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It's been a rough weekend for Dane Cook: after being publicly shamed by our own Molly McAleer, the comedian saw his romantic comedy My Best Friend's Girl tank at the box office. Now, TMZ is reporting that thanks to his incontinent dog, Cook has been evicted from his apartment — though his attempt to fight the ruling may have provided us with the beleaguered actor's first amusing work in years:

After a judge ruled to evict Cook from his Hollywood apartment last month because nobody picked up after the comic's crap-happy dog, Dane has decided to fight the decision with one of the most bizarre legal arguments we've ever heard –- that [John] Belushi and [Steve] Martin's supernatural leftovers have a serious affect on his career.

Cook claims he only rented the apartment in the first place because his heroes, Belushi and Martin, used to live in the same complex back in the day, and according to the court docs filed in L.A. County Superior Court, he would suffer serious "mental and emotional" damage — and his career would crumble — if he was forced to leave. In the docs, Cook claims, "I know that the presence of those that have lived there before me affects me deeply and provides me with inspiration." Cook went on to say, "In the same way that writers can get writer's block, comedians can really easily run out of ideas and 'stories'; I am extremely frightened that this will happen to me if I am forced to move out of my apartment. I've seen it happen to other comics, that something interferes with their connection to their creative muse, and it's destroyed careers."

While we can't say that we've seen any evidence of Steve Martin's dry comic influence in Cook's enthusiastic brand of stand-up, we hope the situation works itself out in his favor. If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that Cook should spend a lot of time in his apartment — weeks, months, whatever works! Take as much time off as you need, Dane...after all, isn't that we've got DC-01 for? [Photo Credit: AP]