In the mid-2000s, Dane Cook was on top of the world. The comedian’s 2005 album Retaliation was certified double platinum and landed in the top 5 on the Billboard charts, marking the first time a stand-up comic charted that high in 27 years. But as successful as Retaliation was, it also sparked a great deal of controversy. The pushback had nothing to do with offensive material; rather, Cook was accused of joke theft because some of his bits resembled jokes Louis C.K. recorded years earlier for his debut album, 2001’s Live in Houston.
As an example, here’s a track from C.K.’s album entitled “Itchy A—hole”:
Now listen to this Cook bit from four years later, which goes by the same exact name:
This video provides a side-by-side comparison of two other similar jokes Cook and C.K. did that revolved around naming children:
15 Years Ago, Louis C.K. and Dane Cook Settled Their Strange Feud in an Episode of ‘Louie’
C.K. first responded to the accusations the year Retaliation was released, writing, “Okay, this kid is stealing from me. And making lots of money. Three bits on one CD.” He went on to say, “Just so you know, guys, I’m not going to do anything about this…I’m not going to court over a bit called ‘Itchy A—hole.’” Before long, the two became embroiled in what C.K. later referred to as “a weird conflict that everybody but us talks about.” The alleged theft didn’t serve to help Cook’s career in any way, and it was all interviewers wanted to ask C.K. about.
By 2011, C.K. was working on Season 2 of his FX series Louie and had decided that things had dragged on long enough without any resolution. He wrote a scene for the August 4 episode “Oh, Louie/Tickets,” in which his character (a fictional version of himself) is forced to come face-to-face with Cook and discuss their outstanding issue. Though Cook was initially opposed to doing the scene as written, he eventually conceded and performed the dialogue verbatim.
You can check out how the scripted conversation between the pair went right here:
When the subject came up during an interview with Deadline the following year, C.K. had this to say about whether or not Cook really stole his jokes (something Cook, for the record, has always denied): “I don’t think he stole from me knowingly, which is what I said in the episode. I think he sort of got some of my jokes in his head and got sloppy. He’s a good guy and not capable of maleficence.”
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