With his CD/DVD release Retaliation, Dane Cook catapulted to media headlines when he became the highest charting comedian on the Billboard 200 in 29 years. This has earned Cook a place alongside best selling comedy vets George Carlin, Bill Cosby, and Steve Martin. Cook was in town, not as a comedian, but was instead filming the movie “Employee of the Month” with co-star Jessica Simpson.

        There have been a number of films coming to town lately and they always offer great opportunities for autographs. As we’ve gotten older, our time for autograph hunts has significantly decreased. This has been really unfortunate because movie set autographs usually take a great deal of time and persistence to have success.

        Both of us have also been working on many of the films that have been coming to town. This also causes a bit of a dilemma because it really isn’t proper to ask for autographs while working on set and for the most part we’ve always stuck by this rule, unless there’s an exception to the rule.

        Well it just so happened that Sterling lucked out and got a job on “Employee of the Month” for the duration of the shoot. Sterling obeyed the courtesy rule on set for the entire shoot, until he caved in and got pictures with Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, and Efren Ramiez on the last day of filming. Before that day, however, Sterling did hook Earl up with some juicy information that could possibly land him Dane Cook’s autograph.

        It was Dane Cook’s birthday and instead of taking the day just for himself and partying, Dane wanted to treat the cast and crew (and other lucky fans) to a night of his first love, stand up comedy. This wasn’t an advertised or promoted event, but it wasn’t limited to cast and crew either. The comedy club already had two comics booked for that night, so Dane and fellow “Employee of the Month” actor and comedian Harland Williams were added as special guests to close the show.

        Unsuspecting comedy fans got a lot more for their bucks on this night at the comedy club. This isn’t a huge club either, so having the chance to see Dane Cook in such a small intimate setting was definitely a rare event… especially considering the venues he is appearing at these days, like Madison Square Garden!

        Of course, since Sterling was working on set he heard about this event and quickly informed me so I could get tickets along with our friend JR. I was in the midst of filming a movie myself, but luckily got off early enough to attend the show.

        I arrived at the comedy club and it was obvious that the word was out about the special guests. Dane Cook posted the news on his website, so I guess the word got out pretty quickly. Sterling, JR, and I waited in the rather long line to get into the event. Having never been to the club at it’s new location, I quickly scouted the building looking for stage doors and backstage entrances. There really wasn’t an obvious choice for a stage door, so it was a bit of a guessing game deciding which door Dane and Harland would be entering/exiting from.

        I kept going back and forth between the backstage doors and the line, hoping that I could meet Dane before the concert started. It wasn’t meant to be as the doors opened to the venue and the line started to go in. Once we were all inside, the hostess escorted us to our seats. Imagine our surprise when she took us to a table that was literally resting deadcenter against the stage. We were so close in fact that, that the comics were actually standing over us and we could see up their nostrils!

        We couldn’t believe how lucky we were to get such great seats, but then again at a comedy club, sitting so close can make you the fixation of a comedy roast directed at you! I left a few times to check out the back of the building to see if there were any signs of Dane, but nothing was happening.

        I got back to my seat in time for the first performance. All of the comics leading up to Harland and Dane were pretty good, I mean the last guy was originally the headliner of the event. That’s when Harland took the stage and absolutely killed, he truly stepped it up a notch. Harland was also the only performer of the night to look out into the front row and poke shots at any poor soul next to the stage. oh yeah, that meant us!

        Then it was time for the main attraction, DANE COOK! Dane used most of the material from his Retaliation CD, but there were a few new and old jokes thrown in as well. It was so awesome getting to see Dane in this setting and there couldn't have been better seats, unless we were sitting in his lap. The laughter couldn't last forever, unfortunately, and soon the crowd stood up to give Dane a standing ovation as he exited the stage.

        I didn't waste any time and quickly fought the crowds to exit the building as fast as possible. I rounded the corner to the stage doors of the building, but only found a couple of caterers smoking cigarettes. There weren't any waiting cars, although I did see a rather nice black escalade parked backwards next to one of the kitchen doors. I decided that this was the most likely place Dane would be exiting from and prepared to wait.

        All of the sudden I got a call from JR saying, "Where are you? All of them are inside!". Just hearing "Where are you?" sent me rushing back to the front entrance. Right as I was walking inside the club, I happened to bump into Dax Shepard leaving the event. I had merely seconds to react... would I come away with a success? Tune to his section for the details.

        My friends Sterling and JR met up with me and they pointed over to Harland Williams who was signing autographs for a couple of fans. Sterling wished us luck because he decided to sit this one out due to his involvement with the film. I was worried that Dane would fear EBAY if I handed him an 8x10 photo, so without thinking I layed my binder on a random table and took out my index cards. Then I dragged JR with me over to Harland Williams, continue to his story for details.

        My eyes were still darting everywhere looking for Dane and I spotted him a few feet a way talking to someone. He was just finishing his conversation when I approached, so it was a good time to ask for an autograph. Dane smiled and said, "Sure bro" and then proceeded to sign the index card that I handed him. He asked if I enjoyed the show, which of course I said was amazing.

        Then I asked if I could get a picture with him and he said, "of course" and pulled me in for a photo-op. JR took my camera and snapped the shot right when someone stepped in the way (cutting me out of the photograph!). Dane said, "Oh no, that won't turn out. Let's try that again". We waited patiently for them to move out of the way and then JR snapped a really great shot. Dane even threw in his famous Su-Fi sign, which was cool. I thanked him again and he said, "No problem, it was nice meeting you" and shook my hand.

        That's when JR and I realized that Jessica Simpson was sitting in a private booth in view of Dane and Harland. Of course I went to try and get her autograph as well... but like Dax and Harland, I'm evil and will leave those details for her section. Would she still be unwilling to sign an autograph?

        After trying to get Jessica's autograph, I remembered that in all of the ruckus that I didn't even ask Dane to sign the 8x10 photo I brought. Since he was so cool, I just knew he wouldn't question signing my photo. I ran back over to the table I left my binder on (thankfully it was still there) and quickly scooped it up. Dane was still hanging out with some fans chatting and signing, so I waited my turn. As I was waiting, Jessica Simpson came over to Dane and gave him a hug and wished him a happy birthday and for making her laugh so hard during the show. Then she took off and headed towards the kitchen (with bodyguards blocking the way)... so she was the one in the black escalade near the kitchen doors!

       Just watching Dane interact with fans really impressed me. This man has to be one of the most approachable celebrities I've seen in a long time. He was so friendly and didn't mind posing for pictures or signing autographs for anybody that came over to him. It was my turn to meet him once again and I asked if he could personalize and autograph my photograph. He loved the photograph and showed it to someone he was with and joked about working with animals. Then he proceeded to sign my photo. I wished him happy birthday again and for the great show, he shook my hand and thanked me for the compliments.