Dane Cook In Men's Health

Dane Cook opened up about life and the comedy business in the lastest edition of Men's Health Magazine.
On how he was never censored:

• "We were allowed to watch anything," he says. "Carlin, old Pryor, clean, dirty, it was all cool. I loved watching my family laugh. I remember the first time we all sat down and watched Andrew Dice Clay together. We were just losing our minds." But it was Martin Short's turn as Ed Grimley on Saturday Night Live that finally set off the homing device in Cook's head. "I saw that and told myself, I'm going there. That's my destination."

On how he never gave up on comedy:

• "When you're in those first couple of years, you've got a lot of people saying, 'What are you going to fall back on?' I refused to answer. I told myself, I'm going to die reaching these goals. I had to go full-tilt boogie, or I'd suck."

On how his genes play a part in his act:

• "My mother was all hands and attitude," he says, making feminine Vanna White gestures. "Very animated and not afraid to look like a fool for a laugh. But my dad is totally dry, very subtle. I always use him as a template of what makes a man funny -- putting nothing on the joke, throwing it away. I love that understated, nothing thing you think about an hour later and go, 'My God, that was f--king genius!' "

On doing movies with Hollywood's hotties:

• "I'm a blessed man."

Click on the read more link for Dane's tips on how to succeed in the business.

On how to succeed in comedy:
Make 'em laugh, get whatever you want
Laughter is pleasure, after all, and Cook has found that getting laughs from onstage is one thing. But if you can get yuks from anyone you meet -- from that guy interviewing you for a job to that grumpy bartender -- it always pays dividends. Laughter makes people want to work with you. And that especially applies to closing deals with ladies, says Cook. "After a show one time, this superhot girl comes up to me, looks me right in the eye, and says, 'I want to f--- you, because you made me laugh tonight.' Ultimately, they're all just little girls who want to laugh. And we're all just boys who want a girl to like us."
Perfect your versatility
Cook deliberately sidestepped all the comedy pigeonholes: props, political humor, characters. Once they see you like that, he says, that's the only way they'll see you. "I wanted to be as random as possible. Could I do it? Could I go with whatever idea I had -- physical, irreverent, wry, vulgar, obtuse? I didn't care what it was, I just wanted to be able to do whatever made me laugh." And the same thing applies to your own noncomedic role at your job. Do you have the chops to stand up and take on any job in the company? It might be time to expand your repertoire.
Make friends with fear
"I was a very fearful person before I started doing standup comedy," Cook says. "But I started enjoying my standup when I found the fear in it. I realized that I could go up and do something new, and it didn't matter how it did, because I could create something. It's like always being on the cusp of fear. The fear's where the good stuff is, and I'd been afraid for so long, and I'd missed a lot of things because I couldn't speak up, or got beat up because I couldn't fight back." Try a new philosophy when you're nervous: fear as comfort zone -- as the place where you'll do your best work.
Prepare more material than you need
Every audience is different, and Cook prides himself on being able to win them over with whatever jokes are required -- clean, dirty, smart, silly -- with some to spare. Bottom line, you can't approach any job with one bullet in your chamber. "I think the closest thing I can compare this to is being a pitcher," he says. "One strike doesn't mean you're going to throw strikes all game. Live pitch-to-pitch. There's never one laugh that makes me funny forever. It's gone, and the next joke's coming."
Embrace hecklers
Cook acknowledges that hecklers sometimes need to be heckled back. "Especially when they have someone to impress and they're out to ruin you," he says. He even got into a brawl with a heckler once, using his microphone to open a gash on the guy's temple. Now, Cook's philosophy has changed, and hecklers give him a sense of great pride. How's that? "It reminds me I'm a comic. You're being heckled because you're there. You're doing it." The next time some yahoo tries to bring you down a notch at a meeting, remember that he's doing it because you're doing something right.
Be okay when things are not okay
No career plan is foolproof. But how will you react during the down times? Cook's on an upturn now, but he's been at it for 16 years in the most heartless industry there is. "Hollywood is a mining town, and I'm just chipping away, trying to get a little nugget like everybody else. All I can do is chip where I'm sitting, work on what I'm best at to the point where people say, 'What's he doing over there?' That's what gets attention. Success comes and goes. I've had it. I've been broke. Then I've gotten some money, and been broke again. I've been through that machine so many times that I know sometimes it's okay that things aren't okay."