Dane Cook was born on March 18, 1972, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of George Cook (who now works at a golf course but at different times managed and ran a lumber yard, a window business and a rock club in Cambridge) and Donna Cook, a homemaker.Cook grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb in an Irish Catholic family.[3] He is the second youngest of seven siblings; he has a younger sister, one older brother and four older sisters. He attended Arlington High School, where he starred in the school production of Grease. In high school, Cook was very introverted and to help break through his shell, he took up drama and eventually fell in love with improvisation and sketch comedy.
As a teenager, Cook became interested in comedy when his father, former radio personality George Cook, gave him a tape recorder and microphone. Later, he would learn what it meant to be a stand-up comedian. He was enthralled with comedians who were not afraid to sweat on stage—Richard Pryor and Robin Williams—and was equally taken by those like Steven Wright and Bob Newhart, who could ignite a crowd while standing in one place for an hour.
Cook graduated in 1990 and began doing comedy that same year. Cook started comedy by being part of a three-man improv troupe called Al and the Monkeys with Robert Kelly and Al Del Bene. The troupe toured together for four years before disbanding. As he tells it, Cook's comedy did not grow from pain or a need to fill some emotional void, but for simply the fun of entertaining.
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