Comedian Doug Stanhope Headlines Velvet Jones Saturday March 5th
Doug Stanhope was born in Worcester, MA, began his comedy career in Las Vegas and now lives in the border town of Bisbee, AZ. His material ranges from true-life graphic perversion to volatile social criticism. Stanhope is vulgar, opinionated, brutally honest, shockingly uninhibited and above all, very, very funny.
Named by both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter as one of the Top Ten Comics to Watch, Stanhope has released four CDs and three DVDs, including 2008 Showtime special No Refunds.
In addition to edging out Dane Cook to win the San Francisco International Comedy Competition, Stanhope has left his own special stain on Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival, Aspen’s US Comedy Arts Festival, the Chicago Comedy Festival and the Cat Laughs Festival in Kilkenny, Ireland. Stanhope won the inaugural Strathmore Press Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, returning for sell-out runs in 2004 and 2006. He played to some of the biggest audiences of his life as the top-billed comedian at 2009’s Reading and Leeds Rock Festivals, acclaimed at the former; roundly booed and pelted with garbage at the latter. Stanhope will return to the UK in March/April for a tour that will include a sell-out night at the 3,600 capacity Hammersmith Apollo in London.
Stanhope hosted Comedy Central’s The Man Show as well as Girls Gone Wild: America Uncovered, both solely and shamelessly for financial gain. He is a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show and has appeared on Comedy Central Presents, Premium Blend, the BBC’s Floor Show Live (while on ecstasy) and even The Jerry Springer Show. Earlier this year Stanhope served as a reoccurring US commentator on the second series of BBC television’s satirical Newswipe, which – no coincidence – subsequently beat out Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor to win Best Entertainment Show at the 2010 Royal Television Society Awards.
Additional credits include cult stand-up documentary film The Aristocrats, The Opie & Anthony Show and The Bob & Tom Show. In 2008 Stanhope mounted a Libertarian-ticket bid for President of the United States.
But none of this compares with seeing him live.
Two Time Winner, Comedy Performance of the Year, 2007 and 2009 – Time Out New York
“There’s a kind of Olympic torch of extreme American comedy, which passed from Lenny Bruce, through Richard Pryor and Sam Kinison… to the late Bill Hicks. Stanhope is the latest, and equally brilliant, bearer.” – Independent on Sunday, London
“Let me tell you something, friends. Doug Stanhope is one funny sumbitch. He’s also one of the most twisted individuals I’ve ever met, but that’s part of his charm. He’s one of those comics that doesn’t make shit up. He lives a mad, mad life and what he remembers he reports back to us. He’s been known to bare his soul, and other things, right there on the stage. If you’re easily offended, stay home this week. Watch Matlock or something. But if you like your comedy rough, raw, and rowdy, there’s no one better than Doug Stanhope. Have I made myself clear?” – The Austin Chronicle
“Stanhope shocks you with the virulence of his lucidity; he shocks you into realising how transparent the confidence trick of western propaganda can be made to seem. What he has in abundance is the charm, don’t-give-a-damn swagger and aggressive intelligence that make for important, exciting comedy.” – The Guardian, UK
“…the dude’s smarter than any of us.” – LA Weekly
“There are moments of brilliance here, moments when the American comic comes alive and makes every other act in town look like a runner-up.” – The Times, UK
“Sharp, off color, and howlingly funny.” – The San Francisco Chronicle