8 Responses

1. Jon Lincoln says:

   January 7, 2008 at 6:46 pm

   Really? I feel exactly the opposite to what you are saying.In most cases you’re right. The corporate group would stop a person like this advancing because it effects their bread and butter. Although, it seems for ONCE it might be the ART they advanced regardless of it’s effect on them personally.For instance, if you poke fun at a product (let’s say Dorito’s) and the TV Show you are auditioning for is sponsored by Dorito’s odds are you won’t get on. You could be brilliant in every aspect of comedy and art, but just because they are motivated by money they will put someone else on tv less qualified. That’s what SUCKS about the industry and it seems you are defending it.If comedy is going to be judged (which it shouldn’t be), it should at least be done so in a way that is objective. The judge shouldn’t think “This guy is mean” or “..but I like Dane Cook” or even worse “Dane makes us money…throw this guy away.”This seems like a case where they watched the set without their corporate blinders on and graded him purely on the basis of his comedy.Bill Hicks has a great rant about Jay Leno on his cd “Rant in E-minor”. What do you guys think about Hicks? Granted, I didn’t see his whole set, but if it was deserving over all others on the show in originality and audience laughter to move on I don’t see why the Dane Cook joke should hold him back. In reverse, I think it would be a travesty if he had the most original set and got the best audience reaction, but the judges decided not to move him on because they didn’t agree with his opinion of Dane Cook.I usually agree with you guys, but in this case I couldn’t disagree more.

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2. Jon Lincoln says:

   January 7, 2008 at 6:55 pm

   Oh…I, also, find it ironic that two posts earlier you guys were tearing down Dane Cook for doing 7 hours of material at the Laugh Factory.You just said that watching Cook attempt performing for seven hours is “too horrible to contemplate” and that any comic doing this is “macho posturing gone horribly wrong”I’m willing to bet you have ALOT more readers then the few hundred people that might have seen this kid perform. Yet, you bashed Cook for his ego…and then bashed this kid for making fun of Cook.Now THAT is hilarious.

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3. Brian McKim & Traci Skene says:

   January 7, 2008 at 8:11 pm

   Jonathan:Let’s not get confused as to what is commerce and what is art. This entire exercise is 90 per cent commerce. It’s a “festival,” co-sponsoered by C.C. No one there is under any other illusions.As for any “art” or integrity represented by the contestant’s “joke,” it was non-existent.From the article:<>He said Cook had originally inspired him to do standup but after watching him live in Los Angeles, Laer said “I can do this, I’m funnier than this guy.”<>How this advances art, is beyond us. It is utterly lacking in wit, it is mean-spirited, it is boastful and it is tired and hackneyed.Your fairy tale concerning art and commerce and blinders and Doritos is murky. Your dislike of Cook, however is palpable.As for our earlier post regarding comedians (in this case, Cook and Chappelle) doing interminably long sets, we are “tearing down” no one. Rather, we are of the opinion (and have been for some time) that such marathons are excessive and silly. We are befuddled by the oneupsmanship– terribly atypical and out of place among mondern comedians.The kid didn’t take Cook to task for his long sets. He didn’t make fun of Cook– he hamhandedly and witlessly degraded Cook without any follow-up, with no purpose other than to elevate himself and denigrate another comic.It was low-class. The suits who encouraged it did so without any regard for “art.”

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4. Guy MacPherson says:

   January 7, 2008 at 10:02 pm

   “He didn’t make fun of Cook– he hamhandedly and witlessly degraded Cook without any follow-up, with no purpose other than to elevate himself and denigrate another comic.”Well, according to the account in the paper, anyway. We don’t know (do we?) that there was no follow-up, or even if the “joke” was transcribed accurately. And then there’s the issue of context. Lots of jokes don’t translate well to the written page. But the crowd — and judges — apparently liked it so there must have been more to it than what was reported, which was admittedly weak.

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5. myq says:

   January 8, 2008 at 4:17 am

   I agree with Guy.Isn’t at least equally likely (or possible) that a newspaper hamhandedly and witlessly transcribed a joke, than it is that they got it perfectly, intonation, context, and all?It’s possible that the statement in question was delivered with irony, by someone who actually believes that Dane Cook is very funny.Hopefully someone can post a video of the joke so we can all stop speculating. Only the audience knows for sure. And maybe the comedian’s roommates, if he runs everything by them first before performing.

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6. Jon Lincoln says:

   January 8, 2008 at 1:12 pm

   Not to mention…maybe this guy moved on despite that Dane Cook joke. That could have been the worst joke in the set and just happened to be the one the reporter remembered and then bastardized.It seems to me that you guys are tearing down a kid without knowing all the facts. Did you see his whole set? What were the other jokes? How did the audience respond to everything? How good were the other comics on the show?You are making assumptions on something you know little about and, in turn, dragging this kid’s name through the mud.

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7. Rick says:

   January 8, 2008 at 3:26 pm

   You fell for the oldest (reality) trick in the book. Create controversy. Get people talking. All this creates buzz and next thing you know, it becomes a story. Now people want to watch, and this guy becomes ‘the guy who dissed Dane Cook’. I bet the producers are whispering in his ear to keep it up, and why shouldn’t he? It got him to the next step, which is what it’s all about.I’m sure Dane Cook isn’t worried about it.

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8. Jon Lincoln says:

   January 8, 2008 at 6:36 pm

   Soon he’ll have a cd out called “Cure for Dane Cook” and it will show an action figure that looks like Dane Cook being hung with thread.

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