Naming your kid something absurd
Dane Cook , compared with Louis C.K.
A comic imagines saddling his future child with a ridiculous, unpronounceable or pop-culture name.
Cook pictures naming his son Optimus Prime and riffs on the absurdity of the name. (paraphrase)
Retaliation ("My Son Optimus Prime"), 2005find on YouTube ↗
C.K.'s track "Kid's Names" riffs on giving children deliberately ridiculous names. (paraphrase)
Live in Houston ("Kid's Names"), 2001find on YouTube ↗
Both joke about giving a kid an absurd name, a shared, well-worn idea; the specific name and execution differ.
- Premise 30/40
- Structure 9/30
- Punchline 5/30
- Premise30/40Both riff on saddling a child with an absurd name, a concept Cook traces to Steve Martin.
- Structure9/30Cook builds around one pop-culture name; C.K. riffs on ridiculous names generally.
- Punchline5/30Cook lands on Optimus Prime; nothing on record shows C.K. using that or similar.
Setup
He imagines naming his future son.
Setup
He riffs on what parents name children.
Turn
He settles on a single pop-culture name.
Turn
The names get deliberately ridiculous.
Punchline
Optimus Prime, and the absurdity of living with it.
Punchline
Specific names and payoff not on record.
Scores and beats are our editorial reading of the public record, not a ruling.
Context
When and where
C.K.'s 'Kid's Names' is on Live in Houston (2001). Cook's 'My Son Optimus Prime' is on Retaliation (2005). Both bits are about giving a child an absurd name.
What followed
Cook later argued that both he and C.K. loved a Steve Martin bit about a weird baby name, so each had his own take on a shared concept, which he said differs from verbatim plagiarism.
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