Doug Stanhope claims that, despite his reputation for heavy drinking and caustic comedy, he’s a decent American guy. Claire Sawers stays up to speak to him
ALL-AMERICAN HEROES BRIAN DONALDSON ROUNDS UP THE BEST OF THE YANKS HEADING TO GLASGOW
GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL
D oug Stanhope’s manager tells The List ‘that the later it gets in the day, the better he is at the interview.’ So at almost midnight, when it’s early evening out in Arizona, Stanhope comes to the phone.
‘Oh he likes me to be drunk,’ he announces, with a loud laugh. ‘That’s a great manager. He’s got a point, I’m far more animated. Words come to me quicker when I’m liquored up. There’s not a whole lot of jobs where that works; where you just show up hammered and that’s not only accepted, but encouraged.’ Alcohol and Stanhope go together like coffee and cigarettes. Like his chain- smoking comedy forefather Bill Hicks, the American stand-up’s routine is normally caustic, political, and heavily drunken.
‘I can’t remember the last time when I did a set sober,’ Stanhope confesses, as a microwave pings somewhere nearby. He adds Baileys to his warmed-through coffee, and carries on. ‘I’m not out till 4 in the morning doing ecstasy after shows anymore. I can’t do that and be funny the next night. But onstage, I’m always drinking.’ So his exaggerated, boozy persona isn’t just for show then? ‘Oh no, unfortunately it’s a necessity. I have a difficult time in social situations. It’s agony, forcing conversations. Give me five or six beers, though, and I’m way less fearful.’ This fearlessness definitely shows in his comedy. Gang-rape, 9/11, suicide, paedophilia – all are fair game to Stanhope. In fact, Fun With Pedophiles: The Best of Baiting, a book he wrote in 2006, should illustrate where he stands on political correctness. ‘There is no such thing as laughing at something you shouldn’t,’ Stanhope wrote recently in an article for a Scottish newspaper, in defence of Ricky Gervais’ feather-ruffling Golden Globes speech. ‘You should laugh everywhere you can find even the slightest glimmer of humour. Life is a series of heartache, tragedy and injustice, punctuated by a few cocktails and that one trip to Reno. The more you can laugh at the ugliest parts, the better off you are.’
As far as Stanhope is concerned, the really offensive comedy is the stuff full of stark generalisations, and hackneyed old clichés. ‘You know, that “us guys do this, them women do that” shit. At best it’s boring, at worst it’s horrific and the guy will die a tragic death onstage.’
Stanhope publicly defended Frankie Boyle after he attracted controversy for ‘offensiveness’ in his recent Channel 4 show Tramadol Nights. Although he isn’t sure whether he’s ever seen Boyle perform (‘I might have met him,’ he offers. ‘We might’ve been best pals and I was drunk and blacked it out, but as far as I know I’ve never seen him live’), Stanhope is a firm believer that comedy should avoid mediocrity at all costs. ‘What has always
twisted my spine in hate,’ he wrote, ‘is the fact that one contentious piece of material from a comedian can cause such an uproar, yet the masses of tired, pedestrian comedy that is dumped regularly on the populace never causes any furore.’
His pull-no-punches, provocative approach to comedy has earned him a loyal fanbase in the UK, where he has played several sell-out, five-star review runs, and become an Edinburgh Fringe stand-out hit for his obscene, razor-sharp rants. While he’s looking forward to playing to a receptive crowd, he and his partner, Amy ‘Bingo’ Bingaman, are less than keen about spending time in Britain. ‘Bingo kinda feels the same . . . joy about the United Kingdom as I do,’ he explains, before a loud voice echoes from the background, ‘We hate it!’
During the conversation Bingo drops in several times to snatch the phone off Stanhope. ‘Is he calling me a retard again? Don’t write that!’, she squeals. ‘Sorry,’ Stanhope corrects. ‘Put “moron” in your paper, or “rubberhead”?’ Then there’s a pause of a minute or two while they both laugh like drains. They’re clearly very comfortable together, and Stanhope is happy for her to tag along on tour, and in the case of a 2008 Time Out article, join him and a journalist on a three-day Jägermeister and coke bender. ‘I get along a lot better when she’s around,’ he shrugs.
The couple have been together since 2006, which may or may not explain what Stanhope calls ‘a toning down’ of his lifestyle, and a move from LA to suburban Arizona, where they now live. ‘I’m not going to say I’ve mellowed, because that’s a faggy word. But I really enjoy my home life, we’re “at-home” people.’ Despite his taboo-battering schtick onstage, Stanhope says he is a ‘good-hearted, generous, overly polite citizen’ for most of the time. Which would explain his embarrassment when a recent gathering at his house attracted police after complaints of ‘profanity’.
‘There were seventy or eighty of us, drinking beers and grilling burgers. We had a band playing outside, but then one of my female comedian friends, Kristine Levine starting doing stand-up. I guess we shouldn’t have had the PA system rigged up . . .’ Neighbours four blocks away called the police while Levine was midway through a routine about the damage that childbirth had caused her. ‘I mean, we can hear our neighbours talking on their porch at night,’ Stanhope says, wincing at the memory. ‘So every time she said “fuck” I was cringing. I guess I got a sense of what those nervous club owners must feel like when I’m onstage?’
King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 22 Mar, 9.45pm; George Square Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 9 Apr; The Lemon Tree Lounge, Aberdeen, Thu 7 Apr.
CARLA RHODES New York Magazine picked this curly-haired ventriloquist in their ‘Ten New Comedians Funny People Find Funny’ poll, and her show is a comedic rock‘n’roll extravaganza about a young girl’s dreams of making it big in New York. You may have caught her (with dummy) slightly out of shot for four seconds in an episode of 30 Rock. Or more likely not. Capitol, Sat 19 Mar, 8.30pm. MAUREEN LANGAN This New Jersey comic’s ranting about life’s absurdities led Jerry ‘Dad of Ben’ Stiller to pay her perhaps the ultimate tribute, saying ‘she is to comedy what James Brown was to soul’ before adding this marginally less appetising compliment: ‘Langan made me laugh till I wet my pants. Not nice for a guy my age.’ Best bring some kitchen roll. Brel, Sun 20 Mar, 8.30pm.
LEE CAMP This Onion contributor went on Fox News to joke around with a converse comedian of a right-wing persuasion, eventually decrying the channel for continually peddling a ‘festival of ignorance’. At which point, the flustered anchor quickly cut to an item about Captain Kirk. Case probably solved. Roseanne Barr and Janeane Garofalo are big fans. Take from that what you will. Blackfriars Basement, Sun 27 Mar, 8.30pm.
DANNY LOBELL A New York-based Scottish-American Jewish comic who has a hot line in Holocaust Museum jokes. He’s aiming to record this show for his debut CD, so no inappropriate coughing please. The Stand, Mon 28 Mar, 7.30pm.
KUMAIL NANJIANI AND KYLE GROOMS A double header from two rising stars of the US circuit, Nanjiani is a 31-year-old Pakistani who received death threats from radicals in his homeland for his 2006 personal/political one-man show Unpronounceable while Grooms is a Def Comedy stand-up raised on graffiti art, hip hop and Richard Pryor. Blackfriars Basement, Sun 3 Apr, 8.30pm.
'You're just like a posh Lenny Henry!'
Read Festival comedians’ best heckles at www.list.co.uk/glasgowcomedyfestival
See listings from page 58 for details of all shows.
3–31 Mar 2011 THE LIST 15
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