Owing to other obligations, this may well be my last Tourgasm recap. Unless the season finale is totally awesome. But anyway, here’s episode 7.

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At every comedy show I go to people are talking about Dane Cook and Tourgasm. Dane’s on the lips and blogs of comedians everywhere. Apparently the way you capture the attention of every comedian in the country is not by making the smartest, funniest show you possibly can, but instead creating one of the worst programs ever.

Last week’s episode was yet another example of hubris, ego, scatalogical humor and forced activities. To quote Dane, ride with me people, because it’s that time again.

This episode was entitled “Competitively Speaking,” or alternately “Dane’s a poor loser.”
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Another week has passed and that means another episode of Tourgasm. I was considering writing another commentary for it, but the amount of time involved is daunting, and this episode didn’t really warrant the same amount of scrutiny. That’s not to say there weren’t some amazing moments in it. Because there were. What I’ve decided to do is each week give you the highlights of the episode. Anyway, enough of my yakkin’, let’s boogie.

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Dane Cook is the number one comedian among people my age. He recently had the biggest selling comedy CD, hosted SNL, appears on talk shows all the time, and plays sold out college shows around the country to his massive fan base. But there’s one catch, he’s not funny. Seriously. It’s almost like a performance art piece he’s doing.

If you’re not familiar with his material, count yourself lucky. Dane is very “animated,” as his fans say, and stalks around the stage, a whirling dervish of exuberance and enthusiasm, acting out even the most minute details of his jokes. His smoke and mirrors seem to have distracted people from the fact that he is painfully, abysmally, unfunny. At first I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that someone so awful could become so popular. But then I started looking at his fanbase, and it’s the same people who embraced ambassadors of bland Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson. Basically, your standard college idiot.

Don’t believe me? Try watching this clip of him talking about restrooms, questioning the name (”is there anybody just resting in this room?”) and why they’re so wet (”was there like a shaggy dog in there after a bath?”), and experience for yourself just how bad Dane is.

So what of it? There are a ton of unfunny comedians out there. Where Dane sets himself apart, and becomes something truly special, is in his new HBO behind-the-scenes show, “Tourgasm,” of which he is the creator, director, self-described “leader,” and, I’d bet my bottom dollar, editor.

Dane capitalized on his growing success to set up a tour of US colleges, and brought along three other comedians and a camera crew. What, you may ask, happens when four comedians spend 30 days with each other on a luxury tour bus, participate in a number of forced activities, and through tears of laughter and sadness (no joke) attempt to get real? Next to nothing. “Tourgasm” is so incredibly bland and free of laughs that it hits bottom and comes right back up to the top again.

Lately I’ve seen LA comedian Andy Kindler performing all over town. Andy’s brought up Dane and Tourgasm every time, and has had me laughing far more than Dane ever has. Andy stalks around on stage a la Cook, points out the logical errors in Dane’s jokes (there are many), and highlights his favorite elements of Tourgasm. I could listen to Andy talk about Tourgasm all day long. As a result of seeing Andy’s discourse on Dane, I decided to give Tourgasm a view. I’m glad I did, because, quite simply, it blew my mind.

Tourgasm has all the elements of any bad reality show: seven story consultants, forced activities, forced camaraderie, forced drama, real tears, and more hugging than “Entourage.” If you think of it as a train wreck, and watch it with the thought of Dane’s hand controlling every edit, it becomes one of the funniest shows currently on TV.

I’m going to attempt in words, pictures, and audio clips, to walk you through the brilliance that is episode four of Tourgasm. Click below for a shit load of screencaps and awesomeness.
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