Aurora theater shooting joke makes Dane Cook first stand-up to play the tragedy for laughs

As we noted in our collection of James Holmes memes, bad-taste attempts to mine chuckles from the Aurora theater shooting have been proliferating on the fringes of the Internet. But last week, Dane Cook, one of the country's best-known stand-up comedians, waded into this territory, too, via an on-stage joke...

By Michael Roberts

July 30, 2012

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As we noted in our collection of James Holmes memes, bad-taste attempts to mine chuckles from the Aurora theater shooting have been proliferating on the fringes of the Internet. But last week, Dane Cook, one of the country's best-known stand-up comedians, waded into this territory, too, via an on-stage joke that struck a false note with plenty of people beyond his immediate audience. Hear it below, and see a sampling of the Twitter backlash.

During a gig at the The Laugh Factory, a Los Angeles comedy club, as reported in the Entertainment Weekly post linked above, Cook said, "So I heard that the guy came into the theater about 25 minutes into the movie. And I don't know if you've seen the movie, but the movie is pretty much a piece of crap.... Yeah, spoiler alert. And I know that if none of that would have happened, I'm pretty sure that somebody in that theater, about 25 minutes in, realizing it was a piece of crap, probably was like, 'Ugh fucking shoot me.'"

Granted, some people at the Laugh Factory tittered, while others reacted more negatively -- and the latter response was amplified once word of the gag began to circulate. That prompted Cook to tweet the following statement:

I am devastated by the recent tragedy in Colorado & did not mean to make light of what happened. I made a bad judgment call with my material last night & regret making a joke at such a sensitive time. My heart goes out to all of the families & friends of the victims.

His mea culpa didn't win over this particular Twitter user:

@danecook Why & how for any moment of time did you think that was ok? it's disgusting
— Caitlin Power (@moderationlovin) July 27, 2012

Cook did get support from fellow stand-up Josh Homer....

@danecook I can't believe you apologized for a joke, that got laughs. It's never too soon if the people laugh.
— Josh Homer (@joshhomer) July 27, 2012

...but this tweet from New Hampshire radio figure Steve Boucher is more typical.

@danecook How hard is it for you to continue your streak of continuous years without causing a single person to laugh?
— Steve Boucher (@TheSteveBoucher) July 29, 2012

At one point, Cook seemed primed for mega-stardom. But that window no longer is as open as it once was -- and with this one failed attempt at humor, he may have slammed it down on his own fingers once and for all. Listen to the bit here.

Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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