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Aug. 3, 2010 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:27:50
Joe Rogan Experience #33 -- Dane Cook
Participants
Main voices
b
brian redban
07:29
d
dane cook
50:40
j
joe rogan
01:27:58
Appearances
Clips
j
josh olin
00:01
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Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
We are live, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much for tuning into the podcast once again.
My friend Brian Redband, of course, as always.
And today joining us, the wonderful and talented Mr. Dane Cook.
How are you, buddy?
dane cook
How you doing, Chris?
joe rogan
Before we get going, I have to thank our sponsor, The Fleshlight.
Have you ever used one of these things?
Have you ever fucked one of these?
dane cook
I have not.
joe rogan
Feel that.
It's fantastic.
dane cook
Oh, my God.
joe rogan
Oh, Brian.
Oh, my God.
That's our delay in the background.
You guys can't hear it, but my computer's volume is on, of course.
But this is a sponsor of our show.
You're supposed to...
There's a little button right in the middle, Brian.
The upper level.
A round thing.
Is it off?
Okay.
Is it off?
Yeah, looks like it's off.
Powerful.
Anyway.
dane cook
The idea...
First of all, why the...
joe rogan
Well, they offered to sponsor the show, and I said, why not, you know?
dane cook
No, no, but why in the shape of the flashlight, you know?
joe rogan
Why is it a flashlight?
I guess that's so it makes it easier to hold, so you can fuck it easier.
dane cook
Okay, and then once you're done and you ejaculate, can you open that to clean it out?
joe rogan
Yeah, that's why I say you unscrew the bottom and release the crack of the chain.
unidentified
It just slithers out into the sink.
joe rogan
It is more shameful for some reason than masturbating.
It feels way better, but it's more shameful.
Like, I always joke that as I'm coming, I'm regretting it.
As I'm coming, I'm like...
dane cook
Does it also serve as a flashlight?
No, it doesn't light up in case of...
joe rogan
It's not a flashlight.
brian redban
You should have little lasers, pointer, flashlights, or something like that.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's just a silly little piece of shit.
brian redban
By the way, talking about flashlights, they come in pink, and last night you performed for Pink.
I did.
joe rogan
What kind of a fucking shitty segue was that?
Asshole.
dane cook
I did.
joe rogan
How dare you?
Subject my ears to that.
brian redban
Actually, how was that though?
Was that pretty cool?
dane cook
She called me up and she asked me if I would do her birthday party for her boyfriend, Carrie Hart, the BMX guy and all that.
And I haven't done a private anything in forever.
And I was like, nah, I'm a fan and stuff.
joe rogan
Seems weird, right?
dane cook
Yeah, yeah.
I was like, I can't do that.
And then she was like, well, this is how much I can pay you.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
dane cook
And I was like, it was actually a few weeks ago when the deal came together.
I was like, if you can do that and get me courtside for Lakers-Celtics, which I thought was impossible.
I'm like, I'm never going to get courtside last minute for the series.
joe rogan
Wow.
dane cook
And she called back.
She goes, I got you courtside for the last two games, and I'll give you the VIG that you want.
joe rogan
Holy shit.
dane cook
Next thing you know, I'm standing there.
It was the highest paying hell gig I've ever done in my life.
joe rogan
Was it bizarre?
Was it completely bizarre?
dane cook
It was weird, man.
joe rogan
How many people were there?
dane cook
75. And they had Pink and Carrie were on stage and, like, thrones that she'd gotten him.
joe rogan
And were you hired to do your act or to just talk to them and just say hi and fuck around?
dane cook
I pretty much could have done anything, but I knew they were fans of, like, you know, my comedy.
So I was like, all right, I want to go in and do well.
But by the time I got up there, everybody's shit-faced.
And it felt like the Boston or something back in New York at, like, 2 in the morning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
brian redban
Yeah, those gigs were awesome.
I've been a big fan of Pink lately.
Have you?
Like her recent shows?
dane cook
Yeah, I know.
She's an incredible performer.
joe rogan
Yeah, I wrote a whole blog about her.
Brian, why am I not hearing myself?
There we go.
It was just that?
brian redban
Yeah, just the Vine for you.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
Yeah, dude, I wrote a whole blog about her performance at the Emmys that I watched, and I was like, holy shit.
Like, it was, like, perfect.
Like, her voice was perfect.
The way she carried herself was perfect.
And then when she actually suspended herself and started spinning around, I'm like, there's no fucking way she's really this good.
dane cook
Yeah, and she's really singing.
joe rogan
Yeah, really singing the whole time.
And even, you know, people on the radio were like, she was lip syncing.
I don't think she was.
brian redban
I don't think she was.
joe rogan
She wasn't.
She wasn't.
brian redban
Doing that and singing anyways is ridiculous if she really was doing that.
joe rogan
You know, she just fell doing that shit.
dane cook
I saw that video.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
That's scary as fuck.
dane cook
But not only fell, but when she fell, the wire pulled her and pulled it to the very end until it was taut.
And I thought, if that snapped, it could have cut her head off.
brian redban
Totally.
unidentified
Wow.
dane cook
And then it would have been the most popular video one.
joe rogan
How crazy would that have been?
Could you imagine watching Pink get her head cut off?
dane cook
Decapitated.
joe rogan
Could you imagine if that was a real viral video?
Wow.
dane cook
And then the sales will go up because isn't everything posthumous?
joe rogan
Fuck yeah.
Huge.
Huge.
Anytime you die, even if you were mediocre, when you die, you were a little bit better than mediocre.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Everybody loves you.
Everybody goes crazy.
They're never going to hear you again.
So they go nuts and buy your shit, even though they forgot about you.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
Look at Michael Jackson, who's, by the way, incredibly brilliant, talented.
But after he died, man, everybody went fucking nuts.
Everybody went nuts to buy his shit.
dane cook
I thought it was fake for a bit.
Did you really?
Yeah, because I'm kind of like, I'm always like, all right, these guys...
A little bit, man.
It's like, I thought that, you know, he'd pop out like six months later, you know, because he needed something.
He needed the love back, man.
There was a lot of people that were not feeling Michael Jackson for a long time.
joe rogan
I don't think anybody's ever even tried to pull that death off.
I think if you tried to die, and I think that's a federal crime.
Is it really?
Yeah, I don't think you're allowed to do that.
You know, I mean, even as a publicity stunt, you would have to have medical records.
And if you have medical records, then people are going to find out they don't exist if you're faking it.
dane cook
True.
joe rogan
I don't think he can do it.
brian redban
The whole Tupac thing is ridiculous how it's gotten so crazy.
joe rogan
Fucking Elvis too, man.
Elvis back then, maybe you could pull it off.
You know, they killed JFK. They could probably fuck Elvis up.
dane cook
Well, that was the whole thing is that everybody said Elvis faked his death to get away from the colonel to live a normal life because the colonel was like this megalomaniac.
joe rogan
Isn't that hilarious?
People are so romantic.
They don't realize that when you get to be Elvis famous, you are guaranteed fucking insane.
There's no way you can get away from it.
Elvis, this is back before the internet, this is back, you know, I mean, terrible movies he was doing.
He couldn't even leave his house.
He couldn't even walk down the street.
When people would see him, they would start screaming and fall to their knees.
dane cook
Yeah.
My favorite Elvis story that I heard was at the height of everybody loving and hating Elvis, those buttons came out.
You know, I love Elvis.
And then the I hate Elvis pins came out.
He made those.
Him and the Colonel came up with that.
They sold more I hate Elvis pins.
joe rogan
I've heard of a bunch of people doing that or stealing that exact same idea.
That's awesome.
That's so awesome.
You know, the Elvis thing must be so sucky if you were a dude back then.
How the fuck do you compete with Elvis?
Your girl is screaming and yelling and you're fucking her and you know she really would way rather be fucking Elvis.
dane cook
All you can really do is just play into it and just tell her you love Elvis and take her to Elvis and just try to make her Elvis fantasy come to fruition.
joe rogan
Yeah, put on the fucking wig, the whole deal.
Mutton chops.
dane cook
There's an Elvis clip when he was really fucked up.
He was doing whatever drugs he was doing.
And he was bored.
And he was not remembering the lyrics.
And there's a gig he was doing in Hawaii where he's so fucking bored.
And you watch this.
He's not singing any of the lyrics right.
He's just...
Inside jokes with his band members and then he does the thing where he slowly backs up slowly during this one song to his three backup singers and in the middle of the song he just turns and screams in their faces and scares the shit out of them like literally turns and goes and they're all like as they're trying to sing He was gone.
Yeah, he was gone.
joe rogan
He was way too big.
You can't get that big.
It's not safe.
dane cook
Big, and he was so...
I'm kind of a huge Elvis fan.
There's one documentary that Priscilla actually did years ago based on what she wrote where she finally talked about how insecure he really was.
He had his buddies living with him and shit, and if they wanted to go out to a dinner and he was by himself, he would freak out.
He would shoot TVs up.
He had to have his friends around him 24-7.
joe rogan
Whew.
Wow.
brian redban
Joe, you kind of have that whole entourage.
You want a gang of people to go there.
dane cook
This reminds us of you, Joe!
unidentified
Sounds like me.
brian redban
You know how we used to always roll with huge groups of people.
joe rogan
Became too problematic.
brian redban
Yeah, but you prefer that kind of.
joe rogan
Well, it's always more fun to have a bunch of guys that you're friends with that go to you in gigs.
But if you have too many and you have to manage them all, then it becomes a pain in the ass.
It becomes like more of a pain in the ass of getting my friends to get downstairs in time so we can get to the fucking show.
And, you know, did you call this guy?
Did you wake him up?
We got to go to the fucking airport.
Where is he?
And there's five different guys and everybody's got their own bullshit.
And then they then do start arguing with each other.
And then it became ugly.
And it became like, OK, this is nonsense.
So I had to cut it.
Most of it.
brian redban
It was like a reality show for a while.
joe rogan
It was.
It was too much, though.
It was too much like that.
There was too many people.
When it was Tate and Eddie and me and you and Larry and Mike Young and all these other dudes, and we'd all go out together.
I mean, come on.
That was ridiculous.
It was a giant group on the road, man.
Yeah.
Do you like touring with a bunch of dudes?
Do you always tour with your friends?
dane cook
I kind of...
I pretty much have stuck close with the same guys that I started.
Like, my graduating class, Bobby Kelly, Al Dalbeni, you know, I knew Burr when I first started, and Patrice.
Because we kind of came up, like, a little bit after you.
Like, you were a couple of years ahead, headlining around.
joe rogan
Dan and I did a bunch of really fun little gigs for Dick Daugherty.
The Comedy Huts.
Remember those?
dane cook
Comedy Huts.
The Light Ships.
joe rogan
Was it in Cambridge that we did?
Dick Daugherty's Comedy Huts?
At the Aku Aku, yeah.
Dane was with a comedy troupe with Bob Kelly and him and Al Delbeni.
It was a good comedy troupe.
You guys were funny.
It was good.
It was interesting.
You would do comedy sketches and then you would do like each guy would go up and do stand-up.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
And so we would work together.
Do these Dick Daugherty gigs.
Those were fucking fun.
unidentified
Yeah.
dane cook
Our sketch comedy improv group was so bad.
We were so bad at improv, and everybody, you know, the first rule of improv is don't deny.
But we were so bad at improv that our first rule was deny.
So we would just come in and completely ruin scenes by, like, you're pretending, pantomiming, I'm holding a baby, and Bobby can be like, dude, why are you holding a tire?
And it would just fall apart from there.
But we just had a blast doing it, man.
joe rogan
Oh, you guys had some good ones.
You had some good sketches.
dane cook
We had a couple of good skits.
joe rogan
It was fun.
And it was experimental.
It was like you guys were taking chances.
You were doing something a little unusual at a comedy club.
And you were doing comedy, too.
dane cook
Yeah, that was probably actually better for us.
Opening with our stand-up, and then we'd just go fuck around and do music or skits or improv or whatever for the rest of the hour to fill it up.
brian redban
Do you still ever try to do improv once in a while, or do you just only stand-up now?
dane cook
A little bit.
I've been bringing Al, because Al's been hosting down at the Laugh Factory, and I'll bring Al up once in a while, and we'll do stuff at the very end, just to, you know, whatever skit, or Dom Marrera and I will do some stuff once in a while, where I'll just bring Dom up and bat some stuff around.
But not like I used to.
Not like, you know, sketch, full-on sketch, Upright Citizens Brigade.
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm not a sketch guy.
I really rather prefer watching stand-up.
I mean, sketches are fun and everything like that, but they're never as good.
brian redban
You'd be so good at it, though.
joe rogan
I don't like it as much.
brian redban
Remember that little short movie you did for Kelly Kirsten where you were talking about the cable bill and stuff like that?
It's like a five-minute clip or something like that, but that's fucking hilarious.
joe rogan
I just pretended to be my dad.
It was really easy.
dane cook
Well, how did it go from...
I've always wanted to know because you were in Boston and you were the first guy who we watched go from headlining to...
Then you're on TV, man.
And it was like everybody was looking at you going, how do I do that?
How did you turn the corner?
How did you get news radio?
joe rogan
Total luck.
Complete total luck.
I did MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour and MTV... Was that Mario Joyner or somebody hosting those?
Yes, yes.
And Mario was like, I didn't even get to shake his hand.
He introduces you and he goes to the left and you go to the right.
I was like, damn, I didn't get to shake Mario Joyner's hand.
I felt like I wasn't even really on his show.
It's like Mario Joyner back then was the shit, man.
That's a guy where I don't understand what happened there.
I don't understand how he just kind of vanished.
dane cook
Anthony Clark was hosting Kamikaze or something.
Those guys were...
joe rogan
But I know Anthony, so I know he's troubled.
So I know that's what led him...
To this weird place he is now, but I never understood the Mario Joyner thing.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
Do you remember Reggie McFadden?
dane cook
I do remember Reggie.
joe rogan
There's another one, right?
Reggie McFadden was a monster.
dane cook
Absolutely.
One of the few guys that I really would be afraid to go on after.
joe rogan
Dude, I used to see him in the early 90s in New York, and I would watch him do stand-up, and I would go, fuck, this guy's going to be Eddie Murphy.
He's going to be gigantic.
He's going to be the biggest comic ever.
And then nothing.
It was weird.
It was the weirdest thing ever.
dane cook
Is he still even...
joe rogan
Exactly.
Exactly that question right there.
dane cook
Hilarious and charismatic guy, man.
joe rogan
So handsome and well-spoken and a fucking really nice guy.
Like a real nice guy.
And whenever you're around him, he's always smiling, having a good time.
It's like, what the fuck happened?
How does this not work?
It's a very strange thing.
It's a very strange thing.
And it's a very strange thing when guys get angry that for some reason or another they don't get the respect that they deserve.
That is one of my pet peeves.
That's a weird thing when people do that.
dane cook
I can't speak for Reggie, but you go through this phase or period in stand-up where you're like, okay, I've committed my life to this.
This is what I want to do.
I'm all in here at the table.
For me, my mid-twenties.
There's no turning back now.
And there's a bunch of those years where you're watching people go on.
Some people are getting stuff.
Some people are falling off.
And it freaks you the hell out, man.
joe rogan
It freaks you out.
It freaks you out hard.
But I don't think it's a very healthy attitude at all to look at someone else's success as if somehow or another it's bad for you.
And I think if someone's not paying attention to you, like there's a lot of dudes that are like, I don't feel like my act gets the respect that it deserves.
It gets the exact respect it deserves.
There's no other way around it.
It's the perfect connection between you and an audience.
And if it's not getting a reaction, it's because of one of two things.
Either you've been very shitty in marketing yourself or promoting yourself, or you're not seeing it the way other people are seeing it.
You haven't Confound your audience.
There's some people that have weird acts.
Mitch Hedberg, for the longest time, had a really hard time on the road because he would go on and they would put on these super high energy middle acts that would sing.
I remember there was this black dude in, I believe it was in Ohio, I think it was at the Funny Bone in Columbus, and Hedberg was supposed to headline, and this guy was fucking crushing it every night in the middle spot with singing and dancing and getting those Columbus, Ohio people into it.
And then Hedberg would just...
You know your folks.
He's from there.
You know.
That's what it is.
That's your peeps.
They're good people.
That's where I recorded my special there.
But he would go out to them and they would hate him.
They would hate him.
dane cook
Well, was he in that phase two?
Remember, he'd just go up and kind of He would stand there, I remember for a while, and his hair would just completely be covering his face.
unidentified
Yeah.
dane cook
Like, not even looking up the glasses, nothing.
He was just, like, the top of his head.
And how do you go up after somebody is fucking doing, juggling fucking chainsaws, which is hilarious, by the way.
And then...
joe rogan
Yeah, it is a weird thing, right?
He had to find his audience, and he had a real hard time with that for a long time.
That's always a tricky thing, man, when you're coming up in the beginning.
There's guys who will tailor their material or tailor their act where they don't want to do this, but they do it just so that they can get more people liking them and they can get on a better track.
You know what I'm talking about?
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's so hard, especially when you don't have an audience, to really find your own voice.
You know, it's so tricky.
Because, you know, you work at a club, and if you offend someone, if you like, you know, my act was always kind of dirty and offensive.
And like, you know, when I was nobody, like, they would get upset at me.
Like, you just, there's three people that want their money back, you fucking asshole.
You know, clean up your act for the next show.
And you're like, wow.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Clean up my act.
Like, this is what I like to do.
This is the stuff that I always like to see.
Like, I can't talk about what I think is actually funny.
dane cook
So when you were doing your stand-up and you did finally leave Boston and hit the road, where did the news radio thing finally even come from?
joe rogan
So I did this MTV thing and I got a development deal right out of it with Fox to do a show called Hardball.
It was a terrible show.
It was really bad, but you know, a bunch of good guys on it.
And I had fun, but it was like, I don't want to be around actors anymore.
I'm like, this is just too gross.
I would go back to New York, go back to comedy.
But I fucked up and already got an apartment.
Because I thought the show was going to, everybody thinks their show is going to go.
Sure.
So the ratings are good.
I think we're picked up for next year.
Everybody thinks that in show business.
So my stupid ass got this fucking cool ass apartment.
And I was like, alright, now I'm stuck.
So then, right after that, I got a deal with NBC. And before I knew it, I was on news radio.
I was just like, stumbled into one thing.
I mean, I auditioned for news radio.
It was kind of funny because one of the reasons why they liked me for the part was that there was no jokes in the script.
The first one they gave out, there was no comedy in it.
It was just really straight and flat.
I was like, wow, how the fuck do I play this?
I was like, I'm just going to play it as if I was really saying it.
Let me just go and do it.
There's no jokes in here, so I don't know what they're doing.
They were just trying to weed out the hacks.
They were trying to weed out the...
They were trying to weed out the...
Exploding shoe guys, I guess.
So I just got lucky.
It's total luck.
Total luck.
Right person, right place, right time.
Click, click, click.
All of a sudden, I'm on TV. Which was fun, but in the beginning, when I was on TV, I was very shitty with writing new material, and I wasn't performing that much.
I was just loving the fact that I was making all this money.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
Having fun and doing stupid shit and just no discipline at all.
dane cook
And saving up for your first incredible car.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I bought the first car right away.
What was it?
As soon as I had money.
I bought a 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo.
unidentified
Yeah.
brian redban
Had one of those too.
joe rogan
Dude, those were the shit.
brian redban
Used.
joe rogan
Fucking big crazy wing in the back.
Looked like a spaceship.
brian redban
Oh, I loved it.
joe rogan
Loved it.
It was my first really cool car.
dane cook
I think I went 85 Mustang GT with the T-Tops.
unidentified
Did you?
dane cook
Charcoal gray.
She was a beaut.
joe rogan
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah, there's something fucking cool about buying your first cool shit.
I bought a pool cue for $7,000.
I bought this Ernie Gutierrez, this guy in LA, makes this cue called a Gina cue.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's a very homemade, really precise, perfectly balanced pool cue.
dane cook
Yeah.
I was like, this thing's awesome.
unidentified
That's so stupid.
brian redban
Do you collect anything?
Do you have anything that you spend money on?
I know we both get Steve Martin junk.
We both collect Steve Martin stuff.
dane cook
I got a bunch of memorabilia.
I went back and found a whole bunch of old vinyls.
Lenny Bruce and Cosby and Newhart and Steve Martin and stuff.
So that was kind of my thing.
I like finding stuff that's off the beaten path as opposed to like, alright, anybody can go out.
I think for me, the craziest car I did in Aston Martin Oh, yeah?
And I thought, okay, I spent a quarter of a million dollars on this car.
This is going to be the fucking craziest, the best car ever.
And it really ended up being the worst thing that I'd ever bought with my money.
joe rogan
Dude, I had the exact same story with a Porsche 911 Turbo.
I bought a 911 Turbo and it broke down.
I mean, it literally broke down where it needed a tow truck five times in three years.
brian redban
I think I drove you three times to that dealer.
Just me.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian redban
Yeah.
dane cook
I spent...
I was there like nine different...
I love that we were complaining.
unidentified
But it's true.
joe rogan
They're fucking crap.
They're crap.
I have a Lexus.
It never fucks up.
dane cook
Never.
joe rogan
Never fuck.
They're bulletproof.
dane cook
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
They make them so well.
There's never any problems.
But if you have a Mercedes or a Porsche or something like that, you're going to have some weird light goes off.
Like, what the fuck is this?
This isn't working.
Why is my headlights not coming on?
Shit.
You gotta bring it in.
Oh, it's the computer.
They wanted Windows 95 on those things.
dane cook
I bought the Aston Martin, and then I bought the Casino Royale soundtrack, and I just fucking drove around, and I pretended I was a spy, and I literally was pointing at people on the side of the road and pretending I was shooting them.
That was to show you too much time on your hands.
joe rogan
The problem with those cars is when they work, they're intoxicating.
When you hear the sound of the engine, that fucking powerful, well-engineered engine.
dane cook
But it was such a poorly crafted car inside that I was like, why don't I just get a fucking ringtone of that sound and be happy with the fucking sound of the engine and get rid of this plastic piece of shit.
Everything inside was crap.
joe rogan
It's an English car, right?
Yeah.
They've never been known for really making great cars.
I mean, Jaguar, I guess.
dane cook
Yeah, but the engine, you're right.
It was worth that sound.
joe rogan
Jaguars always used to fuck up, too, before Ford bought them, right?
dane cook
Yeah.
brian redban
Yeah.
joe rogan
English, you don't want that.
You want Japanese.
They don't fuck around, dude.
brian redban
But my problem is everything's made by robots now, for the most part.
So even American cars are made by the same robots.
joe rogan
It's not the same, though.
It's the standards that you engineer the car to.
That's what's important.
And they're using much higher standards than American car companies are.
There's no doubt about it.
I have a Ford Mustang, and I have a BMW M3. And the difference between them is so different.
And Ford is high level as far as American cars go.
It's better than GM. But still, you're inside of it.
It just feels fucking chintzy, and things feel goofy, and the navigation system kind of sucks.
It was like it was engineered by an American guy.
You know, it's just kind of quirky.
Whereas the Lexus, it's like everything needs to be.
dane cook
That nav is the best, right?
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Listen to us.
Fucking dudes with money complaining about cars.
How sad.
That's because we've also had...
dane cook
We've had nothing as well.
That's the thing is you can actually sit here and you can tell these stories if you've been fortunate enough to have some success because anybody who knows who's done this for a living, when it's bad, it's fucking bad.
When it's empty, it is at its emptiest, man.
So you get a little something or you have a few years of fun that I think it's kind of cool to be able to talk about.
joe rogan
It still doesn't seem real to me.
You know, success and money, none of it seems real to me.
You know, when I can go to the store and just buy things, like, oh, look, that TV looks like it would be perfect right there.
Let's just get this thing.
I can give you a piece of plastic, and you give me whatever you got.
It's ridiculous.
dane cook
It doesn't seem real.
Yeah, it is.
It's crazy.
joe rogan
It seems fake.
Don't you ever walk around your house?
I know you don't smoke pot, but when I do, I'll walk around my house high and I'll just look at the house and I'll just go, what the fuck is this?
This is my house?
This is where I live?
This is so strange.
You think about what it was like when you first started making money and you didn't have to worry about bills anymore.
You know that feeling?
That's the fucking most liberating feeling ever.
That's the big feeling.
It's not being famous, not being rich.
The liberating feeling is not have to worry about paying your bills.
That's the most important one.
It was like, wow!
It was like all of a sudden it just lifted.
I literally physically felt lighter.
I'll never forget it.
Because I was always scratching.
It was always like, do this John Shuler gig and maybe I'll have enough money for rent.
And then I can't eat tonight because I literally don't have any money.
I have to wait until tomorrow when my check clears.
dane cook
Billy Downs still owes you $75.
joe rogan
Barry Katz was the big one.
Is Barry still your manager?
dane cook
Yeah.
Yeah, and he still owes me 300 bucks from one of those.
joe rogan
Those gigs, that was brutal.
For people that don't know what we're talking about, there was a time where there was another entity that he had called New York Entertainment, right?
And they were booking colleges, and apparently...
It was costing too much money to rent the building where they were at, and they were spending more money than they were making, so they started spending the comedians' money and owing it to them.
Literally.
Like, you would go to the gig, you would fly around the country, go to these colleges, get your checks, send them in to Barry, and then, you know, you would wait.
And then you'd be like, a month later, be like, what the fuck, dude?
Where's my money?
This is getting crazy.
And then it would be like another time, you would do it like three or four times.
There was guys that had like, they had a lot of money out.
I don't know how it all got settled.
But it was ugly.
dane cook
It didn't.
unidentified
It didn't.
dane cook
And there's still guys salty about that.
joe rogan
Wandering around.
dane cook
Every once in a while, Barry will be like, do you want that $300?
And I'm like, no.
It's my good luck charm is you not paying me.
You made me bust my ass.
I had the I'll show him fucking theory going.
But I know for me, man, seriously, what put things in perspective, and some people know this or don't, is I hired my stepbrother.
joe rogan
Yeah, I know that story.
That's a crazy story.
dane cook
And it was like, alright, so I thought I had this great nest egg.
I bought a house.
I did all that.
And then he came in and, you know, I can't talk too much about it.
It's ongoing.
joe rogan
Well, let me talk about it since you can't.
So the rumor is, you don't have to say anything, that he stole like $11 million from you.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's fucking horrible.
brian redban
Like five years.
joe rogan
To think that your fucking brother, your blood, like someone you grow up with, is so fucking jealous and so shifty and plotting against you that they'll steal your fucking money.
dane cook
Allegedly.
joe rogan
Allegedly.
That had been such a betrayal.
dane cook
That's it, man.
First of all, absolute, complete betrayal and the way I deal with that with my family.
But the thing that really was jarring in the best of possible ways was talking about, okay, I've been doing stand-up for 20 years when everything happened.
I started in 1990. And then I looked and I was like, alright, this is gone.
I never had this.
Either it was gone or whatever.
I went back on tour.
I did probably the biggest tour that I'll ever do last year.
I did 80 arenas.
I went out there.
I fucking just, you know, was hammering it.
Yeah, the economy was shitty, but I kept going.
I was promoting.
My fans came out.
And it was that...
I haven't had a moment in a lot of years where...
Really struggling again where you're like, I'm in trouble.
If I don't do something...
And the ride is over.
What do I have left?
What's there for me years down the line?
And I was really, you know, thankful that the fans came out and supported it.
But it was that moment where I'm going, okay, you know, yeah, I've bought some cool shit in my life.
And, you know, I've collected some albums where I, you know, buy something crazy once in a while.
But you can't fucking take somebody's creativity.
It always comes back.
You'll have stuff.
You'll lose.
I've had things.
I've lost it.
Many times in my life.
And all you can do is keep getting back on stage or fucking getting out there and doing whatever, you know, connects you to something.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what it is, really, for comics, too.
It's putting the new thing together, right?
dane cook
Yes.
joe rogan
It's putting that new chunk and then the new set and, you know, preparing for the next special and feeling these new bits come alive and the tags and the new tags.
It's like, what a burst you get every time you come up with a new tag.
It's like this positive energy charge, like, ah!
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
And then sometimes on stage, in the moment...
You'll pause and say the perfect shit out of nowhere, and it destroys, and that becomes the closer.
I mean, that becomes the part of the bit that ends the bit.
dane cook
It's the best feeling on earth, man, really.
When it all starts to come together, you see that, you know, it's like you have a theme or a through line that starts to come through, and there's nothing better in the world, man.
joe rogan
And right from the bat, right from the get-go, when you have your first good set, you become a junkie for that feeling.
You become someone who needs to kill.
You need to get up there and kill.
And you don't want to fuck around and do any new shit.
That's the problem in the beginning.
Because you're scared.
And you want to make sure you get through the set good.
And you just do the stuff that you know is going to work.
Don't fuck around.
Don't fuck around.
It hampers your growth.
Because you become this fucking junkie.
You just want that charge.
You just want to hear them scream.
You want to hear, oh shit, oh no he didn't.
dane cook
I know.
But we also, you know, we came out of Boston where, you know, I know the guys that I can't, I mean, I loved Steve Martin and the guys that I always loved just watching growing up that I wanted to emulate.
And then when I started in Boston, these guys were like killers, man.
joe rogan
What people don't understand about Boston is everybody knows all these famous guys.
Everybody knows Billy Crystal.
Everybody knows...
I mean, and very good comics.
Robert Klein, blah, blah, blah.
Name the guy.
Don Gavin was better than all of them.
He was better than all of them.
This is not an exaggeration.
And he was fucking squeaky clean.
I mean, every now and then he'd say, fucking, fuck, fuck, a little this or that.
But his bits were not dirty.
It was delivery was...
Perfect.
It was perfect.
You would watch his economy of words, the way he set a sentence up, and you would just feel humbled.
You would be like, fuck, he's a master.
He's a master.
But he got caught up in this Boston thing where there was all these great guys in this one area and they always drew a crowd and they always got paid well.
And then they would go on the road and they'd be nobodies.
They'd be like, why would they be a fucking nobody?
We're going to be back in Boston making some money.
The next thing you know, they're back in Boston and they're just doing the same gigs over and over again where everybody else...
It takes a shot and branches off and disappears and becomes famous.
dane cook
But you really would watch these guys and part of you would feel bad that they weren't getting over the hump but you felt like so fucking honored to be opening up and standing watching going I'm learning from the best.
So when you leave Boston It's like you had that...
These were guys, like, I always describe it like they had the energy of showmen, but they were like men.
They were like men doing comedy.
joe rogan
Yes, yes.
dane cook
And, you know, I always really wanted to be there.
They always stood right at the fucking front of the stage.
joe rogan
Lenny Clark is the perfect example of that.
dane cook
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Lenny's a fucking man.
dane cook
He's a guy.
joe rogan
This is what Lenny Clark said once.
We were at Giggles and Saugus and there was this fucking table full of chicks.
They wouldn't shut the fuck up.
They were screaming and yelling.
unidentified
He goes, listen, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to hire a nigga to fuck you in front of your mother.
It's like, what the fuck did he just say?
joe rogan
I mean, it was me.
I think Chris McGuire was there.
I think it was me and Chris.
I can't remember.
But we were like, what the fuck did he just say?
He doesn't give a fuck.
Lenny Clark did not give a fuck.
He was just this big, gigantic, burly guy who would, by the way, he would beat your ass, too.
If you talk shit to Lenny Clark, he'll probably do a line and punch you in the face.
dane cook
These were real hardcore blue-collar guys.
But fucking hilarious, man.
joe rogan
But it made us sharper because you were held up to a much higher standard.
You had to go on after guys who were way better than average.
And you had to be sharp all the time.
You had to constantly reassess your material.
dane cook
You did.
I learned a lot watching Joe before us because the thing that happened with you, though, was you were the first guy that I saw from the next young generation that when you started headlining...
You were getting the respect for killing, but you were the first guy that I saw that had real backlash ever in my life.
That people were like, they didn't know where to put him, and people that he had passed, not going to mention names, but they were just so fucking frustrated.
And they didn't know how to deal with like, okay, wait a minute, this is the next guy coming up.
joe rogan
There's that.
You know, people are always going to resent anyone that's successful.
dane cook
And you're young, good looking, and every fucking chick in the crowd after the show is just like, you know.
joe rogan
There's that.
There's the fighting thing, too, which doesn't make any sense at all.
They're not supposed to coincide together.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The martial arts thing.
It just seems like I'm not in the club.
That's what it felt like to me.
But there's always going to be backlash whenever anyone's successful.
I don't have to tell you that.
dane cook
Oh, yeah.
And I didn't fight, which makes it even tougher.
joe rogan
People are always looking for some reason why you're fucked up when you are more successful than them.
They're always looking for some reason why it's you and not them.
People get upset at other people's success.
And you can feel it.
I got hate mail when I was on Fear Factor every day.
There's no getting around it.
You're always going to get someone who's fucking mad at you about this or that.
You don't deserve this, or you're short, or you're bald.
It's just constant.
People you don't even know just want to...
brian redban
Before the Internet, did that even exist, though, to the degree?
joe rogan
I had a website in 98, dude.
brian redban
I think it's the Internet.
It's just hate.
There's so much hate.
joe rogan
Well, it's not that the Internet is hate, dude.
The Internet is an outward expression of how people feel.
People are frustrated and angry.
Look, we've been shown that we live in a place where we have a fake economy.
That is recognized as fake by everybody, but we're still pretending that it's real.
We print up money.
Nobody understands where it all goes.
Everybody's fucked.
The banks are making billions.
We don't know how.
There's a lot of frustration and anger in this world.
And if you're anonymous, you're fucking McFuck's dick on the Rogan board, and you just decide to be a cunt.
It's just so easy to lash out.
Dane Cook could suck my dick.
I asked for questions.
And of course, most people on my message board...
Most people are real cool shit.
There are some interesting questions for you.
But there was a few that were just so fucking douchey.
You're never going to get away from that.
dane cook
Those are people too that they really want so badly to perpetuate.
A moment or something, because they want to see the fucking battle.
joe rogan
They want to see the battle, and there's also this thing where they don't want to see anybody ever forgiven for anything they might have done in the past.
dane cook
Right, because they can't.
joe rogan
Yeah, they can't.
dane cook
And it makes it okay that they can't, if you can or we can't.
joe rogan
I think I lost you on a couple of can'ts back.
But yeah, no, totally.
There's just a lot of people in this world that don't just feel shitty, but they're lashing out.
They lash out at other people.
They do it for no reason.
I can imagine...
If you don't like a movie, I saw A Serious Man last night.
It was fucking terrible.
brian redban
Why would you watch that?
joe rogan
It had all these stars on it.
brian redban
Don't you have Rotten Tomatoes?
joe rogan
Four stars, five stars.
Dude, I didn't go to Rotten Tomatoes.
I should have.
It was a Coen Brothers movie, too.
And I love the Coen Brothers.
And there were some really interesting parts in it.
But there was a part at the end where I was like, oh my god, it ended.
It just ended.
It's just like, okay, now the movie's over.
brian redban
Soprano.
joe rogan
Out of nowhere.
Way worse than the Sopranos.
I accepted the Sopranos.
I was figuring, this is a long story.
It's over.
That makes sense.
This was just like, I don't even know these characters.
All of a sudden, boom, it's over.
So I wrote on Twitter.
I was like, a serious man seriously fucking sucked.
I was like, well, am I a hater?
Am I doing that too?
But I'm like, no, but I'm a fucking reviewer here.
Now I'm a reviewer.
Now you fuck me out of two hours of my time.
I feel like I deserve something back.
dane cook
Yeah, plus you said it as Joe Rogan, not fucking McFuck's dick or whatever.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think message boards would be...
I tried it on my board for a while, tried to make everybody put a picture of themselves.
I said maybe we'd be nice to each other if we used our actual photo as an avatar, but it only lasted for a little bit.
Everybody wanted to be fucking Darth Vader or some chick sucking a dick.
brian redban
Somebody like...
joe rogan
It's like all the avatars on my board are all chick sucking dicks.
brian redban
Somebody like Blizzard or somebody just recently tried to do that, where you had to have your real name on their message board, but then all these pirates...
Privacy things went on.
joe rogan
Yeah, Blizzard.
Those game guys, right?
brian redban
You're a gamer, right?
You do online gaming a lot?
dane cook
Not like I used to.
I used to have PC stuff, and then I did console for a little bit.
joe rogan
Takes up too much time.
dane cook
Yeah, man.
Once in a while, I'll still do Call of Duty or something, but...
You want to play for 11 hours in a row when you do that?
joe rogan
I get so addicted to online video games.
They're so addictive.
When like Quake, like first person shooters, I've talked about this many times.
I used to play 10 hours a day.
No bullshit.
brian redban
Yeah.
dane cook
That's how we actually kind of really first met.
That's how we met and bonded before the big breakup.
But it was like...
I remember you were telling me about Alienware computers and all that shit.
So I went out and got one.
I basically got the computer he told me he had, which I didn't have the money for at the time.
But Joe's like, I got this.
It's a rig in Area 51 fucking...
I went and got it.
I was living in this shitty little studio on Hacienda, and all I had was a fucking futon and my Alienware computer.
I don't really know anybody out here anyway when I first came out, but I'd jump on with Joe once in a while and think, like, all right, Quake 3 or whatever we're playing, he would, like, just...
brian redban
Destroy, right?
dane cook
Like, not even destroy.
It was not even fun.
unidentified
No, no.
dane cook
It was not even, like...
brian redban
We talked about this.
dane cook
It was just bad.
It was, like, beyond rape.
brian redban
Yeah, he would do the, like, kill me, like, 99 times in a row.
And I don't even think I killed you once, maybe, in a, like, three-hour period.
And I'm like, Joe, I need to stop.
joe rogan
I would start taking chances on you.
dane cook
Dude, not only would Joe be plasma rifling me up my ass, like, every other hit, but then I'd hear through his, whatever, headset, like, he'd be doing something else, which made it even fucking worse.
Like, I could tell he was not even completely focused.
And I'm fucking sweating and doing that thing where I'm, like, trying to sound like I'm not fucking raging.
I'm like, good shot, Joe.
Turn off the mic, I'm like, fuck, come on!
joe rogan
Quake is one of those games, for those who don't know it, it's a first-person shooter where you're running down these 3D mazes, and you have all these different gun options.
And it's one of those games that relies very heavily on playing it all the time, so the mouse and the keyboard literally become like an extension of your mind.
And you can get it to do what you want it to do, because you're so comfortable with the movements.
You don't think about, you know, it's W-A-S-D, use the keys to move backward and strafe side to side, but you don't think about it.
You just do it.
It's just like, I'm going to the right.
When I go to the right, I'm thinking to the right, and as I'm thinking, my fingers are moving, and you get totally synced up with it.
You have to do it like eight, ten hours a day to do that.
So I was obsessed.
I'd go online, that's what I would do.
And I'd be having conversations with my chick, and I'd be thinking, I could be playing Quake right now.
So I had to pretend that I wanted to see a movie with her.
I was a complete junkie.
brian redban
What was weird is that you were really competitive with the game, where I would just hide in the toilet paper roll of the Unreal bathroom map and just sit there and snipe people, where you were more like, kill, kill, kill, number, second...
joe rogan
You know, my leftover martial arts days, there's still some work to be done in the back of my head.
So I'm just fucking...
Just running down hallways shooting people.
This thing is so satisfying.
It's so fun.
dane cook
I remember it was over when I was at Fry's Electronics trying to buy shit that I didn't think he had.
I'm like, is there a mouse that has every button already on it?
Like, what can I do to fucking have one advantage?
joe rogan
And guys would do that to me, by the way.
Guys would do the same thing that I did to you to me.
It wasn't that many guys, but every now and then you run into a Chinese virgin, some 13-year-old kid who doesn't give a fuck.
And he's just every day, 15 hours a day, just staring through his bifocals at that fucking screen, blasting dudes.
Dudes would rape me.
It would happen all the time.
And I would be like, how the fuck?
I thought I was good.
Guys would gun you down and hit you with railguns, impossible shots.
You showed up for a second and you're dead.
You're like, motherfucker!
Some guys are just on another level.
dane cook
And now kids have all the modded controllers.
You know, I'm just using a regular controller.
So I'm like, I'm never going to have the advantage anymore.
They've got like these, you know, whatever, Wolfpack fucking sticks.
joe rogan
I can't deal with the console.
You know, the console is just not as precise.
And they did a thing with Microsoft.
They did a competition between console guys against...
Keyboard and mouse guys.
brian redban
Yeah, but you'd never play that.
You'd get used to the point...
If everyone's doing the same controller, then everyone's on the same page, you know?
joe rogan
But the same controller isn't as precise.
Why would you use that controller when you've got a controller that's better?
brian redban
You can get really good at it.
joe rogan
But you can't get as good.
brian redban
Right.
For what you like to play, you're kind of first-person shooter.
unidentified
Death!
joe rogan
Destruction, son!
brian redban
Kill us!
dane cook
You just want to win.
joe rogan
You just want to blast them.
You want to have the most connection between you and what you're doing.
brian redban
But you know how fun it is to get on your Xbox and go, oh, Carlos Macias is playing Call of Duty.
Let's kill him a little bit.
It's so fun.
joe rogan
Do you ever kill him?
brian redban
I've played him once.
joe rogan
Really?
Is he any good?
brian redban
No.
joe rogan
Really?
Kick his ass?
brian redban
I think I was more just watching him interact.
Like I said, I hang out in the toilet paper while I watch.
dane cook
Does he play like Joe?
brian redban
I'm a video game voyeur.
joe rogan
He's like, nice shot, man.
I went to his website the other day for something because every now and then I like to read his Twitter and go, what the fuck?
It's just so strange.
So I went to his website and it said, one of the most feared comedians in the country.
That's like on his bio on the front of his website.
brian redban
Dude, he's the punisher.
joe rogan
One of the most feared.
Like, what a crazy thought.
You talk about the wrong psychology for comedy.
One of the most feared?
You want to be a feared comedian?
What is that?
dane cook
What does that even really mean?
joe rogan
That's so strange.
brian redban
Do you collect comics?
joe rogan
What the fuck are you talking about?
We're talking about Carl Smith.
Don't be changing gears like that.
That's ridiculous.
We're talking about someone completely crazy.
dane cook
I don't really know what that means.
Who wants to be a feared comic?
joe rogan
It's horrible.
It's a horrible way of thinking.
You want people to fear you?
Who is going to fear you?
The audience?
Other comedians?
What he likes to do, and he talked about it on the Marc Maron podcast, I thought it was really fascinating that he actually opened up to it.
dane cook
When he called back?
joe rogan
What's that?
dane cook
Because he went in, that was kind of...
joe rogan
It was weird.
Maron was like, it was very strange.
It was a very strange conversation.
But I didn't understand why Maron didn't understand that he's completely insane.
Carlos is like, Gone.
He's like bipolar or something.
Like, there's something wrong.
But when he started talking about the, during the podcast, what was it exactly?
Oh, shit.
Now I'm trying to remember.
Fuck!
Goddammit, I can't remember what the crazy part was.
Oh, one of the crazy ones was...
Did you tell me this one?
That he was saying that some troops...
That someone was thinking about killing themselves.
They read his shit.
Or they saw him perform and they didn't kill themselves.
Was that you?
brian redban
No, that wasn't me.
joe rogan
I'm making shit up now.
unidentified
Now I'm just giving them rumors.
joe rogan
But he was talking about how he would go on stage in front of guys on purpose to make them feel bad.
Really?
dane cook
Yeah, he would bump guys and do an hour.
joe rogan
And he talked about how he did it to Marc Maron.
He talked about how he did it to...
What's that dude's name?
Steve Trevino.
First time Steve Trevino ever got the headline.
Carlos went on right before him and did like an hour...
An hour, 45 minutes or something crazy.
dane cook
But when he was talking about it, he's pained that he did it.
That's the thing that I don't associate with.
brian redban
Yeah, it was fake.
dane cook
Man, it's what I had to do.
It's like, why?
joe rogan
I think he's broken.
I think he's a legit sociopath.
He doesn't feel emotions the way everybody else does, and I don't think he feels when he's hurt either.
He's got this weird block going on.
It's very strange.
dane cook
I think you're talking about my brother now.
joe rogan
I think I'm talking about a lot of people.
There's a book written recently called The Enemy Amongst Us or something like that, something along those lines, and it was all about sociopaths, about how many people amongst us really don't feel emotions.
They just pretend they do to fit in, but they don't fear the consequences of their actions.
They don't worry about hurting other people's feelings.
That's a fucking real problem.
There's a lot of people like that.
dane cook
Yeah, I think I'm on the fucking complete other side of that, man.
I'm one of those people, like, I feel everything.
joe rogan
Well, to be a comic, you have to be fucked up, right?
I mean, we would all admit to that.
You have to be sensitive.
You have to be insecure.
There's got to be something inside of you that wants attention so badly that it's willing to go through those early days.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
Because, you know, if you're not fucked up, you're going to find something better.
You're going to find something that doesn't hurt so much.
But that need to be special has got to be so strong that you're willing to get through the bombing.
dane cook
Right.
I just remember being so afraid because I was like the complete...
Not only introverted, but I had anxiety.
I had social anxiety.
I still really do, actually.
It's funny, because I can do huge fucking arenas.
If the meet and greet's 10 people, I'm like, all right, what are we doing?
But in high school, it was really bad.
And I remember feeling like that first time I got a laugh, that broke up a moment, and it was like, ugh.
Oh, that's the fucking weapon right there.
joe rogan
Totally.
dane cook
I want people to fear my comedy.
What?
What is that?
joe rogan
My first one I did out of anger.
I had this really shitty math teacher who was always mean.
And she would just treat you like you were really dumb if you didn't understand things.
And she was a black lady.
And she was doing this thing on stage.
Or on stage.
She was doing this thing in front of the chalkboard, but she was writing something down.
I wasn't paying attention.
And she goes, Mr. Rogan, would you like to come up here and do both of these questions for the class?
And I said, would you like me to do both of those questions?
And everybody went fucking crazy.
Like, dudes could not help it.
They just started laughing and people slamming books down.
And then she kicked me out.
I got sent home for the day.
But I remember thinking at that moment, like, damn, I just got that bitch.
dane cook
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's when the soundtrack starts, man.
No, I know.
I know.
After that, it was like I was a little hellion.
unidentified
She was mean.
joe rogan
She was being mean to me.
And I shut her down in front of everybody.
I was like, damn, that was my first heckle.
dane cook
I just remember skipping school one day and I was at Brigham's.
Remember Brigham's?
joe rogan
Sure.
dane cook
And I was just sitting there and Mr. Hall, the guy who was like the house dean, came up and all of a sudden he just sat in front of me like I was busted.
And I was starting to do plays or write stuff and he goes, listen man, I know school's not for you.
He was the first person to like...
unidentified
Wow.
dane cook
He goes, I know school's not for you.
I know that theater and making people laugh, you're kind of a cut up now.
He goes...
That's really what you should do.
I know you want to be a comedian.
That's what you should do.
First person to ever tell me you should do that.
joe rogan
It's so nice to have someone there to say something like that.
I never had anybody tell me that.
Everybody told me I sucked.
My own mom told me she didn't think I should go into comedy because I wasn't very funny.
brian redban
I think that's more of a mom protecting her son.
joe rogan
Oh, it was, for sure.
God damn, lady.
brian redban
My girlfriend does that.
She doesn't want me to do comedy.
Really?
She watches her friend do it, and it's embarrassing.
She feels bad.
She's like, oh, you don't want to do that.
joe rogan
She just doesn't want you to eat it.
brian redban
Yeah.
joe rogan
Watching somebody eat is hard.
My friend Eddie, you know, we've talked about that.
I got Eddie to do stand-up nine times.
He's a funny guy.
He says, like, really funny shit.
brian redban
Right.
joe rogan
Like, always.
And I'm like, dude, you could totally be a comic.
I'm like, within two years of fucking around and practicing, you'll be open up for me on the road.
I'll help you.
I'll cut out a lot of the time, the development time.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm like, dude, you could be a comic.
Just listen to me.
I can help you.
unidentified
He's like, fuck it.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm gonna do this.
this how I do this and he just fucking over and over the The bombings were so disastrous.
It was so hard to watch.
dane cook
It's funny how people that we know that are funny, and when they try, it's almost like they land on stage the furthest place from what really actually makes them funny and fucking interesting.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, they just don't know how to be perceived.
They just get confused as to how they should be perceived.
They want to somehow or another fit this mold to what they think is going to be funny.
It's like the connection between them and the audience is so distant and fucked up and jagged.
Barbed wire in the way.
For most people, they don't understand that in order to be able to be yourself and get on stage and talk in front of somebody, you have to really know how you're coming off.
You have to really know yourself in a way that a lot of people aren't comfortable looking at themselves.
dane cook
It's about being revealing and then finally not giving a fuck anymore that people don't like what they see.
And then you can slowly find the people that like what they see and build the laughs from there, man.
joe rogan
And it's got to be a real not give a fuck.
It can't be I'm pretending to not give a fuck.
You have to have mastered it to enough where you've understood the situation and you've assessed it and you've been objective about the whole relationship between you and the audience over and over again so many times that you completely mastered it.
And then you're comfortable with the experience.
And then, only then, can you go up there and just be yourself and fuck around and be funny.
But until you hit that vibe, that one groove, you know, you're just going up there going clunky, clunk, clunk.
Please love me.
You're just like, please, what can I do to make a connection with you?
And you get it, like, little bits.
Oh, it'll touch you a little.
But it doesn't grab you and hug you, you know?
The beginning days, like, every now and then, you would crack, like, one bit that was like, ooh, it has something there.
And people would laugh.
Like, I think there's something there.
I think I'm touching gold.
There's gold under here.
Let me keep digging.
Fuck, it's hard, though.
brian redban
Do you listen to yourself a lot?
Do you record your sets?
dane cook
I never used to until you make CDs and then you have to, which is brutal.
And also, I remember listening to the first CD and I went, okay.
At that point in my life, there was no real drama in my life.
There was nothing.
Nothing dramatic about my life.
It was pretty easygoing.
A lot of my first stuff was very nostalgic and very kind of like, this is the stuff I grew up with.
Wee, it's fun.
That's what I knew.
And as I listened to that, I was like, alright, two things.
First of all, when I listen to myself, I would say 40% of it, there's no words.
It was just physicality.
And that was when I started really getting passionate about vernacular and wanting to build up a language and paint better stories with words.
And not only that, but I started having...
Things happen in my life, in my personal life, especially with my folks, that really were like, alright, you know what?
I'm not a kid anymore who just goes up and talks about fucking or frat kind of humor, drinking.
It was like, I have real issues, real problems, but now how do I turn a corner and how can I... It takes a while to be able to not reinvent, but have a metamorphosis on stage with truth and where you're at in your life.
joe rogan
Do you feel that all the criticism that you've gotten, and I can say this for myself, all the criticism that I've gotten, even the stuff that hurts and even the stuff that was wrong and just hurtful, it helps me.
dane cook
Absolutely.
joe rogan
It's improved me.
Even the douchebags have improved me because it's made me look at myself through their eyes and go, okay, do they have a point?
What is it about me that's offensive to them?
What is it about me that they don't like?
And then you see it and you go, oh, okay, I can see how maybe I'm being kind of douchey.
Or I've had bits from my old CDs where I would like to go back and change it.
I don't even want that being a representative of my thinking.
I don't look like that anymore.
dane cook
Old specials that air and people just discover you and they're like, oh, is that what you do?
joe rogan
Yeah.
I go to England a lot and I love it over there.
But I had an old bit about just shitting on England.
How fucking stupid it was.
How the women are disgusting.
And it was just a mean bit for no reason.
I just met a couple English people and I didn't like it.
I just wrote this crazy bit.
But now it's like I want to say I don't really think that way anymore.
This is just douchey shit.
dane cook
Yeah, I definitely look back.
No regrets, because everything builds you up to where you're at, but for me, when it was like, okay, I finally hit, I crossed over, and I remember I had a moment where I was like, okay, when all the DJs in the country were really talking about me...
That's when I knew I was in trouble.
That's when I really battened down the hatches and I was like, alright, two years from now, I know the way this is going to go and I know the way it's going to come back.
And you know what?
I just took it.
I took it all on the chin.
I pretty much fucking just kept showing up, doing my thing because when the pendulum swings into the good area, it's going the same fucking direction in the other area, man.
joe rogan
There's a real backlash for somebody who works hard to get attention.
That's a weird thing about people.
When you work hard to get attention.
If you get attention and people love Dave Chappelle.
One of the things they love about Dave Chappelle is he's very reclusive.
He goes on stage like weird.
He'll show up in a park with a fucking PA system and do a show.
It's weird.
But when people promote a lot and people get their name out there a lot, there's a backlash for that always.
Why is that?
dane cook
I don't know, man.
joe rogan
What the fuck is that?
dane cook
I did that because in 1998, I was sitting around doing nothing for most of the day except waiting for sets.
I'd just come out here.
And I was watching a documentary on fucking punk bands.
And they were showing them put up like, hey, we're dragon face.
And like literally, you know, nailing their flyers to telephone poles.
And I remember sitting there going like, this is what I need to do.
Whatever the modern version of that is, I need to fucking build a fan base.
I need to do like some kind of grassroots thing.
Because I'm, you know, I don't want this to pass me by.
And then what do I have?
Nothing.
I'm good at nothing else.
I'm really shitty at a lot of things in this world.
Really bad.
joe rogan
I think that's the only way you ever make it as a comic.
If I had other career paths, my other career path was brain damage.
My other career path was kickboxing.
What am I going to do?
I'm going to get brain damage for no money or I'm going to become a comic.
Well, I don't have any other skills.
I don't have a college degree.
What the fuck am I going to do?
I can't work.
I'm a shitty worker.
I would show up at construction gigs.
I'd last two weeks, pocket the money, and then fucking quit.
Like, fuck this.
unidentified
It's too hard.
dane cook
I would, like, tar roofs, and it was like half a day, and I'm out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
And in Boston, man, those people fucking work hard.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
And you know that.
There's an East Coast work ethic.
Because of the fact that it snows there...
And it gets deathly cold in the winter.
People are hard.
They fucking work, man.
They get up at 7 in the morning and they're at work by 8 and they fucking work all day in the snow, in the sun, 90 fucking degrees out, hammer and nails.
That's a hard gig, bro.
Doing construction in Boston.
dane cook
And it's like, you know, you're doing that, but when you know those people are coming into your shows, probably why the guys before us, it's like, you better give them a fucking show.
joe rogan
Fuck yeah.
dane cook
You better give everything you got.
joe rogan
If you haven't worked a really hard job or you come home tired and you've just been a guy who kind of went from college to comedy and kind of drifted through, you don't appreciate people's attention spans.
dane cook
True.
Yeah.
joe rogan
People, especially on Friday night, 10 o'clock show, they're fucking tired, dude.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
They're tired.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, those people worked all day and they've been drinking.
dane cook
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Comedy is such a fucking strange thing, man.
It's so strange.
It is our connection with something.
That's what it is.
Everybody's got their own connection to it.
Everybody's trying to figure out how this guy connected and how is he connected.
But you're the best guy at connecting with the internet.
You are the very reason why I started MySpace page.
I read an article about you in People magazine.
I was at my dermatologist checking to see if I had a fucking staph infection because I do jujitsu.
You get zits.
You got to get them checked out because it might be staph.
So I'm sitting there and I'm reading this article in People Magazine and it said you had 300,000 MySpace fans.
And I was like, you fucking imagine.
I go, 300,000 people?
You could just send out an email to 300,000 people.
I'm like, that's incredible.
I'm like, that's fucking brilliant.
So I started a MySpace page that day and I hired my friend Duncan to take care of it.
My friend Duncan got a job.
And my friend Duncan's job was just add friends to the MySpace page and I'd send him blogs and he'd put up my blogs and shit like that.
brian redban
I love it how attached you seem like you always are.
It seems like you answer almost everyone's – like I've talked to so many people that you've answered like Twits or MySpaces or Facebooks.
Are you really on the internet that much?
Are you that – or do you have like a staff of dames?
dane cook
No, man.
I never had anybody else log into my stuff ever.
It was always me, still always me.
joe rogan
How much time a day do you spend responding to emails?
Do you still use MySpace?
dane cook
No.
joe rogan
Oh, even Dave Cook gave up on you, bitch!
dane cook
Sorry, Jerry.
joe rogan
It's over.
dane cook
The fuck is it over?
joe rogan
When Dane Cook gives up on Myspace, that's like Teala Tequila.
That bitch is still on.
She's still swinging.
dane cook
They fucked up, though.
joe rogan
Isn't she?
dane cook
They don't take care of their home, man.
brian redban
They don't.
They don't.
And they haven't touched it since.
And there's so many stupid things like adding friend requests.
joe rogan
It's too hard.
dane cook
They're not sexy anymore.
Something else sexier came along that got it right.
joe rogan
Facebook got it right by simplicity.
Not letting you put fucking glitter tags.
And every time I go to your page, music starts playing.
dane cook
And weird hearts fall that fucking freeze the page.
Yeah, freeze the page!
brian redban
But you always had the best pages, man.
Like on MySpace.
And just personally, do you do your design yourself?
dane cook
I used to do...
I learned HTML code, man.
I bought HTML for dummies.
Because I literally had nothing to do all day.
And if I wasn't playing video games...
brian redban
Right.
dane cook
I was fucking bored, man.
I was bored and I wanted to...
Honestly, it was like, alright, this is politics.
I need to shake hands.
I need to kiss fucking babies.
Because I want money and I don't want to live in this fucking shitty apartment with, I think like Don Barris lived downstairs for me.
He would just be fucking screaming at fucking the middle of the night.
joe rogan
Don Barris, for people who don't know, he hosts a thing called the Ding Dong Show at the Comedy Store, and it's all the most psychotic open micers.
There's certain open micers that are completely delusional and absolutely insane, and their acts are just so bizarre that you can't believe they're real.
Well, Don Barris puts on a show specifically with those people, and he's a fucking genius, but he's always surrounded by nuts.
brian redban
And you were Polanski in Windy City Heat, right?
dane cook
I did, man.
brian redban
That was one of my favorite movies.
dane cook
That's one of my favorite things I've done.
brian redban
I just re-watched it, and I was like, holy shit, that's Dane Cook, like the first time I never realized it was you.
joe rogan
I still have not seen that.
I still have not seen that.
brian redban
Oh, dude, it's great.
joe rogan
It's fucking funny.
For people who don't know, they punked this guy for a whole movie, right?
brian redban
Yeah, and Kimmel pretty much swept in, made a whole movie.
joe rogan
They pretended this guy was famous, and the guy's crazy.
I mean, they're basically taking advantage of a crazy person.
He was always at the comedy store.
The guy was always there.
And they had this guy convinced that he was famous.
And it worked.
But basically, it's kind of sad.
I mean, they're picking on a fucking nut.
dane cook
It is sad until you finally hear the stuff that wasn't in the movie and just how fucking evil he is.
joe rogan
Oh, he's crazy.
unidentified
He's crazy.
joe rogan
But I feel like he's just a broken person.
dane cook
Yeah.
Well, he's weird.
He's a weirdo.
joe rogan
He's broken.
brian redban
It's weird being a Facebook friend with him too because he is still talking about that movie today.
joe rogan
Send me his Facebook address.
I want to read his crazy shit.
I fucked up and Ted Haggard banned me.
I was loving reading his crazy shit.
brian redban
Who's your favorite Twitters and people to follow on Twitter?
Do you have any guilty Ted Nugent or anything like that?
joe rogan
I wish Ted Nugent was on Twitter.
I tried to find him.
He wasn't in there.
dane cook
Ted Nugent's not on there?
unidentified
No!
Damn it!
dane cook
Fuck.
joe rogan
I got all kinds of crazy dudes online.
I love it.
It's like a party that I put together with all these nutty people that should never be together.
dane cook
There's a thing called Flipbook now, too.
You got to get this app, man, on your iPad.
joe rogan
What is it?
dane cook
It's a fucking app that makes...
You plug into your Facebook or Twitter and it turns whatever your feed is into a magazine.
brian redban
Yeah.
dane cook
With the pictures in a magazine.
So whatever the links are, it makes it like an article, like Hollywood Reporter or People Magazine.
And you flip through.
joe rogan
Wow.
dane cook
And then it's just like, it'll be your fucking face with one of your quotes.
You gotta see this, man.
joe rogan
It's cool.
It's like some Minority Report type shit.
dane cook
It's like that, man.
It's cool, dude.
brian redban
You know what's also good is Pulse.
I don't know if you've used that word.
dane cook
I got Pulse.
brian redban
Yeah, that's good too.
dane cook
Yeah, yeah.
brian redban
If you want it basic.
I love the iPad.
dane cook
I've been working on an app, too, because that's the new thing, man.
It's like, you know, now everybody wants...
You've got to be in somebody's pocket.
People don't even want to fucking log into a site anymore.
It's like, dude, I don't want to mess with all that.
Just be in my fucking pocket.
joe rogan
We've got an app that we're working on right now for this podcast, for Libsyn.
Libsyn, the company that's hosting us, they make apps for you.
So it's really cool.
When they host your podcast, they'll make you an iPhone app.
brian redban
Yeah, you have a couple iPhone apps, or you used to have...
dane cook
I took them all off.
I did have one with Zandal and those guys, which was great.
They did an amazing job, but I got a company working on a new app now with just the whole push notification thing.
I think one of the best companies out there for when people are talking about promoting, how can I promote, I'm a musician, I'm a comedian, whatever, is these things like SayNow.
You know what Say Now is?
joe rogan
That's a little, you call up and leave a little voice message.
dane cook
Yeah, but it hits everybody.
Everybody who joins your Say Now, if you send a text, it's 100% fucking guarantee everybody's going to get it.
You can go regional.
If you're going into New York, do shows.
You can hit New York with a Say Now voice message.
Hey, tickets today if you guys want to come see me.
It's last minute.
As opposed to MySpace or whatever, you're hitting like.04% of people.
Twitter, they don't see that stream.
brian redban
Right.
dane cook
20 minutes later, if you repeat it, and then everybody's like, you're spamming!
It's like, promotionally, when we want to get the word out...
brian redban
That's like mailing lists.
joe rogan
There's only a few people that I actually go to their Twitter page and read their personal tweets just to see.
But you have to do that.
You have to go back and be like, oh, this is funny, or this is a cool link.
There's no way you're going to catch it.
If you have a tweet deck or something like that, there's no way you're going to catch it.
How many people do you follow?
Do you follow a lot of people?
dane cook
Like 70. That's it?
joe rogan
Damn, I follow hundreds.
I think I follow like 500 people.
dane cook
Yeah, I like to keep an interest.
Yeah, and I was missing so much.
But now you can do lists.
I haven't done lists.
joe rogan
There's just so many nutty people on there.
There's so many cool people to follow.
I love seeing religious people right next to porn stars.
I love when they tweet back to porn stars.
dane cook
Right, when it's all right there.
joe rogan
You feel like you're doing something to them by forcing them to cohort together.
dane cook
If this was a party, this would never fucking work if you invited these people to hang out.
joe rogan
Yeah, I bring politicians and porn stars and I try to just make it as weird as possible.
Any fucked up person.
Haters, I find a lot of haters and I add them too.
All kinds of weird fucking people, man.
dane cook
I will say this.
I have every email that everybody's ever written me.
brian redban
Are you serious?
dane cook
Yeah.
I figured out this method with Mac Mail years ago.
And I have everything in folders, man.
It's kind of crazy.
unidentified
Jesus Christ.
dane cook
But I have every military email.
I have every fucking...
I have one called Weirdos.
And it's just...
Bad shit, crazy.
joe rogan
You should publish a book on that.
dane cook
I should, man.
Because I've had a couple of interesting stalkers, dude.
I've had a couple of fucking really, really...
Yeah, you want me to throw them a little shout out?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The story that we were talking about before we started doing this, that's one of the reasons why we won't talk about it on the air.
I don't want them to know that it's that interesting.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
There's a bunch, though.
dane cook
They're sitting there right now going, it's me, it's me.
brian redban
My favorite was the Carlos Mencia mail that we got after that video...
How much like crazy...
joe rogan
Oh, angry people.
brian redban
Angry Mexicans.
joe rogan
Oh, it was just terrible writing.
I mean, I saved a bunch of them.
I had a whole folder called Carlos Fans.
It was just the most ridiculous messages that I got.
They're shocking.
Just shocking how dumb some people are out there.
brian redban
Yeah.
What's weird about the whole text messaging and everything, like, somebody calls, I know, I'm not going to say who it is, calls me all the time, never texts me.
And I won't even answer the phone anymore because it's just, like, stupid questions.
I think the phone call is dying.
I think to the point where, you know, I'd rather you text me.
joe rogan
I like making calls in my car.
brian redban
Yeah.
joe rogan
I like it when I'm hooking up to the Bluetooth.
I can have cool conversations, you know, when I'm driving for an hour somewhere.
brian redban
Just wait until you can text, though.
joe rogan
No, why would I want to do that when I can have a conversation?
I like conversations in the car.
That's silly.
You would rather text than have a conversation?
brian redban
Huh?
Yes.
joe rogan
Really?
brian redban
Yes.
joe rogan
You're just some fucking weird dude.
brian redban
My problem is I have a really weird creative head where I start thinking about something.
If somebody calls me during that, I lose it.
joe rogan
Yeah, I just disconnect my phone, man.
brian redban
Yeah, I know, but then, I don't know.
joe rogan
That's all I do.
brian redban
I'd rather be in this mode and go, uh...
joe rogan
Don't do it.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Then you're not committing.
I told you that write room, that program that I use?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
This is what I do.
I disconnect the phone.
I shut off my cell phone.
I tell everybody, leave me the fuck alone.
I'm going to write.
And then that's it.
I go back there.
And that write with write room, all you see is...
Have you ever used that?
dane cook
No.
No.
joe rogan
Shit.
Check this out.
brian redban
Yeah, but like my mom...
joe rogan
This is how I write.
Listen, your mom is going to fucking suck it.
brian redban
Talk to my mom for 15 minutes.
I want to shoot myself.
joe rogan
Check this out.
unidentified
When you use it, it makes it turn into Tron.
joe rogan
This is all you see on your desk.
dane cook
Oh, that's great.
joe rogan
All you see is green text and black screen.
You can't access your taskbar.
dane cook
That's smart.
joe rogan
You can't do anything.
The only thing you can do is you can quit.
dane cook
That's smart, man.
That keeps you focused.
joe rogan
Totally focused.
And I shut my phones off.
dane cook
Because I write and I end up seeing shit pop up?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Or you just think, maybe I should just beat off.
And then you just go start checking out porn sites and spanking one off.
brian redban
Do I hear you're writing a book right now?
dane cook
I'm trying.
That shit's hard, man.
That's one of the hardest things I've ever fucking taken on.
joe rogan
I'm writing one right now.
dane cook
And I won't let anybody help me.
People came and were like, you're going to hire this guy and no one will ever know.
And so-and-so used him.
And I'm like, first of all, that's pathetic.
And secondly, fuck, I want this to be the hardest thing that I ever accomplish.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I want to make sure that everyone knows that every word is in a certain order because I wrote it.
That's what it is.
It's all of it.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
It's the best representation that I can come up with of my thoughts.
dane cook
Yeah.
But you're a great writer.
I mean, I've read some of your stuff.
It's like you don't need any help in that department.
joe rogan
Well, thank you.
But I think everybody does.
I think you use, in the beginning especially, you could use someone else's eye.
Someone else who sees what you're doing and has a different opinion on things.
I think it's very beneficial.
dane cook
I've given my stuff to friends or people that I trust to read it after the fact.
joe rogan
In that sense, they help.
You get feedback.
I think I'm definitely a better writer now because of all the feedback that I've gotten from people over the years.
It's like comedy in a way.
But the thing is, it's like your connection with the writing.
Sometimes it's...
It's such a hard thing to describe, but sometimes the words come to you when you're writing.
When you're on stage, you're performing, and you'll get in the groove, and bits will come to you out of thin air.
But there's something even crazier about it when you're writing.
Because when you're writing, sometimes I'll get through a whole paragraph, and then I'll go back and read it.
I go, God damn, where the fuck did that even come from?
It's like it just came out of space.
It's like I'm in this weird, semi-conscious state when I'm writing, where you're just so zoned into what you're doing.
And as you're zoned in, the sentences just sort of form themselves in your head, and then they change their position, and no, this is in the beginning, and then you read it again, and it offers you another perspective.
It just all starts, it's literally like you're tuning into something that comes out of, it's in the air somewhere.
dane cook
It truly is like the most incredible form of therapy that I can...
I mean, after my folks passed away and people were like, you should go talk to somebody.
I was bringing it on stage, but I wasn't...
And then I started writing and then reading some of the shit that I was writing and realizing I didn't even know I felt that.
Because you just get in that fucking zen place where you're like, I'm not even looking at the keyboard.
I'm just putting it out there.
And then you read back and you're like, oh man, I didn't realize that's how I connected those two things together or...
So, I mean, I love writing.
It's just writing a book is tough, man.
joe rogan
It's very important for comics, too.
There's a lot of guys who don't like to write.
They just like to perform on stage, come up with funny ideas, which is a great way to do it.
That way it does it.
But you're not going to get the best shit.
Sometimes you're going to get ideas that come to you when you sit down and just write.
And then you can take those ideas to the stage and fuck around with them and tweak them.
But if you just try to go on stage, just come up with stuff on stage, it's not the same, right?
dane cook
Yeah.
Yeah, you have to have a little kernel of something.
I mean, I can improv if I know what I want to go up there with, but I hate getting caught just leaning.
You know, when you're leaning up there going like, what else?
joe rogan
You find it really hard once you do it.
I find it very hard once I do a special, and then I know I have to do new shit, and then I'm really piecing it together.
And I'm always doing a million different things as once, as you are too.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm always doing a million different things.
So it's hard to fucking piece together all this new shit.
And then you got to do a new show and you're like, fuck, these people probably already seen my special.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, just aired.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Fucking shit.
How much new shit do I got?
I got like 40 minutes of new shit?
Bring that back at 45, but I don't even like that bit.
You know, you start picking things.
dane cook
And I hate bringing stuff back that I've done before.
joe rogan
Oh, it feels so wrong.
dane cook
It just feels rotten.
joe rogan
It feels like you're a shithead.
You're cheating.
You're robbing them or something like that.
Unless they ask for it.
If people scream for it, and if I can remember it, that's a problem.
Someone will yell out, like, Anna Nicole Smith.
I'm like...
I can't do it.
That bit's like seven minutes long and I don't even know.
I know some of the punch lines.
dane cook
This may sound super fucking cheesy or something like Bon Jovi would do, but during my last tour, I would bring somebody up out of the crowd and I'd be like, you know the fucking Kool-Aid bit?
Because I haven't done it in 12 years.
And they do it!
They do it!
And I'm watching them act out and they know the kick that I would do or whatever physical thing.
And I'm just like, this is crazy.
joe rogan
Wow, that's actually pretty fucking cool.
I started out doing comedy.
One of the reasons why I did comedy in the first place was reenacting comedians' bits that I saw on TV to my friends when I was 18, 19. I remember there was a girl that I was working with.
I was working at the Boston Athletic Club in South Boston, and I was a fitness trainer.
This girl that was working there had seen Sam Kinison on HBO. She comes up to me and she goes, You gotta see this comedian.
He's so fucking funny.
He does this bit about...
It's the craziest thing I've ever seen.
She gets down on her stomach in the parking lot doing Sam Kinison's bit about the gay guys having sex with the corpses.
And she's lying down in the parking lot at the Boston Athletic Club.
And she's like, so here these guys are.
That's how he does it.
Here these guys are.
They're lying on the slabs.
Like, oh my god, I'm gonna go to heaven.
I'm gonna be with Jesus.
unidentified
And oh, oh!
joe rogan
What is this?
It seems like some guy's got his dick in my ass!
Oh, you mean life keeps fucking the ass even after you're dead?
It never ends!
She did that bit for me in the parking lot, and I was howling, laughing, and I instantly became obsessed with stand-up comedy and with Sam Kinison.
I was like, I have to go watch this.
This is the craziest thing I've ever seen.
It took a long time to get a VHS copy of it, and I finally got to see it.
I was like, holy shit.
dane cook
So would you say that was obviously one of the moments that defined your formative years in stand-up comedy?
joe rogan
Yeah.
There was that, and when I was a little kid, I was about 13, my parents took me to see Live on the Sunset Strip.
And Richard Pryor...
Yeah.
Dude, my parents were hippies.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
And...
My sister was like 12. She went too.
Shit.
And so we're in this theater and I remember laughing so fucking hard.
I couldn't believe it.
It's kind of funny about stand-up comedy, man, because Richard Pryor was one of the most brilliant ever for sure.
But honestly, when you watch it today, some of it is very dated.
You know, it doesn't hit me the way it hit me back then.
And that's the case with music.
That's the case with a lot of things.
Lenny Bruce is one of the greatest ever.
One of the most important pioneers of comedy ever.
It's very hard to laugh at his stuff now.
Because the culture changes.
People's perceptions change.
And comedy changes.
And the comedy that you do today would probably be too shocking for people who lived it.
It's like comedy is defined by its certain era.
So if you go back and watch Live on the Sunsets trip today, it's not going to hit me like it hit me when I was 13. But when I was 13, I didn't know anything about comedy.
I couldn't believe there was someone actually saying these things.
And he was saying it so perfectly.
I was crying laughing, and I remember looking around at this theater.
I'll never forget this.
People were moving forward in their chairs and rocking back and forth.
And I was thinking, I've never seen anyone laugh like this in a movie.
And this guy's just talking.
I was thinking about Stripes, because Stripes had been out at the time.
It was one of the greatest comedy movies ever.
I'm like, it's not this funny.
Nothing is this funny.
unidentified
This is crazy.
joe rogan
This guy's just talking.
And that was the first big seed.
That was huge.
That was just the seed of my fascination with stand-up.
But until I got people that told me that I could do it, I did not think I could do it.
I was teaching Taekwondo and fighting in tournaments, and these guys that I would train with I would make them laugh in the locker room and on the way to tournaments.
Because everybody was scared on the way to tournaments.
We're going to get kicked and punched and shit.
It's fucking terrifying.
And a lot of guys got knocked out.
And you get to see your friends get knocked unconscious by getting kicked in the head.
So there was a lot of gallows humor on these trips.
So I would always be the guy that would do impressions of all the different teammates having gay sex and all this different shit.
And that's how I got talked to doing stand-up comedy, man.
Fuck, stand-up comedy has got to be one of the fucking weirdest jobs to ever enter in ever because no one can tell you how to do it.
dane cook
Yeah.
And trying to tell other people what it really is.
We could talk all day.
You just, you know, you've got to be in the fucking mix, man.
joe rogan
When you're at your best, when you're locked on on stage and crushing, don't you feel, or do you feel, because this is how I feel, I feel like I'm just riding it.
I feel like I'm a passenger.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
I feel like I'm tuned into this whole thing, but I feel like as everything's coming out and I'm hitting all the things, it's almost like I'm on autopilot.
I'm in some crazy groove where I'm getting to watch this and I'm getting to experience the words coming out of my mouth as they happen.
I have no idea.
How the fuck it's all working so smoothly.
I really can't even take credit for it.
dane cook
That's interesting because I can't speak anywhere near as flawlessly as when I'm on stage.
If I try to tell you a bit, I will stammer.
I will fucking not remember.
And I can groove on stage sometimes, like surfing, where you're like, I don't know how I'm staying up for an hour.
Just like...
joe rogan
There's that intensity.
There's an intensity of communicating with people.
Every cylinder, everything in your brain just goes...
It just all fires up and it cranks.
dane cook
There's that Steve Martin quote in Born Standing Up where he goes, I can feel it in my fingernails, I point out.
I can feel it in my foot, the way it just moves and plants.
Every part of my body feels like it's emitting fucking stand-up.
brian redban
But yet he hated it.
joe rogan
Well, what he hated is the adulation that came when he became immediately, gigantically successful, and then he couldn't get an honest response from people anymore.
They would start screaming and cheering as soon as they saw him, and he would do these gigantic arenas that he couldn't control, and they were just totally out of control.
Which happens to a lot of guys when they get big.
Like, you know, Chappelle, when he was touring, he would be really frustrated after the Rick James sketch.
The sketch came out because people would be yelling out everywhere, I'm Rick James, bitch!
He'd be in the middle of setups, I'm Rick James, bitch!
And they couldn't kick out enough people.
It was just too nutty.
dane cook
That, to me, honestly, when Dice was at his peak, when I first was watching the HBO specials, I watched Young Comedian specials and then he had that...
I remember feeling like, how the fuck can I do this but not be a character?
How can I do this and be as real, still be an entertainer, still be on, but be as much me so there's none of that fucking catchphrase?
joe rogan
Right, right.
dane cook
Not to say people, you know, everybody wants to be a little Mark Twain.
You want your shit quoted, yes, but not like that.
joe rogan
Right.
dane cook
Not like that, not a t-shirt.
brian redban
Right.
joe rogan
Do you get that weird feeling that, you know, it's also like when you are first starting out doing comedy, how old were you when you first got on stage?
dane cook
19?
No, 18. You're looking at me.
joe rogan
I was 21, and I was not a fully formed person yet.
So it's like when you're on stage and you're talking, I don't know if I am yet either.
I'm sure when I'm 60, I look back at myself now and go, what the fuck kind of shit were you talking, stupid?
You know that feeling.
But I know that I did not have anything to say.
There was no reason for me to be up there talking.
I really didn't know who the fuck I was.
I didn't know what I was saying.
I could show you how to kick somebody in the face.
I really didn't have any opinions that were valid on anything else.
What's my opinion on anything?
I could tell you something silly my girlfriend did when she was blowing me or something.
That's it.
But other than that...
Who the fuck are you?
dane cook
But you were, and I threw off a little bit, because you were saying like, so then when Chappelle started doing the bigger shows, because yeah, even Steve Martin, he lost control of the fucking...
joe rogan
Did you, how quick was the jump between you doing clubs and you doing these giant places, giant arenas?
dane cook
It was actually a slow but steady trajectory where when that web stuff...
What happened was this.
In 2001, my first real website that I put up, in combination of Napster starting to get hot and me uploading all my shit to that with the link, I literally uploaded clips with me at the end going, VisitDaneCook.com at the end of every 20 second clip.
Then Comedy Central, I did a half hour presents that I thought would air fucking twice.
joe rogan
That was the one with you and the tank top, right?
dane cook
The tank top.
Dude, I thought, alright, you know what?
This will air a couple of times, maybe.
I gotta light a fire.
I'm not wearing a bowling fucking shirt.
I don't want to look like what anybody else did.
I just want to do some crazy shit.
Maybe people will fucking pay attention.
Never realizing they were going to air it.
Five times a week for like two years.
It built my whole fan base and almost immediately went from a few hundred seeders to a couple thousand and then I'm doing all the college stuff in over three, four, five years.
The emails, the instant messages, doing those schools, renting out the arenas at the schools and it just built.
joe rogan
How much time do you spend every day talking to fans, emailing, Facebooking, Twittering, all that shit?
dane cook
I'll tell you, man.
I used to talk to everybody.
I used to reply to everybody.
That was at the beginning.
From 2000 to 2005, that's really what I did most of my day.
And then it got to a point where you don't need to read all the fucking crazy shit that comes back.
And, you know, there's just too many opinions and too much negativity.
So it came down to I'm replying to troops.
If I get letters from, like, and I can check by the email, somebody, you know, one of our troops writes.
Or if it's like a kid, I write back.
joe rogan
I've been trolling as a kid for years, man.
Don't assume.
Don't assume.
Don't assume you're talking to a real kid.
dane cook
I've been talking to Joe.
How great would that be if you pulled out a log?
joe rogan
I'm writing a book.
A 12-year-old gets advice from Dane.
dane cook
No, but it took a while, man.
It was not like everybody...
There's that old expression, oh, it took 20 years to be an overnight sensation.
It was a long time, man.
It was not as instant, maybe, as some people thought.
joe rogan
It's got to be satisfying, though, to know that you went out here and you did some movies and shit and some things didn't connect and didn't happen well for you, but you did it all on your own.
Everything was done through your own, you figuring out how to self-promote.
And you changed everybody's attitude about it.
No comics are good promoters except...
I mean, there's a few.
It's very rare.
But until you came along, no comics were really good at self-promotion.
Totally changed my attitude towards it.
brian redban
You learned that from your father, right?
dane cook
I did, man.
A couple things, and I want to give credit to Joe, too, and I told you this a long time ago.
You were the first person to have a website.
Not only a website, but you had cool shit on your website, man.
You had fucking cool designs and fucking...
joe rogan
And that is a direct result of my obsession with Quake, because I was obsessed with Quake, and I ran into this guy, Andrew, who was this nut that I met online.
He's my Quake clan.
This is how fucked up I was.
I'd have all these dudes online from Kentucky and Oklahoma.
They would come and fly to California and stay at my house.
This is when I was on news radio.
I was on TV, and dudes would come over to my house that I didn't know.
They were just my Quake buddies.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
They would come over and stay at the house.
unidentified
That's weird.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm not bullshitting.
I had like five dudes come over to my house, and we had a LAN party.
I was so obsessed with this that I put a T1 line in my house.
Because back then, you couldn't get any fast internet.
You'd get ISDN, which is not quick enough.
So I said, okay, how much is a T1 line?
It was $1,000 a month.
I'm like, let's do this.
So they fucking have to install this business-grade...
dane cook
That's why you beat me all those times.
You're on a faster connection.
joe rogan
You son of a bitch!
dane cook
That's it!
unidentified
That's all it was.
joe rogan
I was completely wired to the gills.
brian redban
We're on 33.6.
joe rogan
It's your ping.
Your ping time is what's important.
You could be on 56k, but if you're really close to the server, your ping is fine.
It's all about how much you do it.
Just become obsessed with it.
dane cook
You start to know your frame rates and when you're going to click and bounce.
joe rogan
That's so dangerous.
Getting really addicted to things like that, you will lose your life.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Right?
Do you worry about doing shit like that?
Like things that eat away your time, relationships.
brian redban
Marijuana.
dane cook
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
How dare you?
dane cook
No, I mean, listen, for me, all I ever wanted to do was create.
That's it.
I don't have any other fucking abilities.
You know, I really just, when I was a kid, I had that epiphany moment where I was like, all I really care about is being around performers, talking about performing, talking about, you know, making something from nothing.
And you brought up my dad.
I was like, that's, my favorite conversations in life were with him because he was the kind of guy who would go, yeah, I don't, you know, you're a lot of talk, Dane.
I want to see shit.
And it was like, he was just motivating, man.
joe rogan
That's important, man.
That's important.
Having people that don't totally, completely believe in you, you know, it is actually an important thing.
dane cook
The mom was like, oh, I think you're the greatest, you're the best.
She was so fucking uber supportive.
But my dad was like, yeah, you're not really doing anything.
joe rogan
In order for you to develop the kind of fortitude that you're going to need to get through the hard times, you have to have something to prove.
That's what I think.
I think it's too hard if you don't.
It's too hard to really push yourself.
If you don't have a chip on your shoulder or something to prove or some gap to fill, you're not going to do it.
You're not going to get through that.
Think about all the guys that we started out with that were just as good as us.
There was a lot of guys that were very commensurate.
They were all really...
dane cook
And you think of them and you're like, what happened to that guy, man?
joe rogan
What the fuck, man?
That guy used to kill.
He used to have this one bit and used to destroy.
And I just could see that guy on Evening at the Improv.
I could see that guy headlining.
And he just stopped.
Stopped doing it.
Girls, too.
There was this chick, Leanne Lewis.
I was an open-miker with her.
Do you remember her?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Dude, she had some fucking good bits, man.
She was still trying to figure out how to go on stage.
But as a comic, as a chick, too, especially, it was very honest and out of nowhere and well-written shit.
I was like, wow, this chick's going to be huge someday.
She's going to be like Ellen.
Just disappeared.
dane cook
Just fell off.
joe rogan
Where'd you go?
It's weird.
It's weird.
There's so many fucking, so many slots.
So many people going towards these slots.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And some of them just, they're just too far up the salmon ladder.
They're just, fuck this.
They just can't do it.
brian redban
Dan, you should use your Hollywood connections to get, John Hughes was just about to release the extra hour of planes, trains, and automobiles that they filmed.
dane cook
Yeah.
brian redban
Right before he died.
dane cook
I heard about that.
brian redban
What happened to that now?
dane cook
I don't know, man.
unidentified
It's completely gone.
joe rogan
It's probably all in the family.
The family probably owns it, and they have to figure out the rights.
If that's what he wanted, I'm sure they'll probably release it still.
Why would they want to keep it?
brian redban
They've kept it for, what, 20 years?
He wasn't going to release it ever, but then just recently he was thinking about it.
joe rogan
Oh, well, I don't know that.
brian redban
That would be so awesome.
joe rogan
Unless it was in his will.
Who knows what the fuck's going to happen?
dane cook
I was telling you before that one Steve Martin moment that was really – because I had dinner with him like a few months ago.
He sent me a copy of his book.
I was completely blown away.
I'd never met him.
I heard all this stuff about him that he's kind of like – maybe not – he's a little socially awkward, all this shit.
joe rogan
What a trip it is meeting someone that famous, right?
dane cook
Meeting really your hero too, which you don't want to do, by the way.
Usually you meet your heroes and you're like, oh, that kind of sucked.
But with him, I was like, alright, he sent me a copy of his book and I wrote back just to be like, could I take you out to lunch?
And he agreed and So I sat down with him for a little bit, and he's really, like, I can be shy.
I don't know about shy, but I can still be, like, a little bit, you know, quiet.
But he's very much like, he won't say a word, I don't think, if you don't start the conversation with him.
But he did say to me at one point, he goes, he looked at me kind of, like, perplexed, and he's like, you look like you really love it up there.
And I was like, yeah, no, I really do, you know, when you're in the middle of a, and I started kind of, and he goes, yeah, I never had that.
I go, never.
I go, not even at the...
And he goes, I never had that.
I never felt connected to stand-up.
brian redban
I thought that.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's so strange.
dane cook
What I have least in common with Steve Martin is comedy.
joe rogan
Isn't that crazy?
I wonder if he's just got some weird connect in his mind.
Maybe he's depressed.
Maybe a naturally depressed person.
dane cook
Well, if you read a lot of...
I read a lot of the stuff in The New Yorker when he would write.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was depressing shit.
dane cook
Yeah, man.
That letter to my father?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dane cook
That says it all, man.
Read that.
joe rogan
I was telling Brian this.
I was going to bring this up, but fuck it.
When Phil Hartman was alive, Phil Hartman was really good friends with Steve Martin, and Phil Hartman...
Was going to set Steve Martin up with what I call a coyote.
What a coyote is is these really kind of crafty, professional chicks that will fuck celebrity guys in order to try to get famous, try to figure out some way.
This is pre-TMZ. Now it's like you really can fuck someone and all of a sudden become hugely famous.
Like that girl, the Jesse James girl?
What's her name?
Bombshell McGee?
brian redban
The Mel Gibson girl.
joe rogan
Yeah, that girl.
Exactly.
And then all of a sudden, that actually can parlay into some sort of a something.
I mean, who knows what the fuck you can do.
People have your name.
They know who the fuck you are right now.
And she was one of those.
She was just kind of creepy.
She was very insincere, but really hot.
Just really beautiful, but just kind of...
dane cook
Put something vacuous there.
joe rogan
Phil was going to set Steve Martin up with her.
I forget who it was.
One of the cast members was like, that is the creepiest thing ever.
He's setting her up with a murderer.
This is before, obviously, Phil's wife killed him.
He's like, this woman, she's not into him.
She's looking at it as an opportunity.
She's like a little assassin.
She's going to move in.
I was like, whoa, that is creepy.
Then I started thinking of them as coyotes.
From then on, because that's how coyotes look at your cat.
They look at your cat and are like, look what we got here, bitch.
I just gotta figure out a way to get there.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know?
Those Sky Bar chicks.
You ever go to the Sky Bar?
dane cook
Once in a while.
joe rogan
Cross the street from the comedy store, we would always go there, because it'd be really easy.
You just walk across the street and grab a drink.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
And there was always, like, this conversation.
Do you do coke?
Sometimes.
Like, always.
That's the whole conversation.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's, like, producers trying to talk starlets into bed, and coyotes preying on, like, balding Jewish men with money.
dane cook
I always hear, hooray for Hollywood!
During all those boring conversations.
joe rogan
How much of a mindfuck is it when you actually met Steve Martin?
When you're sitting there talking to him, isn't it like, holy shit, how does this happen?
How can this be real?
I met Gene Simmons, he came to my New Year's show, and I was like, Gene Simmons is at my show.
This is insane.
I saw kids a bunch of times as a kid.
I saw them in the 70s.
My uncle used to work for Howard Marks Advertising, which was a company that did their album covers.
So I got to meet Ace Freely when I was like eight years old.
So I got to see them when I was really young.
I got to see them live in concert.
And then I got to see them, Kevin James and I went twice in the 90s.
We were like, holy shit, two nights in a row we're seeing Kiss.
I mean, fucking huge fan.
So all of a sudden Gene Simmons is at my show and I'm shit in my pants.
I was like really nervous for the first time in front of one of my crowds.
I mean, everyone is there specifically to see me, but fucking Gene Simmons is one of them.
dane cook
I'm like, holy shit!
An icon is going to be entertained by you.
joe rogan
I had to talk about it.
I had to talk about it right away.
I'm like, if I don't get this out right away, that's going to be fucking with my head the entire time I'm on stage.
dane cook
Junior high school, Motley Crue.
I was listening to Shout at the Devil, and it was like, that was my anthem.
And I fucking went and saw Motley Crue.
And two years ago, I'm at the Laugh Factory, and all of a sudden, a madman starts fucking running around the crowd.
It's Tommy Lee, and I found out he's my biggest fan ever.
unidentified
Wow!
dane cook
And here's the fucked up thing.
I would go to Motley Crue and do Devil Signs and I had the Sufi thing.
He's fucking doing what I was doing at his fucking show to me in front of the fucking Laugh Factory.
And I'm doing the same thing.
I'm going, this is fucking wrong!
This is too fucking...
This is the Matrix, man!
joe rogan
I met Tommy Lee, and I was so shocked that he even knew who the fuck I was.
I was like, this is the weirdest thing ever.
dane cook
He loves comedy, man.
He's like, he's into it.
That's awesome.
No, he's fucking, he loves comics.
joe rogan
He wants to, or he wanted to, at the time, fight Kid Rock, and he wanted me to get him a trainer.
He decided he needed to fight Kid Rock for Pamela Anderson's honor.
Wow.
So he was talking to me about, like, who's a good trainer?
I'm like, we can get you a trainer.
Like, what, you want to do jiu-jitsu?
You want to kickbox?
unidentified
What do you want to do?
joe rogan
You want to stand and bang?
Yeah.
I mean, Tommy Lee and Kid Rock, that would have been one of the saddest fights of all time.
brian redban
Didn't that happen, though, like at a music award?
joe rogan
Well, I think somebody punched somebody.
I think Kid Rock probably punched him.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
I don't know who would win that fight, but Kid Rock, he's got that crazy white trash thing going on where you have to kill him.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Detroit.
You think he's down.
You're like, we're done.
We're fucking done here, right?
Yeah, yeah, we're done.
unidentified
We're done now when I fucking say something!
joe rogan
Fucking hit you in the head with a bottle or something.
He's out of his mind.
I would probably have to bank on Kid Rock there.
dane cook
Yeah, I'd go Kid Rock.
joe rogan
He's a scrapper.
Tommy's a long, tall guy.
If he's got a good straight right, if somebody teaches him how to throw it, he's a drummer.
Drummers have a lot of fucking endurance, man.
All that shit, that's endurance.
That's like a speed bag all day.
Tommy might fucking box his eyes off.
dane cook
That might be it, you're right.
joe rogan
He might stand in front of him and just, tink, tink, tink!
dane cook
But Rock's a drummer too.
People forget that he's a fucking drummer.
joe rogan
Yeah, but how much does he drum?
He's a drummer like...
dane cook
Not consistently.
joe rogan
Like I play pool.
He's not a goddamn professional.
He's not out there beating it for Motley Crue, right?
dane cook
No, no, no.
joe rogan
He takes a lot of goddamn endurance to drum.
You ever try drumming?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
What are you doing?
It's a fake sleeve.
Such a silly fuck.
This is for the folks on iTunes.
dane cook
Fake Koi.
joe rogan
A fake tattoo.
brian redban
That was a stoner purchase.
It was $7 for four different sleeves.
joe rogan
Oh, I got a whole shirt.
I got a whole shirt like that.
Somebody sent it to me.
He's like, man, isn't this the fucking coolest?
Like, I would wear it.
I was like, what are you talking about?
It's tights.
It's flashy designer tights.
brian redban
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's all it is.
It's like you're wearing a rash guard out.
brian redban
But I brought my Falcon cuff.
You know, like the Eddie Bravo Falcon cuff.
dane cook
Joe, did you ever get to, as far as just comics that you fucking dug coming up, did you ever get to do shows with like, I don't know, who your Steve Martin was or like a Kinison or one of those guys?
joe rogan
No.
Dom Herrera's the closest.
I got to do shows with Dom at the Comedy Store.
That was big to me because I paid to see Dom before I ever did comedy.
And for people who don't know, Dom Herrera, fuck, in the late 80s and the early 90s, he was a monster.
He's still a very funny guy, but...
For whatever reason, he doesn't get as much attention as I think his act deserves.
But back then, he was really, really popular.
And I paid to see him.
I was living in Boston.
I took my girlfriend to see him at Nick's Comedy Stop.
And I had never gone on stage yet.
And all of a sudden, in Montreal, at the Comedy Festival, I was like, I'm working with him.
I'm like, holy shit.
It was only like six years later, seven years later, whatever.
It was really fresh in my mind.
I was like, holy fuck.
I paid to see this guy.
dane cook
Wow.
joe rogan
And now I'm working with him.
We're doing a show together.
We're both on the bill.
It's like people are coming to see him and they're coming to see me.
Like, what?
Yeah.
dane cook
That's great.
joe rogan
But that's not like...
He became a friend.
He became normal after a while.
But I never got to see, like, my real...
I got to see a few of my real influences live.
I saw Hicks live.
I saw him live, like, four or five times.
dane cook
How was that?
joe rogan
It was pretty wild.
I saw him live when no one knew who he was.
And here's an interesting thing for comedy historians.
When Hicks...
When I first saw him, he was very similar to Sam Kinison.
To the point where it was like he was stealing his essence, I would say.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
You know, like you...
You know, the Steve Thorne thing.
But that's a good way of describing it.
When I first saw him, he was making Kinnison-like noises and doing sounds in between bits, like the bit didn't go so well, and he'd do this Kinnison-like thing.
I was like, wow, this guy connected to Kinnison's thing.
And it makes sense, because he was one of the guys that opened with Kinnison and followed him around the road.
But he got out of that quickly.
We all are influenced by other guys.
I know you had an Anthony Clark period.
I had a Richard Jenny period.
Where I stopped myself on stage and I realized I sounded like my cadence and everything was Richard Jennings.
I was a big Richard Jennings fan.
I was like, I gotta stop myself.
But a lot of people don't know that Hicks had that with Kinnison.
Everybody thinks it's Hicks, especially because he's dead, of this god who's an amazing comedian and very influential and very unique.
But all of us have this weird thing where we want to be like someone we admire and sometimes it sounds like it on stage.
But he stopped that after a while.
I saw him once and he had it like that and then I saw him again just like six months later and he didn't do any of that.
And he had a bunch of new shit.
I saw him do a headliner set At the Comedy Connection and then a headliner set literally like six months later and it was a totally new hour.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
And I was like, wow!
dane cook
He just, he figured it out, right?
There's that moment we all have where it's like you just, something clicks.
unidentified
Yeah.
dane cook
And you finally realize, alright, this is what I need to do or this is my voice or my truth or whatever the fuck it is.
joe rogan
He, when you think about it, for a guy who's only, I believe when he died he was only 32 years old.
His ideas and philosophies and the validity of his opinions were so advanced for a person of that age.
Because really, most 25-year-old guys...
He was 25 when he was doing a lot of his act, right?
Most 25-year-old guys...
You better shut the fuck up if you want to tell me how the world's running.
Just stop.
You don't know.
And don't give me any nutty fucking 9-11 conspiracy website bullshit.
You're fucking...
What are you, 24, dude?
Really?
Just don't tell me how to run the world.
Just let's...
Grow a little.
Let's get some life experience.
Then give it to me from the perspective of someone who's actually seen something.
But he was advanced.
25, 26, 27, really relevant points and really good material.
There's no bad period.
When you look at his material, there was no period where it was bad.
It got better and better and better.
dane cook
I think one thing that he really latched onto, and maybe it was after going through the...
The Kinison influence was like, and I appreciated, was like this release of whatever emotion it seemed was going through him, he just allowed it to come out, even if it was mid other story or idea.
And I would just watch that and I remember thinking that was like empowering.
I was like, wow, this is a place where you can go up and you can fucking ring shit out and And people, you know, with a joke, I think it's like a good song.
Sometimes you don't know the lyrics to a song.
You just love the fucking song.
You realize years later, like, I don't even know what they're saying here, but it doesn't matter.
And I think with some comedians, it's like, it's not even so much about what they're saying as how they're expressing something emotionally behind that.
Those are the guys that I always watch.
I mean, Carlin, of course, Pryor.
It was like there was truth mixed with just humor, just random ideas.
joe rogan
You know what I got to see, too?
I got to see Kinison.
Become Not So Good.
That was a fascinating thing.
Kenison, who was the guy, remember I told you that chick doing that thing in the parking lot?
That's what got me into comedy.
I mean, literally, that was the bug.
That planted it.
I got to see him perform live after he had gotten really famous and really successful.
And he would come on stage with the two girls and the whole thing.
And it was like, I didn't laugh.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
He stopped being funny.
He became like this caricature of this guy.
You listen to Louder Than Hell, his first CD or whatever it was, you listen to that still today, and it's brilliant.
It's really good still.
But if you go and you look at the stuff that he did right before he died, it's not good at all.
dane cook
Yeah, well, he got caught up in that MTV wild thing.
You're right.
It was like the trench coat became an outfit.
Yeah, it was like a costume.
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Well, Dice, for a while, kind of had the same thing going on, too, where he became the Diceman.
You know, the Diceman was a character that he used to do on stage.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
And he used to do these John Travolta impressions.
dane cook
Yeah, on the Young Comedians special.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
dane cook
That's where I really thought he was really at his strongest.
joe rogan
He was a fucking brilliant impressionist.
dane cook
Likeable, charismatic.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, when Dice burst onto the scene, I mean, I think I was right out of high school.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I remember thinking it was the funniest shit I'd ever heard in my life.
And then hanging out with that guy at the Comedy Store years and years later, he's like a normal guy.
But now he is the Diceman full-time.
It was a character, and now he's got this leather jacket on and gloves on.
It's full-time now.
dane cook
I have a theory that it's like, when you're a character, not just a character, but like, look at any sitcoms or any fucking, throughout history, if you play a character, especially with a weird name, like if you're like a potsy or like...
joe rogan
Al Bundy!
dane cook
Right?
You like, you, but then you become, okay, I need to keep that hairdo, I need to be recognized from that era.
And you play into it, and I think...
That's frustrating when you see that, but it's why I never wanted to be a character, man.
I was like, I'd rather change and not be as funny, but still have certain fans.
And I've had this happen.
I've had fans go, dude, I like your stuff back when I first...
I know, but I was a kid.
I was talking about kid shit.
I was still new.
It's like, if I didn't change, you would not fucking hang out and care at all what I was doing.
joe rogan
Well, there's people that are going to like you at one stage of your career and not at another, and that's okay because that's where they are.
They are where you were at that stage of your career.
dane cook
Exactly.
joe rogan
It's alright.
You know, whatever.
Sorry.
dane cook
I love that.
joe rogan
Sorry I lost you.
I got some new people along the way.
I lost a few.
I got a few stragglers.
dane cook
That becomes what you crave, I really believe, because at first you just want to, you know, I've got to keep my fans.
I've got to hold on to them.
I've got to make them happy.
And when you let go of that and you realize somebody's going to check out for a while, and then I had a guy Write me an email and he goes, dude, listen, I jumped on the hate train or whatever.
I didn't like you.
I listened to Isolated Incident, heard you talking about your folks, talking about shit that I've experienced.
I'm back in, man.
I'm hanging out.
brian redban
I'm digging it.
dane cook
But that's cool, man.
That's like people that can check in and out.
I respect that.
I do the same thing with music.
I don't always like what somebody's putting out, but I'll always listen in.
joe rogan
Chris Cornell is a perfect example of that.
Exactly, man.
He was doing Soundgarden, then he was doing Dog Shit, and now he's doing Soundgarden again.
It's awesome.
I'm still here.
I bought that other stuff.
I just wasn't into it.
But go ahead.
Take your chances.
Who the fuck knows what makes the connection?
If you don't take that chance, as soon as you start thinking...
About like, wow, I have to do what they want.
Then you're fucked.
Because then you don't even know what you're doing.
It has to be what you, what's inside of you.
dane cook
But that's how many guys, you guys see this, it's like, that's why when people, new comics come to you out here and they're like, what do I need to do?
I'm like, get the fuck out of here.
You shouldn't come up here because you're going to be like packaged and immediately like there's a stigma on you.
unidentified
Leave.
joe rogan
Well, there were so many guys at the Laugh Factory that became you.
When you became famous, when it was starting to happen, even when you were packing Dublins all the time, I noticed so many guys that were doing you on stage.
I was like, wow, this is fucking crazy.
It's like, here's these guys that have noticed something that's working, and they're just jumping on it.
That's a fascinating thing to see, like a whole new wave.
There's a wave of guys that came out of the Laugh Factory, Joe Coy.
That sound just like you.
brian redban
And Mitch Hedberg and Stan Hopes.
There's all these clones of clones of clones of clones of clones.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Well, a lot of Mitch Hedberg guys, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's a lot of guys that had that.
dane cook
Oh, my God.
joe rogan
And guys that were pretty good.
Good comics.
But they're like, dude, you've got to stop doing that.
Yeah, I know you're good.
You have some good jokes.
But stop doing that.
dane cook
I'm the cerebral.
joe rogan
It's not just the cerebral.
It's like, yeah, that.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like, dude, you're doing Mitch Hedberg.
dane cook
I'll tell you, man.
It was fascinating to, okay, when it happened, and it was like, fuck, I'm famous.
I'm known.
People are talking about me when I'm not trying to fucking get something going.
And the DJs, like, that was really, they were setting this tempo.
And then there were guys that you see come out, and it's a little flattering and weird when you're like, oh, this guy's kind of like me.
And it makes you not want to watch comedy because you're a little freaked out by it.
But then you know that, alright, a couple years down the line, as guys start getting frustrated, those same guys are the ones who would come out of the woodwork and say, oh no, Dane fucking took from me.
I was doing that shit.
joe rogan
That is true.
That will happen.
And guys will forget that they stole it from you.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
That does happen.
They'll forget that they got the idea to behave that way from you, and they'll decide in their head somehow that they were doing it first.
I've had guys that do that.
dane cook
But you know it's like you just nailed it.
It's like you You take that, you have a voice, you have certain people that you want to emulate, and then you figure out your shit and you grow out of it.
And I'm as kind of understanding and cool about that because I've been up, down, up, down, and it's like...
joe rogan
But in the beginning, though, you don't feel that way.
In the beginning, you feel like someone's stealing from you and you have to put a stop to it.
Because when you're not famous and you're struggling and you're coming up and...
And you're just starting to do well, and then you see somebody start ganking off you, and you're like, hey, hey, hey, I created all this success out of hard work, and you're just kind of emulating it.
You better stop doing that.
You're doing what you saw be successful.
You're doing a version of me.
That's tricky, man.
That's a tricky thing.
It's a tricky thing, because it just feels like someone...
I mean, really, you've got to let them do it.
Look, if you become successful, just through the merit of your own work, it's going to be really clear who's...
Who's copying?
Who's imitating who?
But it just doesn't feel like that in the beginning.
In the beginning, when you don't have money and you're not...
If someone's doing me now, I'm like, look at this guy.
Why are you doing that?
Well, I guess that's what happens.
dane cook
And it's kind of fucking flattering, even though it's still...
joe rogan
But you figure they would be done with it.
I mean, I was doing it when I was an open-miker.
I was doing it when I was a year in or two years in.
I would hear myself sound like somebody else.
But when someone's doing it and that's their act on Comedy Central, you're like, okay, man...
You took this too far.
You have to do your own thing.
You have to have your own delivery.
dane cook
Yes.
And you know what?
It's funny because the first time in my life I ever ran in, that was with you.
It was like 1998, and Joe called me up.
I remember I was still living in that shitty apartment, and you're like, dude, there's a fucking bit that you're doing, and it's like my closing bit.
I remember I was so fucked up by that, not only because I had a lot of respect for Joe, but it was like...
I don't ever want to be one of those guys that gets put in that position.
And I remember feeling like that was a defining moment for me because it was like I need to talk even more about maybe not nostalgic things or things that are outward that I see but things that are from me, that happen to me.
joe rogan
It's hard though because especially if you're influenced by someone else and your bit is influenced by their bit and even though you know it is, you know you shouldn't probably do it because everyone thinks that you kind of stole it.
But it kills you.
And that's the problem when it fucking crushes.
dane cook
And it's all you have in life.
joe rogan
And it's such a good bit.
It's just you know you could go up there with this one and just fucking slam it in.
But really, ethically, it's almost like you have to find out what's good about that and cut it out and try to add it to something that you create.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You can be influenced by something, and you're not even aware of it.
You ever see where a lot of guys work together?
We saw that at the comedy store a lot, where guys would work together, and guys would riff in the back parking lot, and then they would go on stage, and it was like a battle over, whose bit is this?
Whose bit is this?
Stan Hope had this fucking guy that was opening for him.
This guy was a douche.
And he would go on stage, and whenever they would fucking riff, Stan Hope would say a bunch of cool shit, and this guy would go on stage and do Stan Hope's cool shit.
It's just like, fuck, man.
Now I can't riff in front of you?
I can't just fuck around and come up with it?
But then, when you're still doing it together, and then you've got to figure out, well, whose is this?
What's going on here?
Or somebody like, You'll have an idea, an original premise, and someone will add a tag to it and then take your whole fucking thing and jump on stage because they added a tag.
Like, no, I just came up with that.
dane cook
To this day, like Bobby and Al, because I've known Al since I was a kid, 13 years old, Bobby since I started, Robert Kelly.
And us three, definitely.
I can hear it all the time.
Bobby does certain things.
I'm like, oh, that sounds like me.
Or all three of us.
Because we started.
We spent so much fucking time together.
We formed our kind of comic cadences and all the tricks that you learned.
That those are the two guys that I can still watch and be like, oh, that's how we influenced each other.
joe rogan
I have one friend.
When I come up with an idea, I have to walk away.
I walk away, and I say it in my head, and I write it down.
But I don't say it in front of them, because if I say it in front of them, I'm pretty sure that it's eventually going to go on stage.
dane cook
Oh my god.
joe rogan
So I have to go away.
I fucking really do that.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, and the worst is the one friend that you have an idea, and you start saying the idea, and they try to top it, and they start talking over you.
You're like, no, no, no, no, no.
This is delicate.
It's coming out of nowhere.
It's coming out of outer space.
unidentified
Let me say it.
joe rogan
Could you fucking imagine...
If...
Imagine if Oprah decided that she was tired of all this...
unidentified
Yeah, maybe she would just...
dane cook
Stop, stop, stop!
Stop talking!
joe rogan
If you talk right now, you're gonna...
I'm gonna miss...
I'm getting a gift right now from the universe.
It's like ideas, like crazy ideas sometimes will come to you, like fully formed.
But if you start talking and explaining it to other people, and then someone jams in with their own shit, it's like, oh, it's lost now.
dane cook
Yes.
Or if they start trying to get to what you're getting to, because they kind of get a sense of it.
Or wrong.
Territorial pissings are wrong.
joe rogan
Or wrong.
And you're like, no, that's not what I'm saying at all.
And then like, fuck.
I've lost all my momentum now.
brian redban
Communication's dead.
We should all text each other.
dane cook
Oh, you're waiting that whole time for that, Chris?
joe rogan
Brian, you're out of your mind.
brian redban
Chris?
You just called me Chris again.
joe rogan
Chris is your name from now on, dude.
brian redban
Why do you think I'm Chris?
joe rogan
The internet's going to call you Chris.
dane cook
You look like a Chris.
brian redban
Is that MC Chris?
joe rogan
He, Brian, at the beginning of the show, Dane showed up and Dane goes, hey, Chris.
And Brian was like, I'm not Chris!
Why don't you call me Chris?
You always call me Chris!
dane cook
I've been calling him Chris for like months.
joe rogan
Very upset.
And I told him, when you meet as many people as certain people do, you literally lose your space in your memory bank for people's names.
dane cook
Now you're Chris.
joe rogan
If I don't see you for a month, your fucking shit is gone from my brain.
You're that guy.
Hey, what's up?
We could have hung out, smoked a joint, went to a movie.
I don't fucking remember you, dude.
There's too many people in my head.
dane cook
But they remember everything.
Do you remember, Joe?
We met and we hung up.
It was the Galaxy Theater.
And we all stood on the curb.
And you're like, I don't fucking remember where this was.
joe rogan
I have a friend who's famous who likes to fuck a bunch of different girls.
And his whole...
I mean, he's a complete pussy addict.
And he doesn't think it's a big deal and these girls aren't going to be attached to him.
I'm like, do you not understand?
I go, you're in movies and people love you and they see you all the time and they're attracted to you and you're meeting all these people, millions and millions of them, and it's not a big deal to you, but to them.
dane cook
It's like...
joe rogan
Like, oh my god, this is a guy who's in some big fucking giant movie and his penis is inside my vagina.
To them, it's like the greatest moment ever and you forgot her name already.
dane cook
Right.
It's literally one of the top three things that they'll ever fucking want to talk about with their close friends.
joe rogan
Yeah, I try to tell this dude, the reason why these girls go crazy is because they think you're in love with them.
They think, you know, this is going to be like a love affair now, and you're just moving on to the next chick, and, you know, you've got to be careful of that, right?
dane cook
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
You're single?
dane cook
I am.
No, I was with a chick for about five years, and about eight months single.
joe rogan
So she was there for the big ride?
dane cook
For most of it, yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
What finally just drove the nail?
dane cook
Everything?
A lot, man.
joe rogan
Did you see in the business?
dane cook
You know what it was?
Yes, but I went through a lot of shit, man.
My folks and then into my brother.
brian redban
You've had the roughest four or five years ever, man.
I'm surprised you're even functioning.
dane cook
Sometimes I am too, man.
I lived to perform because my folks were just the coolest fucking people.
But they got to see everything.
That's what I've come to at the end of all the Talking about it and figuring it out.
They got to see everything I wanted.
joe rogan
Do you find it's hard to date chicks in the business?
dane cook
Right now I'm just having fun, so I'm just kind of like doing whatever.
But I would not want to settle down with a headshot, no.
joe rogan
That's it.
I have a no headshots policy.
Seven year period.
dane cook
That's it.
No headshot policy.
joe rogan
After seven years, you haven't had a headshot in seven years?
Okay, you're good.
You're clear.
You're clear.
You've escaped the spell.
But there's Real Housewives of Calabasas, all these crazy bitches out here.
They all wanted to be actresses.
dane cook
Yeah, man.
joe rogan
I know I'm fucked up, but I've figured out how to deal with my fucked up and make it work and be a fairly healthy human being.
But I know that other people that are fucked up, the odds are we're going to be able to talk and hang out and be cool with each other and make this work out and both be balanced.
It's very hard.
The odds are very, very small that you're going to have your shit together and we're going to have a healthy relationship.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
It's just like too many times over and over and again.
You just deal with all these crazy people and all this psychosis involved in that.
The auditioning process breaks people's souls.
Because getting this movie or getting this television show or anything they're auditioning for could be the biggest fucking moment in their life.
And they're freaking out, and they're pacing around the waiting room, and you get to see them go over their lines.
I read for a sitcom six months ago.
I got nervous being in the room with all these people that were nervous.
I was like, I just want to get the fuck out of here.
This is a terrible feeling.
I've got money.
I don't have to worry about shit.
This just seems like a fun job.
I'm looking at all these people.
This is their big fucking thing, their big break.
And they're doing that every day, over and over again, getting rejected, getting rejected.
Needing that love.
Getting rejected.
Needing that love.
Getting rejected.
unidentified
So close.
joe rogan
But nope.
Final three.
No.
And they're doing this for years and years.
And this is already a person who's psychologically unbalanced.
Already a person who the reason why they want to be a performer in the first place is they want to be loved because they weren't loved as a child.
So there's this incredible, horrible imbalance.
And they just can't quite connect.
And then you start dating them, and it's like, look, man, you're not on a comfortable road.
This isn't going to be smooth and relaxed and everyone's carefree.
This is going to be constant psychosis.
Do you think I'm good?
Do you think I'm fat?
Is this good?
What, am I a loser?
Will you read lines with me?
unidentified
Fuck!
brian redban
All our friends are like that, though.
joe rogan
Yeah, but I'm not dating our friends.
brian redban
Yeah, but they still have that same kind of fucking...
joe rogan
Yeah, but they have success as comics.
That's the difference.
Guys like Joey and Ari, yeah, they're going to auditions all the time, but they're also killing it on stage all the time.
They're doing comedy all the time.
And Joey's always getting acting gigs here and there.
And Ari's always getting commercials here and there.
dane cook
So Ari's doing well.
joe rogan
It's the people that are not making the connection.
And girls, too.
If you're a girl, man, it's a natural feeling, I think, for a girl to want some sort of male companionship and protection.
For a woman to be by herself, comes here from Omaha, Nebraska or something, she's going to be incredibly insecure, like a cork in the middle of the ocean, by herself anyway.
Doesn't have any friends, committed to this acting thing, and then just rejection, rejection, rejection.
And then it's their whole childhood thing that dragged them there in the first place.
Then you come along and you're like, hey, would you like to go see a movie?
You don't even know what the fuck you're getting into.
You're just opening up the door to hell.
dane cook
My ex was one of the classic cases of everything that I didn't know until after the breakup.
Everything she always said she hated, she became.
Like, literally every fucking facet.
joe rogan
That's why they hate.
What they hate, actually, is what they're afraid of in themselves.
brian redban
Right?
dane cook
But it's tough because then people go, you know what?
People that are further along in this industry, when I'm always like, what's your gem?
What can I learn from you?
And they go, yeah, you don't want to be with a girl who's in the industry.
But then you're like, if somebody who isn't, how do they really fucking understand the bullshit that I then have to deal with?
So what's that middle ground?
Who's that girl in the middle?
joe rogan
Well, you can find girls in the business that are really cool.
It's just really rare.
There's a lot of them that are just really normal.
They just like acting.
dane cook
I am kind of dating a girl now, but after what I've been through, you're kind of more trepidatious because you're like, all right, if that's going to build up for that one.
joe rogan
I like how you threw that in there.
Trepidatious is a very rare word.
unidentified
Thank you.
Trepidatious.
joe rogan
That was strong.
That was a strong move.
brian redban
Charlie Murphy.
joe rogan
There's a lot of people who do think that you can't find someone in the business, but you can.
It's just rare.
You can't rule it out, but as a rule, if you're going to have an ethic, it should be a no headshots policy.
Find some normal chick.
brian redban
I have a head and butt shot policy.
dane cook
I like the way he threw the little gulp in the middle.
joe rogan
That's Brian.
He's always got to do something like that.
Just to make you go, Brian, Chris.
So now that you've done, how many specials?
dane cook
Four CDs, a couple of specials.
joe rogan
When you do it now, do you give yourself a specific amount of time?
Do you do a special and then say, alright, now I start fresh with all new material and within X amount of months I do a new one?
dane cook
This is probably the first time in a while that I'm not putting a time limit on it.
I mean, I used to.
It was like every other year and then you're preparing during...
I'm doing it for the first time in a while, really just enjoying it.
It's not a machine.
It's not like I gotta fucking top.
It's like, I'm okay now.
I'm in a good spot.
My fans are happy.
I'm happy.
I'm balanced after some crazy years.
I'm just trying to enjoy it, man.
That's the thing, you guys.
I had this moment where I had a good year when I hit where I'm like...
This is dream come true time.
And I really did enjoy it.
And then I took care of my family.
And I had money.
And then a lot of stuff happened.
A lot of stuff happened.
Whether it was internal from comedians.
Or whether it was my folks being sick.
Dog shitting everywhere.
Yeah, dog shitting and getting evicted.
It was like I didn't have time to just be a regular...
Like, person, in process, everything.
And so that's what I've really done the last, well, year.
joe rogan
Do you find that, I find that it drives me really crazy when I come up with a bit and then I put it on a special and then right after I fucking film it, I have a way better tagline.
It drives me nuts.
And then I'm like, I let this go too quick.
I should have worked on this.
Like, part of the process of developing material is you've got to do a bit over and over and over again until you find the rhythm of it.
Until you find, you know, the natural order of the words.
dane cook
And it's never done.
joe rogan
No, it's never done, man.
That's one of the great things about those guys in Boston, the untold story of why they were so good.
Those guys had the same act forever.
A lot of those guys, unfortunately, kept the same act for years and years and years, and people actually grew to expect it.
They would go see Steve Sweeney, who was fucking brilliant, but it was the same brilliant 20 minutes that you had seen seven years ago.
And they had it down.
And they had their act, and it was a fucking machete.
And it would just slice through the crowd.
dane cook
Like Terminators?
joe rogan
Yeah, the timing was just perfect.
The timing was just deadly.
There were so many of those guys then, too.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, if you come out with a bit and you don't really develop it enough, maybe you didn't quite get it out the perfect way.
People love new shit.
That's more important to them than anything.
But you want to make sure it's done.
You want to make sure it's really done.
dane cook
I kind of was like, a few years back, I fell into this routine of like, you know, maybe it's never done, and maybe it's always kind of evolving in something else, and that's okay.
Maybe it's just, again, more about who I am.
Because I loved guys like even Johnny Carson growing up.
I didn't know what the fuck Johnny was talking about half the time when I was a kid, but it was like this idea of, oh, you're attracted to this person.
And there's something glamorous about stand-up where you can't go anywhere else, except for maybe what we're doing here today, without somebody impeding on it.
And like editing it or some standards and practice.
There's always somebody fucking with you except comedy is glamorous because you can say whatever it is that you want to say.
joe rogan
And that's one of the things that I love about this podcast too.
This is so, look how easy this is.
We just have a couch and a webcam and a fucking table and a laptop.
That's it.
That's all it takes.
dane cook
And a flashlight that you can fuck.
joe rogan
And a flashlight that you can fuck.
And some microphones.
And no one can tell you what to do.
And look, it's not polished.
We don't edit it.
We just fuck it.
It's just a conversation.
It's a conversation every week.
You might like it.
We hope you do.
josh olin
But no one's fucking with it.
joe rogan
And it becomes itself.
Other people digging their fingers in it.
dane cook
I'll take this over any, like any, even like whatever, reality TV, like everything's so processed and so fucking prepared that why can't something be a little ragtag and a little messy and real and maybe a little uncomfortable and really, you know, have an amazing moment.
joe rogan
Well, for you, I think this is very important because I think you're a very misunderstood guy and the ability to express yourself for long periods of time will get a chance for someone to see Your real personality as opposed to this projected image that they have of you.
dane cook
I get that.
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know?
So this is like a great medium.
Because if you're doing like a fucking Tonight Show set or something like that, you're sitting on the couch, you're talking for seven minutes, to me it always feels like it's over.
That's it.
It's over.
It's like, I don't even know.
Who was I? Was I me?
Did I get it outright?
dane cook
Right.
unidentified
You know?
joe rogan
Did I just fucking force this to try to be funny?
dane cook
I'm seven minutes.
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
Fuck.
joe rogan
Yeah.
This is a fantastic opportunity that we have today to do something like this.
This didn't exist for performers of other generations.
The ability to let people really know who we are, warts and all.
This is exactly who we are.
dane cook
And seeing comics and however many entertainers like go from this to getting that fame or fan base or whatever it is without anybody in the middle of it.
Without managers and agents and It's pretty incredible, man.
joe rogan
Who's that kid, Bob Burnham?
What's his name?
dane cook
Yeah, Bo.
Bo Burnham.
joe rogan
Bo Burnham.
He's like 18 or something, isn't he?
A really young kid.
dane cook
Yeah, I had him open for me in New Hampshire.
joe rogan
He's killing him everywhere.
He did a bunch of shit on YouTube, and people loved his songs on YouTube, like comedic songs, and all of a sudden this kid is fucking packing places.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
I mean, it's incredible, just because of the internet.
That kid that was on Ellen, that kid that sang that paparazzi song, the Lady Gaga song, was brilliant.
It was at like a school talent festival or something like that.
And this kid was fucking brilliant.
dane cook
And now he's got a record deal.
joe rogan
It's amazing.
It's like you instantly can connect to people that just weren't available before you.
Before you had to go through magazines.
dane cook
But let's be devil's advocate for a minute.
Because how fucking quickly is that kid fucked up now?
joe rogan
Oh, he's done, right?
dane cook
Because there's no...
It's like he's out of that fucking plane.
No tandem jump for him.
No fucking let's do a thousand hours.
joe rogan
He's 11, right?
Isn't he 11 or something like that?
dane cook
I think he's 11. That's the scary...
There will be a certain chew-em-up, spit-em-out process with some of these people that make it through there.
It's like people who win the lottery.
Most people who fucking play the lottery are like, you know, fucking got nothing.
And then you see that documentary on HBO. You see Lucky about these fucking people that hit the lottery.
unidentified
They're...
dane cook
Nowhere near prepared.
People who are already rich know how to have money.
People who have nothing and then get rich get fucking crazy.
joe rogan
Yeah, they get nuts.
When I got my first development deal, my manager thought I had a gambling problem.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
And it was because I was buying lobster like every night.
I was just eating like a king.
brian redban
That would be nice.
joe rogan
I got a fat check and I just went off like a rocket.
I was spending like 10 grand a month.
And he was like, what the fuck are you doing?
I'm like, I'm having fun, bitch.
unidentified
Yeah.
dane cook
The first money I ever had, and the dumbest thing I probably ever did, was I logged in.
Again, this is when the internet, like, 56k modem.
I logged into, like, a poker fucking website.
And I'm like, I'm going to play poker.
I'm pretty good at poker.
I lost five grand of my underwear in about six minutes.
unidentified
Wow.
dane cook
Literally in the middle of the fucking night.
I remember pushing my IBM ThinkPad away from me going, I can never do this again.
unidentified
Wow.
dane cook
Five grand like that.
unidentified
Wow.
dane cook
Fuck.
joe rogan
I love internet gambling.
I love the idea of it.
dane cook
I'm scared that it's fucking rigged, though, man.
joe rogan
It's totally rigged.
brian redban
It's totally rigged.
dane cook
It's gotta be, Joe.
Come on, man.
joe rogan
I wonder, because you can play guys on Quake, and they'd be bots, and they would never miss.
They would just destroy you.
Like, literally, 100-0.
You would never come close to them.
They would know where you were at all times.
They'd know exactly the right weapon to use, because they weren't really playing.
It was just a computer simulation that was playing perfectly.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
You've got to have that for poker.
dane cook
These poker things, not only that, but who's to say somebody isn't playing and has a screen open of best odds on hands and anything else?
brian redban
Or hackers that just haven't been caught that are sitting there like Call of Duty behind a wall and watching your hand.
joe rogan
Oh yeah, for sure.
dane cook
I used to play chess online and I'm like, some fucking fag is going to have a chess fucking master thing opened up and he knows 10 moves ahead already.
brian redban
Exactly.
joe rogan
You know what, though?
For chess, you shouldn't even care.
Let them cheat.
Go ahead.
It's only going to make you better.
When you're playing someone in chess, the key is to play tough, tough people.
brian redban
The worst is Scrabble.
Everyone's addicted to Scrabble apps and Facebook Scrabble.
unidentified
Really?
brian redban
There's so many websites.
You just sit there and you type in what you have, what's been placed, and they'll tell you the best word.
You know, from the dictionary, it's 12 points.
joe rogan
So play Scrabble, play Old School.
Just a table and some people sitting around.
dane cook
We live in a society where people feel victorious when they figure out the best way to cheat.
That's victory.
If I can figure out how to out-cheat you, I'm fucking great.
I'm more amazing than you at something.
It's fucking insane.
joe rogan
It's pretty interesting, but think about the Russian mom, how much money the Russian mom has made by cheating, made by getting people's credit cards, made by hacking things, made by doing that.
It's like when you realize the actual numbers involved, it's a branch of business.
I mean, it literally is a branch of business.
dane cook
Duping.
joe rogan
Duping people is a branch of business.
Ripping people off, ripping off their websites, hacking into their shit, getting credit card numbers.
It's a branch of business.
I mean, it's like this is sophisticated shit.
You know, this is being sophisticated stuff being done on a high level.
Whenever you're going to have any sort of a situation like that where there's kind of an open door, you know, and there's programs, you can run programs in the background.
Think about how many goddamn viruses there are, you know?
I mean, viruses and keyloggers and just fuck, man.
dane cook
And everything's going into the cloud, man.
Everything's going.
It's Skynet, dude.
It's happening.
joe rogan
Google is Skynet, right?
Google is...
I use it for fucking email.
I use the Chrome browser.
There's a whole bunch of websites dedicated to that, too.
dane cook
Everything's...
That's kind of weird, man.
It's freaky.
When you think about, like, pretty soon, everything.
Access to everything.
All the time.
joe rogan
And computer power is exponentially increasing.
So the kind of programs, the kind of things that computers can do is going to change drastically over the next few years.
dane cook
But I watched a thing on Dateline the other night.
It was about a woman who fell for the scam of like, you know, contact us.
There's a million dollars in a bank account.
So many people fell for that.
Yeah, and I couldn't believe it.
It's like this woman was like, oh, I'm $300,000 down because they keep writing me saying we need more money to get the money out.
Oh, my God.
And I get those all the time.
joe rogan
Dude, people are crazy.
dane cook
You ever write them back?
Sometimes I'll write them back just for the hell of a chance to be like, I'm in!
joe rogan
A whole email folder that says scams.
And it's just conversations that I have with fucking Nigerian terrorists.
dane cook
That's a book, dude.
You gotta post that shit, man.
joe rogan
It's fucking weird how many I get.
I get at least one a day.
At least one guy a day.
Good evening, sir.
I represent the Bank of Newcastle.
And we right now have...
dane cook
They don't know your name, but they know Dear Sir or Ma'am.
joe rogan
If you could possibly help me, there's $3 million in cash here.
I'm looking for someone who can come up with a small deposit to get out the box.
A lot of people get fooled by those Nigerians, apparently.
brian redban
A lot of people get fooled for those keys where you think it's Facebook and you type in your username and password.
Every day a new person on Facebook or something like that.
joe rogan
Fishing sites are big, man.
You know, look, people are fucking crafty.
You gave somebody my phone number, remember?
Some dude you thought was really Cliffy B? Oh, that's right.
brian redban
Somebody tricked him.
joe rogan
I started getting phone calls.
I'm like, what the fuck, Brian?
dane cook
Oh, shit.
brian redban
I was like, I thought it was real Cliffy B. That was a good trick, too.
joe rogan
Well, it was not a good trick.
You really should have looked at the address.
brian redban
Well, I mean, if it tricked me, you know it's a little bit better.
It was new.
It was on MySpace.
Somebody made a fake MySpace account.
joe rogan
You became a Cliffy B fanboy.
brian redban
Copying everything.
joe rogan
You were a Cliffy B fanboy, and you didn't pay attention to the actual address.
brian redban
Whatever.
joe rogan
He got you.
brian redban
They cloned his website.
unidentified
You got God!
dane cook
You got God, man!
joe rogan
You got God, son.
brian redban
At least I didn't Twitter my phone number.
joe rogan
I did Twitter my phone number, but I thought it was...
brian redban
Last month.
dane cook
Oh, you thought you were DMing someone?
joe rogan
DMed somebody, yeah.
dane cook
Oh, God.
unidentified
I fucked up.
joe rogan
But I kept it as a fan line.
It's fascinating.
I just turn it on in the middle of nowhere and start answering calls.
Joe Rogan fan line.
I just start talking to people.
Look at the fuck out of here.
dane cook
That's why you gotta get sane out, man.
joe rogan
Yeah, it sounds like an awesome thing.
dane cook
It's the coolest shit, man.
That app is great, man.
joe rogan
I will get it.
dane cook
They can ring your phone.
They never know your phone number.
You go live.
I do a thing.
I go live.
You hit a button, sends it to everybody, and then they can just call like a radio station.
Like this, rolling.
joe rogan
Are they located in San Francisco?
Is their headquarters located in San Francisco?
dane cook
Yeah, I believe so.
joe rogan
Because I met someone who was trying to get me to do that years ago, but of course I blew it off.
dane cook
You should do it.
joe rogan
Yeah, no.
I'm on it.
What other things do you do for promotion?
How many different things are you involved in when you're promoting yourself?
dane cook
Just a few, man.
I do the Say Now, obviously Facebook, the Twitter stuff, but not a lot, man.
I don't know what Foursquare is.
brian redban
I hate that shit.
Why would you want it to be the ultimate stalker?
What is that?
Hey, I'm at Applebee's.
Here's the exact location.
I am here right now.
dane cook
Oh, that's what that is?
joe rogan
That's nutty.
dane cook
That's not going to happen.
joe rogan
What is that my location stuff?
brian redban
Why would you want to do that?
There's an app on your iPad where you can just sit here and put your address in and it'll show you all your neighbors who have Twittered or at least who have said, yes, you can use my location.
dane cook
That's in Twitter.
You can see who's in your neighborhood is Twittering.
brian redban
It's ridiculous.
joe rogan
That's creepy.
dane cook
There's like 45 apps right now in the App Store that have code in it so that people can log in and get your contacts list.
brian redban
Really?
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
dane cook
Yeah.
That's incredible.
A 15-year-old kid put up HandiLight two weeks ago.
brian redban
Yeah, right.
dane cook
Right?
And it was a tethering thing.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was a tethering program.
dane cook
There's like 45. That's how many they admit.
brian redban
There's like 45. You know what's crazy is what's even worse is Android.
When I had Android, there were so many bad rogue apps.
Like, I downloaded a weather app, and it was just supposed to give me the weather.
And it was like, this is going to take your contact list.
You know how it gives you the warnings of all the things?
It was like five different things.
I was like, what?
This is a weather app.
Why does it need my contacts?
dane cook
This is how much of a fucking scoundrel I am right now.
When you're single again, I had a girl call me randomly, because I know my number's out there sometimes, and people do post shit.
It's like you change your number once in a while.
So in the middle of the night, I'm like, hello, giggling.
Is this Dane?
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, what's up?
Where'd you get this number?
Oh my god, oh my god.
And then finally she sounded so hot that I was like, where are you guys right now?
unidentified
Where are you guys?
dane cook
I was like, age, sex, location?
How old are you guys?
And you're like, oh, we're 22. I'm like, are you guys in LA? What's up?
Send a picture.
So they send a picture?
When you're single again, you're like, there's no laws that govern me at this point.
unidentified
Why not?
joe rogan
Right, yeah.
Fucking take full advantage of this crazy magic trick you have.
Doesn't it feel like a crazy magic trick?
dane cook
Yeah, man.
joe rogan
It feels like, as long as you recognize it's a magic trick, the real problem is when dudes who have the magic trick don't think it's a trick, they think, I am this fucking special.
dane cook
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
You know, that's an easy soup to start drinking.
unidentified
Right.
dane cook
No, I never forget and go, I was the guy that couldn't fucking get it done, man.
I had no game.
I had no fucking approach.
So, yeah, I'm constantly reminded.
joe rogan
It's a very strange thing when people are under the spell.
You know, when they're looking at someone famous and you see that their heart's beating fast and their hands are shaking, it's like, wow.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Just because they've seen your image broadcast somewhere or they thought you did something that they enjoyed.
brian redban
That's how it would be with Steve Martin.
If I ever met Steve Martin, that's how it would be.
joe rogan
Yeah, Steve Martin.
dane cook
It's like being like Pantaleoni in Matrix.
You just want to believe that steak's real.
Fuck it.
I don't care if it's fucking that real.
joe rogan
Still to this day, I'll go back and listen to Let's Get Small.
I'm like, fuck.
You know, especially for them.
I mean, when was it?
Was that like 78 or something like that?
Right before The Jerk, right?
Wasn't that like right before The Jerk?
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Fuck, man.
dane cook
And he told me I was asking about The Jerk.
Because as much as I could, I was like, you know, once he warmed up, I was like, tell me a little about The Jerk.
And he was like, I was just driving to the gig every day with Carl Reiner.
And we're like, is this funny?
Is this funny?
They were just doing what comics do.
And then get to set and make it work.
joe rogan
Wow.
dane cook
Yeah.
They were like, we had no clue what we were doing or how big that was going to be.
brian redban
I want to know what happened with him because there was definitely a point in his time kind of after planes, trains, and automobiles around Grand Canyon times where it seemed like he just stopped playing Steve Martin and started acting like an old man or something.
No more crazy.
He was forcing the crazy wild crazy.
dane cook
What's your feeling on that?
Don't a lot of comics want to be like, you've got to take me serious.
A lot of comics go through that phase where it's like, I'm a serious human being.
brian redban
Stop smoking weed.
joe rogan
What about that weird thing where comics want to be taken seriously and they start making points on stage that aren't funny?
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
I worked with this comic once.
I'm not going to say his name, but he's a political guy.
Pretty famous guy.
And he did this line, and then he said, And it wasn't even remotely funny.
It was some silly fucking Democrat versus Republican point that should be obvious to anybody who's paying attention.
And it was just like, wow, you're going for that?
They lose this perspective, and all of a sudden they start thinking that they're this voice of reason that people need to hear.
They're like, come on, man.
You're supposed to just be funny.
If you don't have anything funny to say about a subject, or if it's not setting up something funny later...
I understand if you want to get a point across or give a perspective...
That may not be funny, but it gives us your point of view, so I understand what you're talking about when you say some funny shit later.
But if you start preaching, that's a fucking tricky thing, right?
dane cook
Yeah, yeah, no, no.
joe rogan
How many guys have you seen do it, though?
A lot, right?
dane cook
Yeah, yeah.
And it seemed like there was a phase, not as much now, but a few years ago where everybody was trying to do that.
Where everybody was like, this is the point in my act where I'm going to dim the lights and do Bill Maher real talk.
I'm there for fucking yucks, man.
I'm there to make you laugh your ass off.
I'm there to make you escape for a little bit.
There's a lot of fucking guys that do it a thousand times better than me, but I figured out how to do it my way to where I can entertain you and we can all forget about the real hardcore shit for a little bit.
That's all I'm supposed to do, man.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dane cook
Really.
If I can do some flicks, if I can produce some TV stuff, great.
joe rogan
I love comedy that doesn't have to mean shit.
Like, Joey Diaz is one of my favorite guys to watch ever, because everything is up my ass and my balls and my dick.
Shut up, suck my cock.
dane cook
That's Boston.
That's so Boston, too.
Everything ended up up the ass.
If you couldn't get the fucking...
If you had no end in your joke, it ended up up your ass.
joe rogan
I appreciate, like, really deep thinkers, and I appreciate people with really fascinating points of view, but for the most part...
A lot of that stuff is not funny.
A lot of that stuff really – it's almost you're disrespecting certain topics by doing them on stage.
I mean you can kind of like brush on it and kind of like dabble in it.
But if it's a really fascinating subject, it's something that needs to be explored and it's not going to be funny.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But just for flat out funny, like for me, I like stupid shit.
I like a Joey Diaz type guy.
That's the kind of shit I laugh at.
I want to laugh at someone.
I mean, I love good writing and everything like that, but I love just as much, you know, Joey Diaz, he's got this joke about transvestites.
He goes, I love transvestites.
They cook.
They clean.
You can beat on them every once in a while.
The cops come.
Who are they going to believe?
Me or some dude with a wig and a black eye.
It's great.
That's like, just bang, bang, bang!
I mean, it's just laughing about transvestites.
It's a fucking tremendous joke.
But you know what I'm saying?
It's like, that's the kind of shit that'll make me clap and laugh, and then hours later I'll be at the diner eating, clapping and laughing.
You know, it's like, that's my favorite kind of comedy.
I like just stupid shit.
brian redban
That's why I like old Steve Martin.
joe rogan
Exactly.
Old Steve Martin was awesome.
What are your favorite comics that work today?
dane cook
I just watched Burr again on Letterman.
I think Billy's just like...
He's one of the funniest guys out there.
He's an architect, man.
He gets out there and he fucking figures out.
And he's just funny.
It's just about fucking being funny.
And he's not going to use his power to do that.
Yeah, just a funny cat, man.
joe rogan
It's all pure.
dane cook
I liked watching Chappelle before.
He kind of disappeared.
I always appreciated watching Dave get up and just work.
joe rogan
As a guy who's on the same level as him, fame-wise, does it freak you out that he doesn't fucking perform in these big places?
Why don't you let people know where you're going to be, man?
Why don't you do more shows?
He's one of the best ever.
One of the best ever right now, and it's so rare to hear his performance.
dane cook
Listen, I don't know Dave personally.
I don't have insight, but just from what I hear, he's got some stuff to work out.
So maybe he's just not in a place where he can face that head-on.
I know I'm putting it rather delicately.
joe rogan
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
I mean, I heard that crazy story about whatever the hell happened on the airplane, where they had to land somewhere, and the pilot thought that he was a hazard to the flight, so they landed early.
That's extreme.
You know, that's extreme stuff.
I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I met him when I did, I mean, comedy clubs in New York, and I did this appell show twice, and he's just always been a cool dude, but I never got to know him deep.
dane cook
Yeah, I don't think he's like that, though.
I don't think a lot of people know him, really, personally.
He's kind of, you know, living in fucking Utah or somewhere.
unidentified
Ohio.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's strange, huh?
Yeah, but that's one of the things that I said also that I think people really love about him is the fact that he is kind of reclusive.
He is kind of like the reluctant star.
And one of the things that people will go after you is that you already have attention.
So they're like, why does this fucking guy want more attention?
You know?
dane cook
Right, yeah.
joe rogan
Like, you fucking attention whore.
Look at this attention whore.
Shut your mouth, attention whore.
That's what it is.
People think that when you promote, if you're self-promoting, that somehow or another you're doing something to them.
Do you get that?
Stop fucking spamming me!
dane cook
Any level of success and what I've learned having slow but short trajectory is like there's always more people that don't like what you do than more people like what you do.
That's it.
You just attract more people that like you, more don't like you, will be attracted to you and tell you.
joe rogan
Of course.
Like I said, I'm totally hypocritical.
I hated a serious man, and I went on Twitter, and I'm like, I seriously fucking sucked.
If somebody could have seen me perform and did the same thing.
But that's okay, though.
You've got to realize that there's a lot of music that I fucking love.
And if Mrs. Rogan gets in the car with me, she's like, what the fuck are you listening to?
And I'm like, I was made for loving you, okay?
You don't know this?
You don't know this fucking song?
dane cook
Somebody like Chappelle though, I mean, regardless of what he's dealing with, there's so many...
When Steve Martin did arenas, Steve Martin was doing also...
He wasn't doing like...
When people say arenas today, yeah, I'm doing maybe 20,000 people.
That dude was doing fucking 60,000 people in an arena where he was partitioned with no screens, nothing.
Man, mic, white suit, dot on the other side of the place.
So you understand.
But with me, it's like...
I have the most amazing, like, the guy that comes out, my road guy, Al Dottley, he did Zeppelin, he did Elvis, he's got all the gadgets, we put screens, we make you feel like you're in your living room.
I go in the middle, not because I want to be a gladiator, because it's four theaters at any point.
It's easier to be close to people from the middle.
It wasn't like a thing where it was like, yeah, by being in the middle, I'm the rock star.
No, it's like, I need to be as close to people in these big shows as possible.
joe rogan
I've only done one theater in the round show ever.
Maybe two.
dane cook
Was it in Cape Cod?
joe rogan
No, I don't think I did that.
brian redban
What was the one where the whole thing turned?
Remember that round?
joe rogan
Oh yeah, what was that one?
brian redban
That was a minute comedy tour.
The whole stage was a circle and it turned.
joe rogan
I think it was Phoenix.
Yeah, I did something.
It always weirded me out that people were behind me.
This is strange.
I'm performing and I'm not looking.
There's people behind me.
I couldn't get past that.
That was freaking me out.
But it really is smarter, right?
It's more dynamic.
It's a three-dimensional approach as opposed to standing in this one plane facing this one way every time.
dane cook
Yeah, when people are behind you too, and I always keep a little light on everybody, there's a constant flow of energy by seeing other people and feeling...
It's just, there's something unique about being in the middle.
joe rogan
Right, like they're seeing people, not just you.
dane cook
Yes.
joe rogan
They're not just seeing a stage with you, they're seeing people watching you, and that is an added...
Whoa, that's interesting.
dane cook
Absolutely.
joe rogan
That's an interesting way to look at it.
Yeah, like everybody's like, whoa, we're on this together.
dane cook
If you're just talking about on an energy level, if you want to talk about that, like for me, it's like what you put out there, and it doesn't dissipate the way I feel it does when you're just launching it at them, like you were meant to look at me.
When they feel like they're part of it, they're connected to it, It's a different kind of comedy, man.
It's a different show.
And the screens.
Look, I got all four.
So even when my back's to you, there's never a bad seat.
Even if you're up top, you're looking directly out at a screen.
So we figure out how to make it work.
joe rogan
That's pretty fucking badass.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's got to be really strange to do shows for that many people.
What is it like to do a show for 20?
I think the most I've ever done...
dane cook
Come out and do it, man.
Next time I do a gig, come out and open.
joe rogan
I'm telling you.
dane cook
No, I'm serious, man.
I always have people...
People who've never done those size shows on the last tour, I just be like, dude, come out.
Come out.
And it was great, man.
And everybody thinks, oh, it's not going to work for me there.
It's like, no, no.
First of all, my fans are comedy fans.
They're not the kind of people that get like, oh, we're just waiting for...
They love comedy, most of my fans.
And...
You never want to go back once you've done big shows like that in the round, man.
Really?
It's amazing.
Yeah, I promise.
joe rogan
Very bizarre.
dane cook
Yeah, no, you dig it, man.
You dig it.
joe rogan
I have a shiny bald spot in the back of my head.
dane cook
We powder you up, Joe?
I'm telling you right now.
I got all that shit.
Are you kidding me?
I'm thinking...
No hat, man.
joe rogan
20,000 people.
What is the biggest crowd you've ever performed?
dane cook
Gator growl?
joe rogan
Gator growl.
unidentified
Pennsylvania?
dane cook
48,000 in Florida.
unidentified
Whoa!
joe rogan
Gainesville?
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Damn!
48,000!
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Holy shit!
dane cook
That was pretty cool.
joe rogan
What the fuck was that like?
dane cook
That first laugh was like...
It came across the field.
joe rogan
That's insane.
dane cook
But I would never want to do that size in a stadium if I could do that again.
Doing an arena, it's compact.
Everybody's right on you.
joe rogan
Could you imagine eating shit on stage in front of 48,000 people?
Could you imagine bombing?
Could you imagine hitting a joke, especially if you did a controversial joke and they didn't like it and they turned on you?
48,000?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And maybe you've got to still do another 40 minutes.
brian redban
Oh my God.
dane cook
You better make sure, and trust me, I made sure it's like, my fans are showing up for this.
I'm not setting myself up for that kind of fucking...
joe rogan
Do you still look back and remember the first time you ever bombed?
dane cook
Yeah, oh yeah, a bunch of them.
It's called New York.
joe rogan
I just wrote a chapter in this book I'm writing, all on the very first time I ever bombed, which is a horrible, terrible disaster that I'll never forget, because it was the first time I ever bombed while I was getting paid.
That's a big difference.
Bombing at open mic nights, everybody's bombing.
Five people are going to eat shit on stage, and you're only up there for five minutes.
But once you do a paid gig, and I was middling.
I shouldn't have been middling.
I really didn't have the time.
And the guy who went on before me fucking crushed.
And there was this chick that I had seen the last time I was there, and she was super hot and I fucked her.
And she was in the front row, and she brought her friends, and her friends looked, and they were going to sit in the front row when I went on stage, so I was panicking.
I was like, they're going to be right in front of me.
I was only like a year into comedy, a year and a half at the most, and this guy who went up, who was the MC, was way better than me.
He was already better than me.
And I was like, I conned this fucking book into making me a middle.
I was like, it's just a cocky douche.
I was like, I can middle.
Come on, I can middle.
So he lets me middle.
And this guy goes on stage and destroys.
And he stopped doing comedy.
It was really too bad.
He's a natural.
I don't remember his name, unfortunately, but he fucking killed.
And then I went after him and ate just dry bricks of shit with no water for 20 minutes.
It was the most embarrassing feeling I'd ever had in my life.
I couldn't believe how unbearable it was.
And her and her friends were looking at each other and her friends would lean over and say something like...
dane cook
Oh no!
joe rogan
And then I could hear crickets and I'm trying to be extra loud because I'm trying to bring them back to my side!
So you force the punchlines and the timing is all off and it sucks even worse.
And my only experience with being nervous before...
My only experience with pressure had been fighting.
So when, you know, fighting in tournaments, you know, if you're nervous, you just turn inward and you say, this doesn't matter.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to fucking explode.
I'm just going to fucking go, go, go, go.
You're just terrified, but you just get psyched up to go, which is the worst thing you could ever do on stage to be nervous and aggressive and fucking and all introspective and turned into yourself.
I don't give a fuck what they think.
I'm just going to go.
It's the worst mindset ever for comedy.
dane cook
That's called being Carlos Mencia.
I'm going to turn it in and I'm going to explode.
joe rogan
The most feared.
I had to do...
Did you ever do shows without microphones?
dane cook
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Batch parties?
joe rogan
Ever do a batch party without a mic?
dane cook
I did, yeah.
I used to do, like, colleges around Boston where they'd hire me, and I'd be like, where's...
I'd be standing on a pool table.
I did one where I'm standing.
joe rogan
I did one in the cafeteria, standing on a cafeteria table.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Rickety table, like I couldn't move.
That was their stage.
dane cook
I did a place in Florida called The Wrath Skeller.
They hired me to come down, and it was, like, one of my first road gigs.
And it was the thing where it's like there's food being served during, the TVs are on, like all that shit where it's like the whole – everything is happening and I'm doing stand-up and like somebody threw a hot dog at me like five minutes into an hour.
joe rogan
Those gigs are so important, man.
All those shit gigs that Boston Comedy used to book and all those little weird fucking places in New Hampshire you would drive an hour and a half up to – You know, New Hampshire and do some weird bar with a tinny sound system.
Those are so good though.
When you look back at it now, how important were those for developing your ability to focus on stage and kill and cut the fat out of your act?
dane cook
Driving home from Orno, Maine once.
I got a gig up there and it was the first time, a few years in, I drove home and I'm like, alright, this matters.
Even though it was horrible, I was like, this matters.
This someday I will look back on tonight and know that I learned fucking something here.
Oh man, but you never want to come back.
joe rogan
Yeah, you do those gigs and you're just like, wow, this doesn't even feel like show business.
I did a thing with this guy, Scott Papakuri.
He used to book the Matapoiset Inn, this little tiny shithole.
But it was a great little room where I got to see Teddy Bergeron, by the way, who was a fucking genius.
One of the best comics ever.
One of the best comics ever.
Had one of the best Tonight Show sets of all time.
Did you ever see his Tonight Show set?
dane cook
Yeah, it's unbelievable.
joe rogan
Fucking genius and another guy where you're like, how could this guy not be in everybody's mind as one of the greatest comics ever?
And this guy, Scott Papakuri, booked a gig for he and I on Block Island.
And Block Island was like an island outside of Rhode Island, I think.
And there's nothing there.
It's just drunk, retarded fishermen.
And they are dumb as fuck.
And they're so drunk, they are, all of them, there's maybe 20 people in the room, all of them are so drunk, they can't even keep their eyes open.
Their mouths are sliding, like, what's going on here?
And we have to do comedy for them.
And Scott gets up and starts shitting all over them, and he was not really, you know, he hadn't been doing comedy that long then, really probably shouldn't have been on stage in this sort of a situation anyway.
And I went on after them, and they had already turned their backs to the comedy show, like half of them.
They turned their backs and just started a conversation.
And we had to stay in...
It wasn't in a hotel room.
It was in a supply room.
They had two cots in a supply room with no shower.
There was a bathroom.
We could take a horse bath.
Yeah, a horse bath.
And we stayed in this little fucking supply room until we could catch the boat back the next day.
dane cook
Oh, man.
I did so many of those little ones.
I mean, colleges where there's no hotel.
unidentified
I'm happy to do them.
joe rogan
You're psyched.
I got a gig.
dane cook
I know.
At the time.
Yeah, at the time.
You're like, all right, I got a gig.
I'm making 50 bucks or whatever it was.
But, oh, man.
Brutal.
joe rogan
Bangor, Maine.
I did a bunch up there.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
I did a bunch for Norm LaFoe.
He had all these gigs in Western Massachusetts.
Yep.
Way out there where you had to drive 40 miles an hour because deer would jump in front of your fucking car every five minutes.
You had to be careful that you didn't die.
Like, you get to these certain gigs.
dane cook
Yeah, these Berkshire shows.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Especially Western Mass.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
Out near Amherst.
I remember there was a lot of two-lane roads where you would see dead deer all over the place.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Fucking wrecked cars.
dane cook
Yeah.
I nailed one one night.
joe rogan
Did you?
dane cook
Yeah, yeah.
Just his ass had just gotten past me.
And I did the thing where I gunned it.
I'm like, I wanted to swerve.
The voice was like, gun it!
And I fucking hit him and spot him.
I watched him spin off into the woods.
joe rogan
Dude, you can die from that.
A lot of people have died from hitting, especially if you hit a fucking moose.
If you hit a moose, you might be dead.
That thing might come through the windshield and crush your fucking spine.
Yeah, right?
I had a dream that Mike Goldberg, the guy I work with in the UFC, got killed by a grizzly bear.
And it was a very graphic movie in my head, like a very graphic dream, where it was very realistic.
And I woke up like, literally woke up like, whoa!
Like, he was with his wife and his kids, and they were in a river.
And a fucking grizzly bear came running through the bank of the river, jumped into the water, and just fucked him up in front of everybody.
Yeah, very strange.
Mike Goldberg, if you're listening, buddy, don't go camping.
dane cook
Don't go in the river.
joe rogan
Yeah, stay the fuck away from the bears.
dane cook
Do you think that's the future of, that's like 30 years from now, that's what fucking sport's going to be?
It's going to literally be like a guy.
brian redban
Oh, yeah.
dane cook
Mixed martial arts verse.
Some kind of hybrid DNA government experiments, like half fucking cougar.
joe rogan
The only reason why there's not sword fights on TV is because no one's put sword fights on TV. If they were, people would love to watch that.
Two guys with samurai swords trying to hack each other's fucking heads off.
dane cook
I think we're going to produce our very first show together, Joe.
I love it.
joe rogan
The lions versus the Christians, I mean, those people weren't much different than us today.
How is that different than GhettoGaggers.com?
How is that different than some of the shit that you watch, like those Mexican drug dealers cutting that guy's head off with a small knife?
Have you seen that video?
dane cook
No.
unidentified
Fuck!
brian redban
You see the suicide jump off of that?
joe rogan
Yeah, off the fucking Hoover Dam.
brian redban
Where his head just splits open.
joe rogan
Yeah, his head blows up like a coconut that got shot with a rifle around.
I can't watch that shit, man.
brian redban
It's awful.
joe rogan
You can't unsee that stuff, but you should know that it's out there.
When you see someone really fucking shifty when you go to 7-Eleven, you should know.
This guy might pull out a gun and kill everybody.
brian redban
He might commit suicide.
joe rogan
Yeah, who the fuck knows?
I mean, you've seen so much fucked up shit on the internet.
I think, to a certain extent...
and it makes people a little bit more fucked up than maybe they could be because they have all this nutty stuff that they have access to.
dane cook
Yes.
joe rogan
But on the other side, you should be more aware of what is possible.
You might be a good person who's always around nice people.
You're a Mormon or something.
And so you think everybody's mellow and predictable.
And then all of a sudden, you're around some fucking gangbanger and you don't know what the fuck this is.
dane cook
Right.
joe rogan
You don't know what the rules are.
You don't know what game he's playing.
dane cook
Yeah.
And you know what?
Most people don't realize in those situations, you better fight your fucking ass off.
When you see people going along with it, that's when you're like, oh, this is going to be bad.
brian redban
Right.
joe rogan
I saw a guy get knocked out.
He looked like these thugs just found him coming out of what looks like a convenience store.
They knocked him out.
Knocked him out unconscious.
The guy falls, bangs his head off the concrete, out cold, arms up near stiff, and the dude starts pissing on his face.
Dude pulls a dick and pisses on it.
Just decided to knock this guy out out of nowhere.
Like, you need to know that there's people like that out there.
That's real shit.
I mean, you can be paranoid and fucking, you know, and start dwelling on them and get all Second Amendment on everybody.
dane cook
But how do you get to know that person?
Does he have a Facebook page?
Hey, I'm into knocking people out.
Then my wrap up, my tag is I piss on you.
joe rogan
It was hard to watch, man.
dane cook
Follow me on Twitter.
joe rogan
It was hard to watch because you see the dude half conscious and the piss is hitting his face and just moving.
That could be you.
That could be anybody.
Anybody who somebody decides to steal on.
You're in the wrong place at the wrong time and some guy who you never saw coming decides to punch you in the face and Piss on your unconscious body.
And on that note, ladies and gentlemen, I think that's the end of this fucking podcast.
I'm glad you came over, dude.
Again, we're sponsored by The Fleshlight, fleshlight.com.
You know, you and I have had our differences over the year, but I always respected your ability to market yourself, and I always respected your ambition.
And I think sometimes when people are ambitious, things don't necessarily work out the way they should be.
I know you're a good dude, and I know that you're always working on your act.
I see it all the time.
I know you're doing the right things, and I hear your interviews, and I know you're in a good place with your mind.
And I think that's important, man.
And I think it's also important that...
At a certain stage in your life, you have to recognize when you've had differences with somebody.
It's not that I don't like you as a person.
It's just differences.
I'm glad that we put all that shit past.
dane cook
That means the world hearing that from you, Joe.
You've got a lot of integrity and I've always had a lot of respect for you.
Which is part of the reason that there was for me on my side when anybody ever came to me with anything.
It was like, I have really nothing to say about it.
I hope that time will just eventually figure that out.
I appreciate that.
Good to be here on your show.
We'll do it again.
joe rogan
Yeah, dude, for sure, for sure.
And I think stuff like this, like I said, is perfect for a guy like you to...
So people really get a chance to see who you really are.
dane cook
True.
joe rogan
No bullshit.
dane cook
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I don't think anybody who was thrust into your condition is going to come out of it without some scrapes.
I mean, you thrust yourself into like...
Really like a stratosphere that very few human beings ever have to navigate.
Comedy Lohan.
Yeah, and you did it over a very short period of time.
So I think people need to respect that.
I think you did an awesome job.
dane cook
Thanks, man.
joe rogan
I think you got through it, and you're doing all the right shit.
And I enjoyed how you did that isolated incident.
I was telling people, I love how you did it all.
In one take, and you did it all with one camera, right on the stage.
You could tell there was no edits to it.
I was like, that was really cool.
That was a cool, creative choice.
I think you're doing some awesome shit.
dane cook
Thanks, man.
Thank you.
Keep up the good work.
Good luck with your writing.
I'm going to get that program, by the way.
joe rogan
Yeah, Write Room, folks who are into it.
I think it only works for the Mac, but I know that there's a version of it for the PC as well that does the exact same thing.
And it's just for all you creative types who are easily distracted.
And if you're also easily distracted and you have a hard time writing, pick up this book called The War of Art.
I think it's Steven Pressfield is the guy I wrote.
Have you ever heard of it?
dane cook
No.
brian redban
Fucking incredible.
dane cook
The War of Art?
joe rogan
I bought a bunch of them and I give them out to people.
Yeah, I think I might have one.
I'll give one to you.
It's an amazing book and it's all about how you can overcome resistance and focus your mind for writing.
Really, really brilliant book.
dane cook
I need that.
joe rogan
Everybody does.
He talks about it in the book.
Here's a guy who really didn't become successful as a writer until he was in his 40s.
He recognizes his own errors and his own bad patterns of thought.
He sort of addresses all of them that all creative types have in this thing.
dane cook
Cool.
joe rogan
Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, twitter.com slash Dane Cook, twitter.com slash Red Band.
I'm Joe Rogan.
Thanks for tuning in, you guys, and we'll see you next week.
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