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Available on VOD and all leading digital platforms beginning September 29th is the new documentary ‘Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story’, which was directed by Brett Harvey (‘The Culture High’) and examines the life and career of comedian Dane Cook, who’s own brother and manager stole millions of dollars from him.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dane Cook about his life and ‘Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story’, making such a personal film, how it gave him closure, interviewing his family, and what he would say to his brother if given the chance.
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Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the decision to make this documentary and share so many personal and traumatic moments from your life, specifically regarding what happened with your brother?
Dane Cook: I was backstage at the Comedy Store in LA and I was talking to Robby Hoffman who said, “It’s biblical. This is biblical. This whole brother and brother thing.” I felt that way at the time. I truly felt as the collapse was happening, one of the things that I remember feeling in those first few days, which is where the documentary starts off, was this feels like some Shakespearean tragedy because of the comedic element and the beautiful nature of what my life seemingly was in this public celebration of a career, this kid from Boston who came up the ranks and did it on his own in bootstraps. So the initial beating that I was taking by way of this nefarious brother wasn’t without a small part of me that I was clinging onto desperately that was like, I know that this is entertaining, just because of who I am. But I’m feeling myself like the storm at sea is pulling me out because my career is cooling. It was cooling anyway. I was already coming off a great run but now I’m lost. People are losing me, because also the narrative on a few fronts has been hijacked from me and I have not done a good job at sharing what’s happened to me sooner than later. So what happens is if you’re not the belle of the ball and you’re not having this opportunity to talk about projects and people aren’t keeping up with you, and I too was sort of Dane Cook-ed out. I was also like, I need a break. I need a reset, and I probably need to really know who I am in this industry, but just as a person after my parents had died. I didn’t have a chance to do that because then my brother, it’s like a haymaker, hits me when I’m already down. So to answer your question now more directly without so much preamble, right around 2014 or 2015, I was like, “Man, I truly feel like I want to share this with people, but I don’t know how.” I’d gone through the therapy and I went through a lot of work on that, a lot of incredible love, mentorship, things that I read, I read books like ‘Confessions of a Sociopath’, wanting to understand what was my brother? What kind of monster? How nefarious? So, I’m educating myself, and by the time I get to Tom Segura’s podcast, the first time I really opened up about more than just the minutia, I get a phone call from our producer, Rocky Mudaliar, who’s really the reason this came together. He said, “Are you ready to tell this story? It is wild, man. It’s everything. It’s money, it’s betrayal, its fame. Are you ready?” I said, “I really am. But more than anything, just telling the story, I’m ready to reconnect with the people who love me that want me to entertain them, and I’m ready to actually answer to them.” I was a polarizing figure as well where I was like, “I think I just need to educate people to say this is really who I am, whether you want to know me beyond this or not.” So all of those things formulate, come together, and here we are now talking about this beautiful piece of work directed by Brett Harvey.
MF: Was sitting down to do the interviews for this documentary cathartic for you? Did you get closure in a way?
DC: Well, I thought it was closure, but it was actually opening. Imagine I’m sitting in the chair, and I always like to preface this by saying some people make documentaries and it’s a bit of a puff piece and they’re controlling it, and I did not. I told the director, I said, “You will interview me, and whatever you ask, I will answer.” When I sit in that seat, I’m not going to edit it and I’m not going to watch it, I’m not going to see him for a year, but what I wasn’t expecting was sitting in the seat, with him knowing more than me now. He’s saying things and showing me and sharing letters and excerpts that I’m like, “What? Really? Are you serious? What happened? Where did that go? Can I call them?” So it was open. I thought I had the scar and it healed pretty well. Then suddenly I was like, “Oh, I’m gouging myself open here.” But it did feel good. It felt good because I knew that the love that I had for my brother was real on my part, and even though he rewrote a lot of the past by way of what he did, I accepted that I did everything as a good brother that I could do, and I no longer was beating myself up about the humiliation and some of the things that I went through. So yeah, sitting in the chair, I was like, I’m going with it, but every day I sat with him was like discovering something else about my own life and brother that was like a surprising moment.
MF: How did you feel about your former sister-in-law Erica’s interview for the film when you first saw it? Did you think she was being honest, at least from her point of view?
DC: It was the first time that I’d seen Erica since, I don’t even know how many years. I hadn’t seen her even really when they were together. They were always separate. I knew because of the forensics audit that I read for days and watched all the evidence that was uncovered, stuff that’s not even in the doc, that I’m looking at her and realizing how cunning and manipulative she was gaming certain elements of my life, or even in my own weaknesses and things that she knew of me. I saw those emails. Now imagine I’m watching that interview for the first time, the rough assembly of the film with my sister, but imagine I’m also entertained by her and appreciative that she’s great in the documentary. It’s not resentments because I’m not that person, but also being like, she’s so good in this. All that’s happening all at once. So it’s like, I don’t ever have hate in my heart. I’m not a person that carries hate, but the slog of the humiliation definitely, and the appreciation that she did it and she’s in it, that’s how I feel. But I’ll let the audience talk to me. If people see it, I do want them to see that last long form conversation, and I want to hear from other people about what they think of that person and what happened there?
MF: Finally, what did you learn about your self from making this movie, and I know you did reach out to your brother, but if he had agreed to be in the movie, what would you have said to him?
DC: Well, a lot of it was reflected in the impact letter that I read to him in court that day, and I was fortunate enough to get in front of the State of Massachusetts and have my day in court. I’m a guy that even though it was corroded, I had my dignity. I didn’t do this to my nephew, his son. I didn’t do this to our little sister. I knew I would be okay, but the things that he did that impacted them, that’s things that he’s going to have to reckon with. So for me, it was all about, I wanted my narrative, my storyline back in my favor, and I wanted to be able to share it with people in a way that was entertaining, and in a way that reminded you that I’m a workhorse. I’m just here to make people feel a certain way, and I hope by way of this documentary, people are not only entertained by it, but you could take the buzzsaw moment of your life and you can actually turn it into the actual element that provides you a win, but you have to be willing to show it. I jokingly say, the elephant in the room, name it and introduce it to people because you’ll be blown away as I have been, and what happens when you actually share the traumatizing moments with people and realize the empathy and compassion that comes from that. That then by way turns into relationships and experiences and adventures and voyages, and I think I’m at the beginning of a very good one, but that’ll be up to the people at large.
What is the story of ‘Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story’?
At the height of his career, Dane Cook wasn’t just selling out arenas, he was redefining what a stand-up comedian could be. Then, in a shocking betrayal, the person he trusted most stole multi-millions of dollars, forever changing his life. ‘Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story’ is a gripping documentary about fame, family, greed, and survival, revealing the extraordinary true story behind one of comedy’s biggest icons.
Who appears in ‘Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story’?
- Dane Cook as Himself
- Courtney Cook as Herself
- Richard Pollmann as Himself
- Guy Venuti as Himself
- Richard Grundy as Himself
- Joseph Zwicker as Himself
- Luke Ernenwein as Himself
- Richard Feldstein as Himself
- Thomas Kingsley as Himself
- Mark Clifford as Himself
