Virtually famous

Cook grew up with a brother and five sisters in Arlington, Mass., graduating from high school in 1990, skipping college to do six nights a week of stand-up in local clubs. Soon he was earning $100 a night. In 1995 his manager secretly invited ABC network execs to a New York gig, which led to a pilot for a hidden-camera reality show. It wasn't picked up, but Cook got $75,000.

In 1999 came two pivotal moves: Cook spent $50 to put up an early Web site, an online billboard, and signed on with Comedy Central for a half-hour special. It aired in 2000 and was so popular that the cable channel reran it three times a week for a while. Cook was paid only $15,000, a one-time fee. The real payoff came online: His crude Web page, which got only 50 or so visitors each week, suddenly jumped to 4,000 hits a week.

Finding his audience
That inspired him to spend $30,000 — everything he had in the bank — to hire a slick Web-design firm to upgrade his site to play his comic bits, handle online sales of CDs and T shirts and offer updates. He trolled teen-oriented chatrooms to learn what kids do on the Web: "I want you to know I'm not a pedophile, I'm 29 years old, I just want to know what's cool."

Soon he made his way to MySpace, putting up his page in December 2003, three weeks before the site officially opened. To promote his HBO gig at the Garden in Boston last month, he began touting it on his MySpace page in January, revealing details of a password-only advance ticket sale for die-hard fans. His two shows sold out in less than a week; the show's promoters didn't have to spend $125,000 they had budgeted for ads.

Barry Katz, Cook's manager, says he takes pride in being out ahead of his clients on new entertainment trends, "but in this case, Dane was one step ahead of me and the rest of the comedy community — and the world."

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Cook saw stand-up as a back door to his real aim of acting, writing and producing, he says, and he always wanted to build his own brand. "I wanted a Bat signal, my Nike swoosh. I wanted to be a mogul, but in the coolest possible way." Today his would-be logo is an oddball symbol he calls the SuFi ("SOO-fye"), for "SuperFinger," a variation on the obscene hand gesture of a single extended middle finger. In his case he doubles up to use the middle and ring fingers together, as if he is twice as ticked off.

Fans love it. And on MySpace, they feel responsible for his success. "It's fantastical!" one MySpace "friend" wrote in a post to Cook's page the other day. "I'm so happy you are finally getting the recognition you deserve … Su-Fi for life!"

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