dane cook

I don't like Dane Cook's brand of comedy, but hey, I don't have to like everything. There are plenty of other comedians more suited to my palate on the comedy salad bar, so while I personally feel his "material" is all delivery and no punchline, it doesn't mean other people can't enjoy him with croutons.

CC Insider points to a funny satirical piece from The Onion about Cook's new HBO special, Burgasm, in which the young comedian riffs on Burger King's Texas Double Whopper for a full hour. In the article, Cook explains his plans for the special:

I'm not sure if I'm a fan of these "What's In and What's Out" lists that seem to pop up every December or January. They seem to embrace trends instead of just quality. But I like Hank Steuver's writing and lists like this are a good conversation starter as the new year begins.

That doesn't mean I agree with him on everything. I mean, David Sedaris is "out" while John Hodgman is "in?" That's ridiculous (though I like Hodgman too). And Dancing with the Stars will never be "in" with me. But I love that he picks America's Next Model as being "out" and Ugly Betty being "in." Ditto his picks for Laguna Beach being "out" (Meerkat Manor is "in") and Dane Cook being "out" (thumbs up to Jim Gaffigan!).

What do you think is in and out, TV-wise? I'm sure they'll be a lot of opinions on Steuver picking Battlestar Galactica as being "out" and Heroes as being "in."

Well, OK, I'm a day behind with this. I blame Christmas and lots of food and booze. Looks like it's not a big week for DVD releases anyway:

• Airwolf - Season 2
• Davey and Goliath: The Lost Episodes
• Girls Behaving Badly - Vol. 1
• New Adventures of He-Man - Vol. 1
• Simple Life 4
• Tourgasm

If you've been sitting around all day waiting to see footage of someone from an unfunny sketch show make fun of an unfunny comedian, your wait is over. In the clip after the jump you can watch Ike Berenholtz of Mad TV throw down on the comedy stage as he does his impression of comedian Dane Cook.

I've never been a fan of Dane Cook, and I think the best description I've ever heard of him came from comedian Michael Schmidt on Jimmy Pardo's "Never Not Funny" podcast: "Dane Cook is KISS. He's the KISS of comedy. Just like, crazy, wild, bombastic phenomenon with the most pedantic, pedestrian content ever."

Berenholtz's Cook impression isn't too bad, and heck, I give him credit for trying to make people laugh by being unfunny on purpose, but I only laughed maybe once during the whole thing, which is still more than I've ever laughed at Dane Cook.

(S32E01) "And we're baaaaaaack!" Anyone? Anyone? No? OK, well it's SNL season premiere time (that came fast) and Dane Cook is already hosting again. I can't remember the last time someone hosted two episodes so close together. He was just there last December. Well, it's understandable I suppose. I can't think of anyone else that's bigger on the comedy circuit right now and his name automatically attracts attention. He's all over the place, from touring to HBO specials. Anyway, the show was pretty decent I thought, but not because Cook was the host. He was barely in it.

In case you're looking for something to do tonight before you go back to work tomorrow, you should check out Dane Cook: Vicious Circle on HBO at 9PM. It's Cook's first HBO special (he had at least one Comedy Central gig that I can recall) and it's well deserved. His two comedy albums (Harmful if Swallowed, Retaliation) both sold like crazy and he recently finished up a nation-wide college tour that was documented in the HBO series Tourgasm. I was at the Syracuse University show and saying it was one of the funniest two hours of my life still doesn't do it justice. So I'll leave you all with this: I think somebody sh*t on the coats. If you know what I'm talking about, then I know what you're doing tonight. If that means nothing to you, then you better be watching HBO this evening.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, followed by a new Big Brother: All-Stars.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 7, followed by NFL Hall of Fame Game, the Raiders vs. the Eagles.
• At 9, Spike has Die Another Day.
• HBO has a new Deadwood at 9, followed by a new Entourage, a new Lucky Louie, and a new Dane Cook's Tourgasm.
• There's a new episode of The 4400 on USA at 9, followed by a new ep of The Dead Zone.
• ABC Family has the premiere of Three Moons Over Milford.
• At 10, Showtime has a new Brotherhood.

• The mag lists the best of the worst reality shows, including Being Bobby Brown and Temptation Island.
• Everyone seems to be giving their opinions on who should be on the Emmy ballots, and so is EW.
• Dane Cook talks about his HBO Tourgasm show.
• New on DVD: they give a B+ to the first season of Medium, and give an A to the first season of Walker, Texas Ranger (!!!!)

• At 8, ABC has the season finale of America's Funniest Home Videos, followed by a new 20/20.
• CBS has a new Dr. Phil special, followed by the season finales of Close To Home and Numb3rs.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 8, then the two hour season finale of Conviction.
• Over on FOX at 8, X2: X-Men United.
• The WB has Bend It Like Beckham at 8, while UPN has a new Smackdown!
• Also at 8: Nickelodeon has a new one hour Fairly Odd Parents.
• At 9, Paula Abdul talks to Larry King on CNN.
• At 10, Comedy Central has a new Standup Nation With Greg Giraldo, featuring Dane Cook, Maria Bamford, Carlos Mencia, and Frank Caliendo.

Man, I loved watching reruns of Underdog when I was a kid. The fights! The rhyming! Those Native American gopher dudes! Anyway, when I found out they were making a movie based on the beloved cartoon series, I was thrilled. Then I found out it would be done with live actors and not animated. Now I'm not so thrilled anymore. There is one glimmer of hope I have, and that's actor Peter Dinklage (he played Arthur Ramsey on Threshold), who will play the evil villain Simon Bar Sinister. If any actor is deserving of more exposure, I think it's him. His portrayal of a gay wedding planner in The Baxter was brilliant.

As far as Underdog himself, he'll be portrayed by a real dog with a CGI mouth. According to reports, bland flavor-of-the-month Dane Cook may voice the character. Well, if the guy can affect a decent Underdog voice, that's fine, but I'd rather see it go to someone like Billy West who's actually known and respected for his voice work. Sadly, they forgot to cryogenically freeze Wally Cox after his death, so we can't revive him to do this movie. Curse you, modern science.

The film, which is being produced by Disney, begins shooting this month.