back on board “The Dane Train.”
Flash forward to Friday night, October 17.
It’s painfully obvious that Cook is nowhere near being as popular as he was when he headlined the World’s Most Famous Arena. In fact, when I mentioned his special on Showtime to fellow Pop-Breakers and people in my life the reaction was uniform, “Oh man, I haven’t heard from him in forever…he’s still doing stand-up?” Ouch.
But, for some reason I wanted to go give his special, Troublemaker, a shot. As a once devoted fan, I wanted to see if Cook still had it. If he had come out of that dark funk that was ISolated Incident or the mediocrity of Vicious Circle. By the end of the special I could with confidence say the following…
Dane Cook can still make me laugh…but not like he used to.
Troublemaker does not hold a candle to Harmful if Swallowed or Retaliation. But, that’s not a bad thing. For Cook to try and recreate the magic of those two albums would be foolish. It’d seem like a desperate attempt to be re-embraced by his fan base — a sort of, “Hey you loved this 10 years ago, you’ll love it now, right?!” feeling to it.
Troublemaker works best when Cook opens up and talks about heartbreak and relationships. Long gone are the spastic, high-energy rants about sex. Now we’re seeing something more mature, something more realistic. Instead of listening to Cook tell wild tales, we’re now relating to him. It’s definitely the right choice for Cook at this point in his career.
Cook also shines, as he always as, talking about popular culture and how it relates to dating, sex and relationships. Jokes about women’s love for emojis are probably the highlight of the entire special.
Cook also has taken his manic energy down from 11 to about a 6. He’s more in control of his persona, he seems more confident on stage and again, he seems more like a human being than a highly caffeinated caricature telling wild stories.
However, the special is not without its warts. First, you have to get through the first 10-15 minutes of the special before you get to the good parts. The opening to Troublemaker is absolutely horrible. Cook acts like a cartoon character, hamming it up to an excruciating level. It’s tough to get through – I almost turned the special off it was that bad. But, trust me when I say, get through these opening moments, it’ll be worth it.
Also, the camera work is atrocious. Weird criticism, right? There are just way too many times when the camera goes out of focus and Cook is telling jokes in a blur. Also, the special sometimes cuts to scenes that are shot with a really high shutter speed. Cook’s movements, particularly his hand gestures, become jarring to watch.
For those who were diehards like me or are still Cook fans, this is a solid special. It’s got some good laughs in there and it’s also got some real groan-inducing, cringe-worthy moments. Troublemaker’s not going to blow you away by any means, but it gives you some hope that the comedian we all loved not so long ago, is on the comedic rebound and funnier things are on the horizon.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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Bill Bodkin is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Pop-Break. He can be read weekly on Trailer Tuesday and Singles Party, weekly reviews on Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Hannibal, Law & Order: SVU and regular contributions throughout the week with reviews and interviews. His goal is to write 500 stories this year. He is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in Journalism & English and currently works in the world of political polling. He’s the reason there’s so much wrestling on the site and is beyond excited to be a Dad this coming December. Follow him on Twitter: @PopBreakDotCom
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