Dane Cook

Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor.

He is known for his use of observational, often vulgar, and sometimes dark comedy.

This album went double platinum and made Cook the first comic in 27 years to have an album in the top 5 on the Billboard charts after Steve Martin's A Wild and Crazy Guy moved as high as #2 in late 1978.

He performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, and then afterwards he joined Snoop Dogg in presenting the award for Best New Artist.

In 1990, Cook began performing stand-up in comedy clubs.

On October 30, 1992, Cook and a group of local emerging improv/sketch comedians were scheduled to appear at the Boston Garden as part of local radio station WBCN's "Rock of Boston" music concert.

Although they anticipated appearing earlier in the lineup, they were scheduled to perform between popular band Spin Doctors and the final headline act Phish, making them somewhat nervous but determined to do well.

Moments after they took the stage however, the crowd, neither expecting nor appreciating a comedy act at this late stage in the evening's program and impatient for Phish to go on, expressed their displeasure by throwing their shoes at the stage.

Robert Kelly, also on stage as a member of the comedy group, pleaded with the audience to settle down and let them perform their act; the crowd instead escalated to throwing lighters.

Sustaining minor injuries, Cook and the comedy group left the stage.

Cook described the incident – as well as how dejected he felt and his resulting determination to someday return to the Boston Garden and perform successfully someday – as part of a web series for The Tonight Show entitled "Worst I Ever Bombed".

In 1994, Cook moved to New York City and began performing.

Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he still lives today.

His big break came in 1998 when he appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend.

He also acted in Mystery Men (1999), Waiting... (2005), Dan in Real Life (2007), Mr. Brooks (2007) and provided the lead voice role in the 2013 computer-animated sports film Planes, and its 2014 sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue as Dusty Crophopper.

He was the second comedian (after Andrew Dice Clay) to sell out Madison Square Garden's large arena space.

In 2000, Cook did a half-hour special on Comedy Central Presents.

Since then his special has won the Comedy Central Stand-up showdown twice in a row.

He released six comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed (2003), Retaliation (2005), Vicious Circle (2006), Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden (2007), and Isolated Incident (2009).

He is one of the first comedians to use a personal webpage and Myspace to build a large fan base,

In 2003, Cook released his first CD/DVD, Harmful If Swallowed.

He signed a contract with Comedy Central Records.

The album is certified platinum.

He released his second CD/DVD in 2005, entitled Retaliation.

On April 15, 2005, Cook performed his first HBO Special entitled Vicious Circle.

Vicious Circle was filmed "in the round" at the TD Garden.

The same year, Cook shot two pilot episodes for his own sitcom, Cooked.

The sitcom was not picked up and the two pilot episodes were later released on DVD as the Lost Pilot.

That same year, he embarked on a 30-day, 20-show college tour called Tourgasm with his longtime friends Robert Kelly, Gary Gulman, and Jay Davis.

and in 2006 was described as "alarmingly popular".

Cook starred in numerous films such as Employee of the Month (2006), Good Luck Chuck (2007), and My Best Friend's Girl (2008).

In 2006, Retaliation became the highest-charting comedy album in 28 years and went platinum.

He performed an HBO special in late 2006, Vicious Circle, a straight-to-DVD special titled Rough Around The Edges (which is included in the album of the same name), and a Comedy Central special in 2009 titled Isolated Incident.

Cook was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second son of Donna Jean (née Ford; died 2006) and George F. Cook (died 2007).

He has an older half-brother, Darryl, and five sisters.

He grew up in a Catholic family of Irish descent.

Cook has described himself as having been "pretty quiet, pretty introverted, shy" as a child, although he was a "wild child" at home.

He overcame his shyness in his junior year of high school, when he began acting and doing stand-up comedy.

After graduating from high school, he studied graphic design in college as a back-up plan, in case he did not achieve success in comedy.

He now designs all of his merchandise, including the cover of his album, Harmful If Swallowed.