Doug Stanhope - Diminishing Returns

Caustic social commentary, outlandish first-person narratives, graphic sex and perversion, sometimes within the same sentence.

Fuelled by equal amounts of anger, outrage and alcohol, Stanhope rails against western civilization's slide into apathy and stupidity, always on the edge of implosion yet fully in control and never afraid to risk pissing off his audiences.

In a field crowded with conformists and copycats, Stanhope is a genuinely original comic voice, albeit a gleefully vulgar one. "A visionary douchebag" says The Times. Raw, agitated and unflinching, he holds forth on all manner of major injustices and petty annoyances, excoriating himself as much as any of his other targets. But Stanhope's venomous bile is matched by his passion and conviction, as well as a fierce intellect that gives his work a level of substance and subtlety that belies his snarling exterior. His comedy is as corrosive as it is hilarious, and his righteous self-immolation is exhilarating and life-affirming in its cathartic honesty.

"Stanhope shocks you with the virulence of his lucidity; he shocks you into realising how transparent the confidence trick of western propaganda can be made to seem. What he has in abundance is the charm, don't-give-a-damn swagger and aggressive intelligence that make for important, exciting comedy" - The Guardian

"Doug Stanhope might be the most important stand-up working today" - Ricky Gervais

As seen on BBC TV's Newswipe with Charlie Brooker