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Doug Stanhope’s Enticing Vulgarity | Feature | High Plains Reader

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Doug Stanhopes Enticing Vulgarity

By Spencer Dobson Contributing Writer Those who watch the critically acclaimed show Louie on FX might recognize Doug Stanhope from his portrayal of Eddie, the Road comic thats been on the road too long and wants to end his life. Louie called me to ask me if I acted at all and I said, I dont, I suck at it, Im probably a poor choice. [Louie] said, would you? I said, Yeah, I would, but Im just warning you up front. Stanhope recalls. Stanhope could relate to Eddie. I did live like that, from piece of s- car to piece of s- car. His days of living in crappy cars ended when he won the San Francisco Comedy Competition in 1995. After I won, I turned to Wavey Gravey [legendary hippie who was judging the competition], gave him the title and said, give this to the first homeless person you see. But he didnt take it, and it got busted into and they took my bag with everything I had in it. So It was me, with the thrift store suit I had on, an olds Cutlass with the window broken out and a check for $10,000. It was great. Stanhope recounts. By the way, Stanhope beat a little known comic named Dane Cook at that particular competition. If you missed the Louie Episode, you might have seen Stanhopes new special, Before Turning the Gun on Himself, on Showtime or picked up the CD of the same name. The emerging theme of suicide led me to ask Stanhope, You got something you want to talk about? But he cut me off before the words got out of my

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9/20/12

Doug Stanhope’s Enticing Vulgarity | Feature | High Plains Reader

mouth. Ive had that f- title forever. I wanted to use it on Dead Beat Hero and No Refund, but for the first one, they thought it wouldnt be able to get into box stores, Stanhope explained. And the second time it was going to be that, and then the f- Virginia Tech shooting came out, so I had to scramble for another title at the last minute. The title alone is enough to get most comics in trouble in the U.S. Not this comedian. He has to go overseas for that. In the U.K., Stanhope was part of a recent scandal involving a journalist who had shamed a stroke victim for fighting for the right to die. Stanhope, who had helped his mother commit assisted suicide while she was suffering from emphysema, tweeted, I just went Christian just to pray you get a fetid ovarian cyst. Let me know if it works. This generated a huge controversy that got a lot of ink, outrage and calls for Stanhope to be banned from the BBC. That worked great. I got a great 15 minutes of new material out of her. But its so easy to cause controversy over there, especially because you are an American. Stanhopes U.K. scandals do draw a comparison to Daniel Toshs scandals, stateside. Its like when people say, Oh, you got in trouble, its like when Dan Tosh got in trouble, Stanhope said. Dan Tosh got in trouble? Dan Tosh got f - noticed. Its money in the bank. I ask him why he thinks he has not been the center of such a cell phone video freak out. They only freak out on people where they think they can catch them, or embarrass them, or hurt them. Thats why Howard Stern isnt in the news every day, for saying something racy or offensive. Because they know he does that, and they know he doesnt give a s- and people dont give a s-. If you can catch Hugh Grant with a hooker, hes going to blush and hem and haw and back peddle and then you have a story. But if a Charlie Sheen gets a hooker, hes just going to go, Yeah, I get hookers. Then theres no story, theres no shame, no outrage. Stanhope is getting good press as well. The Office creator, Ricky Gervais, who recently tweeted, [Stanhope] might be the most important stand-up working today. Just saying. Please tell him that if you know him. Sarah Silverman tweeted, Dear Jews who run show business, Please give @dougstanhope a television show. Thanks, S. Silverman after watching a bit Stanhope does about disliking nationalism. Thats pretty high praise from people who know comedy. Consisting of harsh, vulgar, ugly material, Stanhopes act is simultaneously smart, insightful and truthful. Thats where the secret lies. He is vulgar, but not in a dumb Andrew Dice Clay sort of way. And hes smart, but in an accessible way that doesnt require people to have a lot background info to get his references. This is probably why his name is starting to pop up in sentences alongside names like Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, Bill Hicks and Lenny Bruce. When I asked him to comment on the phenomenon, he chuckled dismissively and said, If you want to print that, Ill deal with the backlash. I may have taken myself too seriously for a minute when people started to say things like that, but then I just up the amount of fist f- jokes in my act. Questions and comments: spencer@spencerdobsoncomedy.com IF YOU GO: WHAT: Doug Stanhopes The Big Stink Tour w/ Brett Erickson and Geoff Tate WHEN: Sept. 22, 9 p.m. WHERE: The Nestor Tavern, 1001 NP Ave, FARGO HOW MUCH: $20; tiny.cc/7ktfkw

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Posted 5 days, 16 hours ago by Spencer Dobson | Email Spencer Dobson | View Spencer Dobson's profile.

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