Another great Youtube video, this one from Doug Stanhope. Stanhope is the closest thing we have to Bill Hicks since he died. This is a 10 minute political rant that is very, very funny. It goes from airport security to the war on terror to religion. Warning: it's very crude, it's very dark and it's very cynical.
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Wow, that was genius. I'm ashamed to admit I'd never heard of this guy before now. You're right, Ed, this guy is the closest we have to Bill Hicks now.
That was great stuff.
Man, that guy rocks.
That WAS great...I can almost forgive him for the "Girls Gone Wild" late night promos.
"We've been putting puppet leaders in third world countries for decades... funny we finally did it to our ourselves." Ha! His whole thing about stumbling across the Bible in a used bookstore was great too.
I've seen him live and he was hilarious... in the beginning. But the drunker he got the weirder and less funny it became. There was a point in the show where I think the audience was almost afraid of what he was going to say next. I wish I could remember what he was saying, but at some point he ceased telling jokes and just started bitterly rambling about the misery of his life.
Before the show there was a gaggle of neonate feminists out in front of the venue holding signs like "Doug Stanhope is a mysogenist pig!" and "Ban Doug Stanhope!" and such. He was out there smoking and so he went over and talked to them. At first they didn't even know it was him, and so he started insulting "himself"- saying what a drunken disgusting pig he was etc. I didn't hear the whole conversation- it went on for a while- but I did hear him say something like "you don't even know who the fuck I am and you want to ban me?"
He wan't angry or anything- he was laughing when he said it- but I was a little nervous that it would get ugly. We'd have to pry a hissing teenage girl off his back or something. But that didn't happen, and before he left they were laughing and it all seemed pretty jovial. He seemed to have pretty well diffused what otherwise might have been a mildly tense situation.
Course, he ridiculed the shit out of them once the show started, but I respected him for the way he dealt with it. Plus it was funny. He offered them "backstage passes" in about the most lecherous voice I've ever heard.
Leni-
Yes, Stanhope is definitely hit or miss. He drinks entirely too much and has certainly been known to tank shows as a result. But when he's taking it seriously, he's the best working today. No one else has the guts to say the things he says. Who else would come out in favor of teenage drug use, school shootings and trying to turn his mom into a suicide bomber to blow up Ashton Kutcher?
Wow, before this clip I knew of Doug from the failed Man Show (after Kimmel and Corrola left) and Girls Gone Wild commercials. From the both of those I got the impression he was a loser and completely not funny. I certainly didn't get the impression that he is a hilarious comedian with balls that real hits the political issues in America with stunning accuracy.
Unfortunately, that's how most people know him. And based on those things, I can't blame them for having a bad view of him. They were lame as hell. But as a stand up, he's top notch.