Itchy Asshole
Dane Cook , compared with Louis C.K.
A long, escalating riff on the misery and indignity of having an itchy butt in public.
Cook's track "Itchy Asshole" plays the itch as a full-body emergency he can't scratch in public. (paraphrase)
Retaliation, 2005▶ watch ↗
C.K.'s self-released 2001 album has a bit on the same subject, recorded four years before Retaliation. (paraphrase)
Live in Houston, 2001find on YouTube ↗
Same title and same embarrassing subject four years apart; the record doesn't show the two sharing actual lines or a punchline.
- Premise 34/40
- Structure 14/30
- Punchline 10/30
- Premise34/40Same subject and even the same track title: the misery of an itchy butt in public.
- Structure14/30Cook escalates to a full-body emergency; how C.K. builds his version is not on record.
- Punchline10/30Neither payoff is on record, so a shared punchline cannot be shown.
Setup
He has an itchy butt while out in public.
Setup
Same subject, an itchy butt; framing not on record.
Turn
The itch becomes a full-body emergency he cannot scratch.
Turn
Escalation not on record.
Punchline
Not on record.
Punchline
Not on record.
Scores and beats are our editorial reading of the public record, not a ruling.
Context
When and where
C.K.'s 'Itchy Asshole' is on Live in Houston (recorded at the Laff Stop, Houston, released 2001). Cook's track of the same name is on Retaliation (2005). Radar magazine reported widespread online comparison in 2007.
What followed
C.K. joked he wouldn't go to court over a bit called "Itchy Asshole." The feud was dramatized in the 2011 Louie episode "Oh Louie/Tickets," where Cook's character denies stealing.
Receipts
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Dane Cook by Courtney Cook, CC BY-SA 3.0; Louis C.K. by YMH Studios, CC BY 3.0