If you missed Wednesday night's Dot Comedy show in Hollywood, here's a quote from an audience member:
"I got to witness the self-destruction of a famous comedian. Little piece of history right there."
The world-famous Laugh Factory is the home of Dot Comedy. The show is produced by Doron Lion and is rapidly becoming a fertile ground for great comedy. It's a comedian's show and Doron has an eye for talent.
Before we dig in, let's take a step back.
The Laugh Factory opened its doors in 1979. Since then, Jamie Masada has changed the comedy industry. After the Michael Richards incident in 2006, The Laugh Factory banned comedians from using the n-word in their acts. Even Black comedians. Rumor has it comedy giant Damon Wayans was fined for being a n*gger saying n*gger. Please insert irony here. That was a sad day. The n-word is not special. It only describes the suffering of one group. Comedy is born out of tragedy and pain. Telling jokes without the a-word, b-word and c-word is like having sex with yourself. It can be done but it gets old fast.
Mr. Richards had a bad night. He flat-out bombed. But that doesn't make him a racist. It makes him like every comedian who's ever set foot on a stage. Fallible. We may have overreacted to Richard's emotional rant.
So what happened Wednesday night?
The Dot Comedy Show had a killer line up; Eric Andre, Bobby Lee, Dean Delray, TJ Miller and Alex Scott with me as host.
The show was just getting started. Little did we know a hurricane was moving down the Sunset Strip on a collision course with the Laugh Factory. Here are several eyewitness accounts from the eye of the storm.
"Watched him spiral for 45 minutes before I left. Could have been worse, he could have done his act." -- Daniel Kinno
"He took a sh*t on everyone. Might as well have been literally." -- Jenna Marbles
"Glad he stopped by the Improv tonight, otherwise I'd never hear the story about how he 'chainsaw-f*cked' a 'disgusting whore's c*nt.'" -- Late Night With Jimmy Fallon writer Ali Waller
I was enjoying Eric Andre's Bluish routine. I don't mean he's a potty mouthed comic -- his race is Bluish: Black and Jewish. Bobby Lee, a fellow MadTV alum, walked in feeling good and ready to rock the house. We caught up briefly. Bobby was up next and focused. That's when Hurricane Dane struck. He informed Bobby he was going on stage before him. Bobby had a previous engagement and offered to cut his time down. Cook couldn't wait. Diehard MadTV fans in the audience watched Bobby exit the club with grace, confused.
Let me clarify -- it's not uncommon for big name comics to drop in. That's normal at any club. Most will limit their time so as not to be rude to the other comics. Others will hijack the stage all night. This may sound like a dream for an audience member, if it's a comic they love. Generally speaking though, you don't go to a Nascar race to watch Indy cars.
I'm sure you can see where this is going. For the next hour and twenty minutes Dane Cook held court tackling taboo subjects like abortion, sex with multiple women, how famous he is and my personal favorite -- black guys who dance while working out at the gym.
There are two schools of thought on Wednesday night's stream-of-consciousness-show. It's a star's God-given right to do whatever they want inside the walls of the club. Actually that's the only school of thought. Everyone is scared to challenge it because comedians need an audience and pissing off a star can get you banned.
Banning people is part of the Super Duper Star Perks Package, along with syphilis, self loathing and free alcohol.
During the show @nottjmiller tweeted:
F*cking Dane Cook is eating sh*t at the laugh factory. He bumped @bobbyleelive and is being just mean.
People love to hate Dane Cook. I don't know why. Everybody's a critic and contrary to popular belief the best critics are artists. Holding up a mirror to society and ourselves is what we do.
I'm sure some people are jealous of Cook's success. I'm not on that band wagon. I don't think he is a bad guy. Who can make a determination about the character of another human being based on one isolated incident? I can't. Was this a onetime only occurrence? No. Ask Pookey Wigington, host of Chocolate Sundaes Comedy Show at the Laugh Factory. Still, I can't make judgements. I can make observations.
As host of the Dot Comedy show I observed a man who is not conceited. He's convinced. He's also quite generous having recently offered his critics a free trip to Ojai Valley Inn & Spa for "Hydrating facials, doubles tennis and a killer 50-minute Expectant Mother's Massage." His treat since he's "really quite rich," said Cook.
It's not Cook's fault he's rich. We made him that way. He is behaving exactly how he should. He's normal. We are the crazy ones. You can't potty train an old dog after you've let him crap all over the house for 10 years. We made this bed. In the morning we can buy a new mattress, bed frame and sheets, but Wednesday night our only option was to shut up and go to sleep. People who've been getting away with murder their entire lives think they are supposed to get away with murder. Don't take my word for it. Try and regulate Wall Street or campaign finance and see how many times you get called stupid, stupid.
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