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Comedy Culture

Still on the edges

DOUG STANHOPE at the Danforth Music Hall (147 Danforth). Friday (June 12), 7:30 pm $45. ticketmaster.ca.

Not many comics could get away with a routine about assisting their own mother’s suicide, but for Doug Stanhope the only shock was that he waited several years to tell those jokes. And just for the record, he had to wait for the statute of limitation to pass on the post-mortem credit card fraud that served as a punchline.

That kind of edge has earned Stanhope an almost folk hero status among the outcasts and comedy nerds who make up his audience. This week he returns to town, wearing one of his typically tacky suits, to tell more tales from the dark side that mix insightful intelligence with good old-fashioned vulgarity.

“I kind of have two different audiences, if not more,” Stanhope says, day-drinking on the phone from Bisbee, Arizona.

“There are people who like the filth and people who like the social commentary. One of the two is usually going to be disappointed on some level. When you play in the UK and they’re calling you the next Bill Hicks, you’ll get a bunch of people who expect all of your material to be socially relevant. But no, I like fist fuck jokes, too.”

There was a time when Stanhope’s quest to test the limits of socially acceptable comedy led him to deliberately clear out rooms, but he hasn’t softened his humour. If anything, he enjoys the challenge.

“Now that I’m preaching to the choir, it makes me look for things that I don’t think even my people will go for. I like that,” Stanhope admits.

Obviously his commitment to controversial material made his road to success rather rocky. He inevitably ended up in Los Angeles for a while, taking mainstream gigs like briefly co-hosting The Man Show.

But traditional show business and Stanhope were never an easy mix.

“I remember going into an audition with Mitch Hedberg for Dude, Where’s My Car? or something just as bad and blushing just reading the lines with him,” he recalls. “That’s when it finally occurred to me that I could just say no. I’d never considered the ramifications of that before. I thought I had to do everything.”

Clearly that decision paid off. These days Stanhope lives about as far from conventional show business as possible, both figuratively in his act and literally in the small desert town where he hides between tours.

As our chat wraps up he does admit to one possible unexpected career move if his audience ever disappears.

“I’ve thought about becoming born again just to try the Christian comedy circuit,” he says through a grizzled laugh.

“It must exist. I’d just have to hire guys because I couldn’t write the material. It could be a great stunt though, if only I could keep my mouth shut during interviews and not give away potential future gags that are easily google-able.”

Doug Stanhope on his experience developing a sitcom pilot in the 90s:

On whether or not he’s still in touch with Joe Francis (Girls Gone Wild):

On why he never talks about Canada in his act:

On his humble beginnings as a comic:

stage@nowtoronto.com

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