by Abel Horwitz
Daily Lobo
If you stick your ring and middle finger into the air with the thumb out to the side, like you're almost flipping someone off, you're flashing Dane Cook's symbol.
He calls it the "super finger" and it has two meanings.
"This week, the 'feel the love mode' is for my fans and my continued success," Cook said. "I'm getting nonstop e-mails congratulating me, so I'm letting it be known. Thanks for supporting a guy who's not a movie star, who's not a TV star, and for making my dreams come true."
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He's talking about being handed a gold record at Madison Square Garden last week for his comedy album, Retaliation, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard charts. The last comedian to have an album that successful was Steve Martin in 1978.
"The other meaning of the super finger is for the guy who was in front of me in line at the grocery store," Cook said. "He farted this putrid, pungent, wafting fart that hit me and made my eyes water. Even the fart was offended by itself it was so bad."
On Sunday Comedy Central began airing Dave Attell's Insomniac Tour, which Cook headlines.
"I've been a fan of Attell's for years," Cook said. "It was a very memorable few days. You guys will get to see what I think is one of the best comedy shows to air on Comedy Central."
The show also features comedians Sean Rouse and Greg Giraldo.
Cook bounds around stage like an excited child. In one of his bits he talks about the game show "The Price is Right."
"Bob Barker's been dead since 1987. They just put his body on strings," Cook says. At that point, Cook moves around, his legs and arms wildly exaggerated, impersonating Barker as a mannequin as the audience howls with laughter.
Cook comments in his set on everything from the little part in the back of your head that feels joy whenever you're vomiting to early sexual experiences. While his performance is arguably vulgar, he pulls it off with a smile on his face, like an excited kid who's telling a funny story to his friends.
Though he spends much of his act being obscene, he said the angle he chooses usually elicits forgiveness from his audience.
"I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I can get away with," Cook said. "I used to take the stage and be completely mean and vulgar just to see what I could get away with and old ladies would come up to me after the show and say 'Oh, you're a silly boy. We know you're just playing.' I get away with my act because it's from a good place. It's from the childish point of view that I have on everything."
