Doug Stanhope: Word of Mouth

When Bill Hicks was alive he accused Denis Leary of stealing his act verbatim. This turned out to be true but I wonder what he would say about Stanhope who not only stole his act but his entire demeanor, movements and vices. This is a Bill Hicks special except it's not as entertaining or as funny. He makes some good points but it's regurgitated from people funnier and better before him.

I went back to his first special. This is the twisted, perverse beginnings of one of the best ranters of all time. It's solid, but just not as polished or poignant as I have seen from his later work. I plan to visit/revisit all of his specials.

My first Stanhope's special was Beer Hall Putsch, and witty insight of this fine gentleman left me drooling happily and wanting for more. So I went back 11 years, to the start of his career. Themes of his material are the same, but the drunken energy and anger is yet to be replaced by the maturity and sophistication of his latest show. I sort of liked this angry young man better, perhaps the reason is that he reminded me of Bill Hicks so much, without looking like a copycat.

It's got a horribly leery slant to its production (see the debaucherous intro and outro to the actual show), but it doesn't matter because this shows Stanhope just as he was finding his alcohol-and-cigarette coated voice. Although some of the bits he does here have been done better in his other shows, this is still a great collection of hilariously cynical and dark rants that support libertarianism, individualism, unharmful grotesqueness, and excess in moderation.

If I hadn't seen his newer works I would grade this show much higher. Good, but not as superb as for instance "Deadbeat Hero".

Very funny man.

Stanhope is one of the most likeable social commentators to emerge in recent decades, mainly because of his foul-mouthed spot-on rants about the hypocrisies abundant in today's world. He's really on form here, and his drunken, self-deprecating act - coupled with a knowing tongue-in-cheek and regular over-exagerration - means it's incredibly enjoyable without being insultingly preachy. If you share any of his views, this is comedy gold.