The Digital Collegian - Published independently by students at Penn State ARTS
[ Thursday, April 21, 2005 ]

Cooking up big laughs
Energetic comedian coming to BJC

Collegian Staff Writer

The majority of students may already have their tickets tucked away in a safe place. But if you are one of the few who haven't heard, Comedy Central stand-up comedian Dane Cook is bringing his Tourgasm tour to the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) on Sunday.

"I am going with eight other people. I like the Burger King thing he does and I also like the Kool-Aid man," Nicole Tureski (freshman-finance) said as she began to imitate his skit, "The movie Dune is in my chocolatey drink."

But students aren't alone in their anticipation of Tourgasm's arrival.

"All of us at the Jordan Center are very excited about having Dane Cook come to our building," said BJC Sales and Marketing Director Bernie Punt. "We were laughing at this unique brand of comedy about a year and a half ago. We are all closet Comedy Central fans over here."

The tour includes Cook and his comic friends Gary Gulman, Robert Kelly and Jay Davis.

"I've wanted to play this university for years," Cook said. "This is going to be one of the highlights of the tour."

Cook's different brand of comedy seems to be especially popular among the college-aged crowd.

Cook said his popularity could be attributed to his younger age, which allows him to relate more to the college-aged demographic.

"People tell me, 'You say the things that we all think of but we don't say,' " he said.

But Dane said he never seemed to look at his comedy that way.

Cook suggests that he doesn't write what he thinks other people will find funny, but rather just what makes him laugh.

"You start to tap into certain things and I guess I'm lucky that I tapped into something that people feel is really relatable," he said.

Cook added that he has does not have a personal preference for any of his skits.

"I never really have favorites. I go through phases," he said. "I have been doing this thing about leaving behind a legacy in life. I don't have a favorite at any one time; I enjoy different things at different times."

But the comedy show isn't just going to be an evening of excessive silliness and loss of breath and tears brought on by laughter.

The Tourgasm crew will be filming all the shows at all the venues and will be on television or available on DVD sometime in the near future.

"We are doing a documentary," Cook said. "We are filming everything."

Cook added that college towns are a unique stop in filming the documentary.

"Every school has been stepping up and I know that Penn State is going to step forward and make us proud and give us a lot of energy on film," he said.

"I want them to feel that they kicked a lot of ass for us."

Cook said there is something special when you play a university opposed to a comedy club.

"When you play a club, it's a show. It's an evening of comedy," he said.

"But when you play a college, you're part of an event. Once I get on stage it all just flows."


 



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