I Did My Best - Greatest Hits

Being that he’s a “love him or loathe him”-type comedian, the need for a Dane Cook greatest-hits collection is up for debate, but if you’re going to do it at this point of his career, do it like this, at least when it comes to the track list. I Did My Best does a great job of picking the high points of Cook’s previous four albums, and presents them in an order that’s not as jarring as expected, even when the audiences for these performances vary in size from comedy club intimate to stadium huge. Two discs might be excessive for the merely curious, but this is right-sized for the casual fan, and if longtime Cook fanatics are looking for a more portable collection, they’re also rewarded with some unreleased material. What Cook left on the cutting-room floor is surprisingly funny but this new stuff isn’t highlighted, coming at the end of disc two in the form of untitled bonus tracks. Besides some production and design info, there are no liner notes, so newcomers looking for more guidance on Cook’s early discography will still have some research to do. Still, if you don’t need those frilly extras or care about how much respect went into the packaging, have at it. – David Jeffries