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Doug Stanhope

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Doug Stanhope
Stanhope on stage at Charlies, Manchester, England, October 2006
Birth nameDouglas Gene Stanhope
Born (1967-03-25) March 25, 1967 (age 58)
Worcester, Massachusetts
Mediumstand-up, television
NationalityUnited States American
Years active1990 - present[1]
GenresBlack comedy, Observational comedy, Satire/Political satire
Subject(s)American culture, current events, recreational drug use, human sexuality, religion, libertarianism
SpouseRenee Morrison[2] (2003-present) (separated)[3]
Websitedougstanhope.com/

Douglas Gene Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian.

Career

Stanhope's career began in 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is widely known for hosting the final 22 episodes of Comedy Central's The Man Show in 2003 and 2004 and a Girls Gone Wild video. He also produced and starred in "Invasion of the Hidden Cameras" (a project for the Fox Broadcasting network). Stanhope has made appearances at several major comedy festivals, including the Montreal Just For Laughs, US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, the Chicago Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, where he won the Strathmore Press Award in 2002. Stanhope was the winner of the San Francisco Comedy Competition. He has released several CDs. He claims that his appearance on the BBC television show, "Live Floor Show," was fueled by "ecstasy". According to Stanhope “TV is just for the money; live performance is where it’s at.”

In 2005, frontally nude photos of Stanhope at a bachelor party were posted on the gay website Campfire Video. They were originally posted on Stanhope's own website.

He has established a group of touring comics known as The Unbookables featuring artists such as Andy Andrist, Sean Rouse, Brett Erickson, Travis Lipski, Brendon Walsh, Norman Wilkerson, and Brian Potrafka. The Unbookables' first CD, Morbid Obscenity, also featuring Andrist, Rouse, Lynn Shawcroft, Mr. Arthur Hinty and Banjo Randy, was released July 4, 2006, on Stand Up! Records.

In summer 2006, he was booked to appear on several bills at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival in Ireland; he told his lairy, late-night crowd, that Irish men sleep with children, because - as the headline to the following day's Irish Daily Star put it (misreportedly) - "Irish women are too ugly to rape! Comic booed after shocking festival jibe." he managed to perform for just 10 minutes before having all his remaining slots cancelled.[1]

In August 2006 he appeared alongside Rouse at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, to rave 5 star reviews from the press. On his opening night he took what was believed to be an ecstasy tablet that was handed to him by a member of the audience.[2][3]

Stanhope joined fellow Unbookable Norman Wilkerson and Mancuinan comedian Dave Bishop at the Manchester Comedy Festival in October along with a two week residency at the Soho Theatre in London.

In October 2006, he self-published a book, Fun With Pedophiles: The Best of Baiting, which includes several of his "baits" which had appeared on baiting.org. Baiting is the practice of setting up a false Internet instant messaging persona, say, that of an underage female, waiting for others to message you asking for sex, and then brutally abusing the "baitee" in a chat session that is logged to share with others.[4] He discussed his self-published book and the philosophy behind it on Penn Jillette's radio show on San Diego's 97.1 FreeFM on December 26, 2006.

2007 has seen Stanhope tape two TV specials - in the US for Showtime, recorded at The Gotham Comedy Club in New York City March 12th and the other for the UK's Channel 4 Comedy Lab, filmed at the Caves in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Showtime special, entitled No Refunds, premiered August 3rd and was released on DVD August 14th.

Stanhope dislikes dense urban areas and lives in the small U.S.-Mexico border town of Bisbee, Arizona.

In October 2007, Doug signed on to host and executive produce an "edgy" version of Family Feud for Fox. Described as "The Family Feud with a Jerry Springer twist", the show "would pit families against each other for basic needs. Rather than giving bloated, middle class America any more cash to stuff its face with, this Feud is going to give Americans what they really need: diapers, food stamps, books without pictures, and regular trips to the dentist."

Discography/Videography

File:Stanhope.jpg
DVD cover to Deadbeat Hero (2004).
Title Year CD DVD
The Great White Stanhope 1998 x
Sicko 1999 x
Something to Take the Edge Off 2000 x
Die Laughing 2002 x
Word of Mouth 2003 x
Deadbeat Hero 2004 x x
Morbid Obscenity, The Unbookables 2006 x
No Refunds 2007 x

There is a bootleg video referred to as The Austin Incident, which Stanhope himself keeps in circulation, that features conspiracy theorist Alex Jones introducing him. The gig descends into chaos and twenty minutes in Stanhope can clearly be heard saying jokingly "you're never opening for me again" to Jones.

2008 Presidential campaign

Stanhope announced on July 9, 2006 through his website that he would run for president in 2008 as a Libertarian. After consulting political advisors, he stated on his website, "...officially - I am reconsidering my presidential run while my exploratory team looks into the viability of such an endeavor." [5] He explained that he made this statement due to campaign finance laws and other reasons. Later he said "The presidential run is getting in order. You keep asking me if I'm serious. You have no idea. Let's have fun again."

Stanhope intended to formally declare candidacy during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show show May 3rd, 2007, but May 1st he announced that he would not run due to restrictions of the Federal Election Commission. He could not receive personal income from his comedy appearances and website if he was using them to campaign.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ "If You're Offended, Then You're Not Listening," The Guardian , July 31, 2006 (accessed September 5, 2006).
  2. ^ "It'll Blow Your Mind," The Sunday Times , August 20, 2006 (accessed September 5, 2006).
  3. ^ "Boozy and Brilliant," The Independent , August 11, 2006 (accessed September 5, 2006).
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