Three Great Things is Talkhouse’s series in which artists tell us about three things they absolutely love. To mark the current release on digital of Funny Money, the new documentary about how Dane Cook’s brother stole millions from him, the comedian and actor shared some of the things that bring him joy in life. — N.D.
Stephen King’s Dark Tower series
I read Stephen King's The Dark Tower in ninth grade. I remember when I read the first line of the book, “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed,” I got chills. And I get chills now just thinking about it!
What Stephen King provided me is very special, because not only was it an amazing standalone book, but more books in the series that he continued to write over many years. And then when he had his car accident, people were asking, Is he going to survive? Is he going to write again? Is the next book ever going to get finished? So the other fans and I were on this journey with Stephen King, of wanting to see him complete his own Dark Tower voyage. The Dark Tower is a book that I’ve read throughout my life, and one that I want to revisit all over again.
I’ve read most of Stephen King’s books, even the Richard Bachman novellas, which I love. As a kid, my family used to go to York Beach, Maine, every summer. That was our spot. And I would always find a Stephen King book to read in the cottages there, because there was a lot of downtime back in those pre-internet times. So I remember reading Cujo and Carrie and Misery, and then I also found some of the novellas and side stories.
I was recently invited into the horror slasher genre, as I just filmed with Curry Barker's father, Jeff Barker, who wrote a short film called Medium Rare. I'm the lead in this film, and I think my love of all things Stephen King really allowed me to step into the character. I felt like I had gone to Stephen King University, and all the things I'd read had prepared me for what I brought to the minutiae of this part. Stephen King is a definitive part of my creative journey.
Action Figures
Before I was a married man, I had action figures galore in my old apartment. I probably had 300 – in my bathroom, in my kitchen, in the pantry. I had Boba Fetts, Bib Fortunas, Jabba the Hutts, ugnaughts, Princess Leia and three Darth Vaders.
A few days ago, I opened up a box in my garage and discovered it was full of action figures. The action figure that was on top – which I didn't even know I had – was a 1978 Doctor Doom, laying there in the green garb with the metal mask. I said, “Whoa!” I couldn't believe it.
Even though there were a lot of great times in my home growing up, my dad was an alcoholic and so there were also some not-so-great times. In our basement, we had a pool table which was mostly covered with a tarp, and I’d take my action figures and my Sesame Street carryalong that opened into the inside of a Sesame Street house and I built a whole world on the pool table. Because I was an introvert and didn't really have many friends at school, I was always looking to get home to the basement and my box of action figures, which were from G.I. Joe and Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica and comic books like Doctor Doom. This was the first time I was telling stories, like crash-landing the X-Wing fighter, but I found that I was always using humor, even with the bad guys.
The way this parallels my life is really interesting, because my brother was my Darth Vader. I always wanted to know, Why are the villains bad? So when I found this box of action figures that my parents bought me at Christmas, I remembered how they provided me an escape, but also provided me a bit of a youthful therapy, where I was already learning that I'm the kind of person who believes in second chances and that I want to see the best, even in the worst.
Discovering this box was a beautiful thing, and it was fun as well, because I found a Freddy Krueger in there, and a figure of Brandon Lee as The Crow. I had them all. It brought me back to a time of real innocence and security, and reminded me of a very particular moment in my life when everything was OK for a little bit.
My Wife
My wife, Kelsi, is my best friend in the world. From the moment we started dating seriously, I knew I had found my partner. Growing up, my mom would say to me, “You’ve got to be a team with somebody, Dane.” I took that to heart, and we talked a lot about it. But I took that to not just be about what we do together, because we're married, but also to be about asking, “How can I be of service to your dreams?” I want somebody who actually says, “Go do it. Don't worry about me. I'm good. I'm holding down the fort.”
I wouldn't have this documentary, Funny Money, without Kelsi. She prepared me to give everything I had to this film, because she also saw it as a way to reintroducte me to people, reminding them where my heart's at with my comedy. She told me, “Let people know who you are,” and I wouldn't have been able to do that without Kelsi. We had our third wedding anniversary on September 23rd; I’m married to my best friend and enjoying an amazing moment with this documentary, with the only person that I would want to share that with.
Our relationship was a slow build, but there was a night when she and her mom were in a car accident, and I remember the feeling I had driving to the hospital – I just wanted to know they were OK. In that moment, I knew, regardless of anything else in my life, I wanted her to be alright, and I would have done anything to make that happen. When I got to the hospital, we were both emotional, but all she wanted was for me to know that everything was OK. Every single day of our relationship, there is a real reciprocation and respect for making sure that the other person is looked after, that we're cared for. I'm looking out for you.
And she's badass. Though people see me as someone with broad shoulders, I'm sort of sensitive at heart. But she's a bad motherfucker. Her nickname is the Little Bullet, because it's like, boom – absolute truth. You don't want to mess with her or us, because she is going to tell it to you straight. She's also a woman of faith, and she brought faith back into my life, because I’d lost mine along the way. She brought faith, she brought fun, she brought gumption. Everything I'm doing right now is truly by way of what I learned with Kelsi. And if I lost everything in my life but her, I’d just say, “All right, Kelsi, everything's gone. It's just you and me. We're going to start from zero.” And I know we'd be great.
