Comedian Dane Cook

By Rosemary Ford

Dane Cook might have grown up in Arlington, Mass., but he knows the ways of Hampton Beach.

For years, his family summered there. The comedian and movie star spent his youth playing in the arcades and cruising Ocean Boulevard in his Mustang GT, with the top off and the radio blaring.
He’s even got the airbrushed T-shirts to prove it.

New Hampshire is also the place where Cook first honed his comedy.

“I did a lot of one-night gigs in New Hampshire,” Cook reminisced in a recent telephone interview. “I have a lot of fans there.”

When Cook comes back to the Granite State to perform at Manchester’s Verizon Wireless Arena on May 10, it will be a bit of a homecoming with the fans he calls his earliest and most devoted.
Among comedians, Cook has always gone the extra mile to interact with fans. He Twitters, he Facebooks, he MySpaces, and even has his own new iPhone application to give fans an all access pass to his latest tour, “Isolated Incident.”

“I am a geek, and I love talking about it,” joked the 37-year-old, who also has a new special airing on Comedy Central May 17. “I look at technology as a modern day version of the 1973 flier on the street corner.”

Cook describes the new iPhone application as an ongoing diary or blog where fans can experiment with him in the creative process, the backstage antics, and the highs and the lows of the tour through text and video.

“I would like to think this is what you are going to see your future music and spoken word performers using to deliver their artwork and their music,” he said.

Cook’s fans are important to him. They’ve been with him through the highs – like his starring roles in “Employee of the Month,” with Jessica Simpson, “Good Luck Chuck” with Jessica Alba, and “My Best Friend’s Girl” with Kate Hudson.

They were also with him during the lows – like the deaths of both his parents a year and a half ago (nine months apart) and the more recent arrest of his half-brother on charges of embezzling from him.

“I was on stage the night my father died,” said Cook, who said he felt like his dad would have wanted him there. “It’s where I felt like I wanted to be. I wanted to share with my fans. It’s what I was raised to do, and how my parents viewed me in some of their proudest moments.”

Cook put all of that angst into the act for his latest tour. He’s been working on the material for more than year, honing in it legendary locales like Los Angeles’ Laugh Factory (he set a record there for standup, seven hours on stage).

“I worked on it literally from the moment my mom passed, straight through to the filming of it,” said Cook, referring to his upcoming Comedy Central special and the release of his new CD/DVD on May 19. “It was tough. At times, I would be very angry, and the material could come out angry.”

He said the feedback from fans has been great so far.

“What’s been overwhelming and wonderful is to read these positive reviews. I can’t wait for the next stop,” Cook said.

He said the tour has been a healing experience. Talking to fans about all of the angst has been therapeutic and put all the craziness of his life into focus.

“I have been through such a roller coaster,” Cook said. “And when it started to become normal this year, getting away from the hoopla, I now have perspective. When you have the perspective to share everything about what has happened, you don’t feel the wear and tear like you do when you are weathering it.”

Though the material can be sad and even poignant at times, the audience shouldn’t worry that Cook has lost his sense of humor.

“My obligation, my occupation, is to entertain – first and foremost,” he said.

He calls this work some of his most truthful and authentic, and noted that his experiences on and off stage have helped him take his work to the next level.

“You can’t keep repeating yourself,” Cook said. “I look at this time in my life and career as a metamorphosis.”