Leaving school after ninth grade, Stanhope says, he set out for California "as soon as I was old enough to leave." He started showing up at comedy clubs and open-mike nights in 1990, and soon earned a reputation for saying anything that was on his mind - as long as it was scabrous, insensitive and absolutely out of place in polite society.
Success soon followed, though not on the scale that will make him a rich man any time soon. He's been on Comedy Central, done specials for Showtime, toured overseas (he's just back from a month in the U.K. and Scandinavia), hawked "Girls Gone Wild" videos. But Stanhope's mouth is too unfiltered for mass consumption, and his refusal to tone anything down makes him a risky proposition for even cable TV, much less the networks.
Which, again, is OK by him. Pricking society's sensibilities is a tough job, he says, but one that needs doing.
"We live in a very insular, very safe, very paranoid society," he says, going off on one of his favorite riffs of late, the idea that this generation is really the pits. "I don't know what you'd look at from this generation that's better, except for technology, which keeps us apart from each other, has us meeting people online rather than meeting the person next to you at the bar."
Stanhope pauses for a moment to let the rant sink in. What he says onstage is often proudly profane, and the shock value, if not calculated, is certainly effective. Strangely, however, that's one area of his performance that gives Stanhope pause. He does have something to say, he insists, and people who don't hear beyond his obscenities are missing the forest for the trees.
"Because there's so much filth mixed in," he says, "sometimes you get guys who just want to hear the vile smut, and they don't hear the point of it.
"But then," he adds, "there's other people that could care less about the smut and just want to hear you blather on about your stupid opinions. I guess I get a good cross-section."
If you go
Doug Stanhope performs at the Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St., Friday night. Doors open at 9 p.m., the show starts at 10. Attendees must be 18 or older. Tickets are $20. Call 410-662-
0069 or go to theottobar.com.
