"I Thought the Timing Was Wrong on That" — Dane Cook Speaks on the Tenacious D Incident (EXCLUSIVE)

If you asked anyone who the biggest comedian was in 2007, they would probably say Dane Cook . He was the guy — he headlined Madison Square Garden, starred in over six hit films over the course of a few years, and was one of the first comedians to make a name for himself because of social media.

Now in 2024, he spoke exclusively to Distractify alongside his partner-in-crime for YouTube Theater’s The Collab , David Meltzer, about cancel culture .

Dane and David both had a lot to say about the current climate when it comes to whether people deserve to be “canceled” and whether or not celebrities should know when to keep their opinions to themselves.

They even shared their take on Tenacious D’s moment in the spotlight after Kyle Gass made a disrespectful joke about Donald Trump’s attempted assassination .

Dane Cook thinks that cancel culture can actually be good for business.

After a few years in the brightest spotlight, not much was heard from Dane. He stepped out of the public eye for a bit, seemingly for no particular reason other than that some of his fans were moving on. Dane has always had an eye for business, which is why his collaboration with David makes so much sense.

He tapped into the advantages of the internet before any other comedian and many working comedians chastised him for it.

Dane built up a fanbase through Myspace and AIM, connecting with young audiences at his college gigs and becoming an overnight sensation. “I've always been a person who's looking for solutions,” he said to Distractify .

“That was a time in my life when I broke through using the Internet where I wasn't in vogue. There wasn't anybody knocking down my door … Suddenly I found I was kind of languishing, lonely, and bored, and decided, ‘OK, maybe there's a way to use this portal to the world to meet and greet and build a fan base by sharing my comedy.’”

By building his career through the internet, however, he was a pioneer for the current generation of TikTokers and influencers building up live comedy careers through their online fanbases.

Naturally, Dane’s business and marketing acumen is also behind his opinion on cancel culture. Luckily, he’s never been a victim of it, but he’s noticed that many people who have been “canceled” have actually continued on to great success.

“Canceling is good for business, as long as you're not being canceled for something that is truly like, bad, in a legal sense,” he explained. “But when people get canceled, it's a lot of hullabaloo, it's usually a lot of innuendo, and it's kind of blown out of proportion. I see more comics get canceled, and then they go on to have sold-out tours."

He continued, “And I think that as rabble-rousers, we're supposed to be a little persnickety, and we're supposed to jab at things, and we're supposed to kind of be brats and you know, all those things are actually good for the business of comedy, but … I'm glad nobody was filming my shows in 1995 because that's some footage that I don't think would have stood the test of time.”

David added that Kyle Gass’s comment about Donald Trump shouldn’t have gotten him canceled — “I don't think your whole career should lie on the fact that you made an off-color joke to try to be funny in something that you know is a popular issue to be discussed, especially politics” — Dane somewhat disagreed. He clarified that “timing is everything.”

“With comedy, there's a time and a place for humor about anything and everything, and having gone through some pretty harrowing moments in my life, parents that unfortunately succumbed to cancer and real traumatizing elements, I've been able to look at those things,” Dane shared. “I've been able to find humor. Not everybody will, not everybody does. Certainly, timing is everything.”

Dane added, “I thought that the timing was wrong on that,” referring to the Kyle Gass incident. “People are still entrenched in the terrible loss that was experienced. It doesn't mean that people don't want to go and find humor. We all want to escape that feeling of grief, fear, and sorrow. So comedy is good for that in real-time, but for some things, you have to take a beat.”

Even still, as far as cancel culture goes, Dane believes that everyone deserves a chance to learn from their mistakes. While he may not have been “canceled” himself, he’s still dealt with his fair share of controversies, from joke theft accusations (that he expertly combatted) to crude humor. And according to Dane, everyone deserves a chance to learn and grow.

“It's imperative that people get to speak their minds,” he reiterated “It's imperative that people get a moment to reflect on what they've shared. And then I think it's imperative that everybody gets a chance to say, ‘I saw the error in my ways. I want to put an asterisk on myself. I’d like to update what I said. I feel ignorant.’ … Everybody deserves that moment.”

As Dane’s career is once again on the rise, we’re excited to see how he takes what he’s learned and how he’s grown into a new stage of his comedic life.