Dane Cook rarely, if ever, tries out his new comedy on family and friends.
“My wife was just telling another couple the other night that I don’t bring home my comedy or share what I’m working on for new additions for what I might have planned for a future audience,” said Cook, 53, speaking by telephone Tuesday from his home in Los Angeles, which he and his wife share with their dogs Chopper and Ripley.
“Kelsi’s been with me for eight years now, and she knows me,” he said. “When it’s a comic, everyone has his or her own approach. For me, truth is what makes a story funny, especially when an audience relates. For me, that often comes right from my mind and in the moment.”
Cook performs Saturday at the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana as part of a national tour. It’s his first show in the Chicago area since September 2024, when he sold out the Chicago Theatre. Hailed as one of the first comedians to use social media to build his fan base, Cook said that the last five years have given him “a sense to finally exhale and breathe,” after a whirlwind three decades.
“I’ve been doing comedy for more than 30 years, but only recently, in like the past five years or so, have I really started to feel comfortable about where I’m at in my life and career,” he said. “Now, besides my time on stage with my audiences, the other part of doing comedy that I love is helping push other new comics to get experience and build their audiences.”
Stand-up comic and podcaster Adam Mamawala has joined Cook for the tour and will open for him this weekend. Based out of New York and born in Aurora, Mamawala also toured with Cook for select cities last year.
“Dane has been great to me, and comedy is not an easy field,” Mamawala said. “The first thing Dane would do when he’d walk on the stage was to thank me as his opener and bring me added applause.”
Cook has also acted in movies such as “Mr. Brooks,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Dan in Real Life,” “Employee of the Month” and “Good Luck Chuck,” but said he is happiest connecting with live audiences. His own early career experience wasn’t always easy, and he said he didn’t always feel supported by fellow comics.
“Growing up, I loved Joan Rivers,” Cook said. “But for whatever reason, she was always horrible to me and I never really understood why, but it hurt me. I was never cruel to her in my act, nor did I even know her, yet she would go on Howard Stern and say some of the most terrible things about me. I know she’s gone now. But it’s partly because of her that I always told myself that if I can get to a place in my career where I can help young comics, I will. And that’s what I do.”
That said, other contemporaries were far kinder.
“I remember playing the Comedy Strip in New York City in 2004, and this was a year before I hosted ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and Lorne Michaels was in the audience,” Cook recalled, referencing the “SNL” producer.
“Lorne came backstage and said he had someone as a surprise to meet me, and I thought it would be Tina Fey. It was Steve Martin and he was so nice and spent time talking with me. I remember after they left, running down the street to a pay telephone to call my mom to tell her that I’d just met Steve Martin.”
After hosting “SNL,” Cook’s album “Retaliation,” released in 2005, became the first comedy album in 27 years to reach the top five on the Billboard charts after Steve Martin’s “A Wild and Crazy Guy” moved as high as No. 2 in late 1978.
Cook’s parents both died of cancer in the same 10-month span in late 2006 and 2007, the latter the same year he became the second comedian (after Andrew Dice Clay) to sell out multiple shows at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“My comedy style comes from a blend of both the funny qualities my parents had, Dad the storyteller, at times, tales too long, and Mom with her quick wit and funny observations and facial expressions,” said Cook, who’s originally from Arlington, Massachusetts.
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Cook is partnering with Canadian broadcaster Super Channel to produce a documentary on his life titled “Brace for Impact: The Dane Cook Story.” He describes his offstage persona as “shy and introverted” in contrast to his stage alter-ego, but he continues to connect with fans through social media and DaneCook.com.
Phil Potempa is a freelance writer.
7 p.m. Nov. 8 at Hard Rock Live Northern Indiana, 5400 W. 29th Ave., Gary; tickets from $49.50 (ages 21+) at www.hardrockcasinonorthernindiana.com