Doug Stanhope, like his predecessor Bill Hicks, certainly isn't afraid to offend anyone, and this I feel produces the best kind of 21st century comedy out there, for it shocks the pretentious prude into being disgusted (mainly at themselves since they are obviously unable to laugh at the dark realities of the human condition) and provides such a release for the intelligent mind that it truly is an exorcism of all the shit that builds up inside of us on a daily basis. From the media lies we are continually being fed, to the un-human way out-dated religions of this world expect us to behave in order to become "virtuous" - it is truly the corrupt that is dictating to us and turning us into vessels of bottled up repression and aggression. As Stanhope points out concerning the World Trade Center incident:I would love to be a patriot. I would love to just fall into it and be happy, but everything has a saturation point . . . Sorry if I'm not wearing my NYPD hat out of respect for the fallen heroes, but you know what? A year and a half ago I wasn't wearing a plunger handle in my ass in a holding cell to represent that same force either. It's bullshit.And you know there's been a big outpouring of generosity, yes, and you know, it's too bad that plane didn't fuck up and hit a homeless shelter . . . How about chucking billions of dollars at those people for a change? There's more than four thousand of those bodies all over the streets of New York City and now they're kicking them out of the way to drop off a cheque at Ground Zero.
~~ Doug Stanhope, Patriotic Saturation
The abundance of material that Stanhope has is also quite remarkable. In fact the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly was once challenged to a bet by the late wonderful Australian artist Brett Whiteley that he couldn't go up on stage for two consecutive gigs without repeating himself once. Connolly reluctantly rose to the challenge and won, but admitted later that it was hard as hell and that there is hardly a comedian in existence that has over four hours of material. I don't know how much material Stanhope has, but so far I have not heard him repeat himself once in any of the CDs or video clips that I have scrutinized - this I find to be quite unusual for a stand-up comic.
Doug Stanhope clearly lives a wild and eventful life - one need only check out his Web site to discern this fact - but this is clearly where he gets the inspiration for his material as should be the case with all good comedians. Many will find him offensive, however, done most of those offended I'm sure will still find there's an element about his comedy where you just can't help liking the guy. We could all learn at least something from the Great White Stanhope, even if it's just that each of us could perhaps do with indulging in a little more excess in moderation.
The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd.
