From during The Challenge XXX
BY DC CUEVA
Often in ExtraTime, we like to help liven the mood a bit after our episode coverage with something that'll make you want to laugh. Our first subject this week made his MTV debut ten years ago, and now in his post-MTV life makes a living in a field where all that's necessary is to have a mic, a mic stand and a knack for telling the right jokes. Yes, we're talking about being a comedian.
One day, an opportunity came calling for him to take a break from the stage, the ring and performing in front of crowds to do television and to take his talents to a larger audience than he had before. And in 2007, he joined Road Rules: Viewers Revenge, where he got to become a member of the Pit Crew: him and seven other castmates -- including a relatively unknown Kentucky pageant queen named Tori Hall -- who were chosen to be on the cast. They joined six alums of the RV: all-time Challenge legend Abram, Adam of The Quest, Kina of Derrick's X-Treme season, Ruins champ Susie, Invasion breakout star Shane and Veronica who we just saw up above.
After his time in the RV, Dan then was invited to his first Challenge: The Island in 2008, where as a rookie he almost made it to the end, and him falling into the water and getting eliminated in the same Water Bound mission -- a Purge-like mission -- that saw Evelyn prove why she was one of the best girls ever on this show. Then, he went to Prague for Cutthroat in 2010, where again he made it past the halfway point and eventually succumbed in his only elimination to eventual champion Dunbar.
But along the way, Dan also had his own challenge: battling his own demons, and it was there that his alter-ego the Danimal was born. On the Panamanian coast, he was described as a hot mess: someone who was stumbling around the beach drunk. He would then find himself in a dark place, that was a wake-up call to change his ways. Going into Cutthroat, Dan explained his life-changing experience: "I went into recovery for my alcoholism. I quit drinking and got real healthy, and fixed my life. I got my head into the game and decided to come back and win one one of these."
Though he would up come short, him becoming sober and changing his ways towards a positive direction allowed him to establish a better name for himself in his post-MTV career: being by day a self-confessed "gym rat" and expert on health supplements, and by night and weekend accomplishing that lifelong goal of conquering the world of comedy.
As this is being posted this Friday the 13th, tonight Dan is taking the stage at The World Famous Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. This is the same comedy club where the likes of Joe Rogan, Jeffrey Ross, Dane Cook, Judd Apatow, Greg Fitzsimmons and so many other comedians do what they do best... and just two nights ago, fellow Road Rules alum (and someone who we featured here a little while back) Theo Von also did stand-up in this very nightclub.
Dan has held the mic several times at The Comedy Store this year, which is where any big name and rising comedian wants to take the stage at, and its list of those who've taken the stage is a who's who. Given where he's come from when he rode in that RV, it's been a long and winding road that's brought him to this world of laughter... perhaps he might follow in Theo's footsteps and become the next great comedian. Below is Dan's standup last year at Flapper's in beautiful Burbank.
- I AM DC
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