Performing at Litla-Hraun Prison in Iceland

 

September 25th at 6pm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litla-Hraun

I've finally landed a gig in Iceland where I've always wanted to go. Bingo and I planned a trip over at the end of September and the Mayor of Reykjavik, comedian Jon Gnarr, is hooking me up with a gig playing at the only maximum security prison in the country. I didn't want to confuse a short vacation with the headaches of a gig but playing a prison is something I've always wanted to do and a prison in Iceland makes it ten-fold the fun.

So, if you're in Iceland and want to go to the show, you have a couple of months to get convicted of something and then you'll be able to see me absolutely free. And don't bother waiting for next time.

Here's the deal. I will only ever play Iceland at the prison. I want to create what will be commonly known as the "Doug Stanhope defense" where defendants claim that they only committed the crime in order to get into my show. That would amuse the shit out of me. I have very little ego about all the trappings of this silly life but a few things still make me smile.

About five or six people that I know of now have either my name, face, a cartoon of me or my autograph tattooed on them. That is endlessly funny to me. I have a standing request when anyone I know tells me they are pregnant - that if the baby is horrifically deformed to the point it could get freak show work, they have to name it Doug Stanhope. That hasn't happened yet.

But if you get sent to prison in Iceland just to see my show at the end of September, I will tattoo your name on my weathered body somewhere. Cuz that would be funny as shit. 

For Someone Else's Benefit

Maybe you read about the grotesque umbilical hernia that was growing ever larger and disgusting from my gut last year. I offered a Free CD or DVD to any surgeon who might like to do some complimentary surgery.

And who'd have fucking guessed that yes, indeed - Doctors do come to my shows. Just so happened that a couple we'd met on the road happen to be anesthesiologists and live right up in Tucson. They emailed me post-haste after the update and offered their services. Anesthesia is 99 percent of the game - so long as I'm unconscious, I could have my dry-cleaner do the alterations. But they had a surgeon friend that was game and waived her fee as well.

Yes. It was a chick doctor. A hot Japanese chick surgeon with ropey arms who probably mountain bikes and didn't laugh at my examination room jokes and could have been 28 or 70 the way Asian women tend to go.

My immediate concern was that this might change my ingrained hatred of women and Asians. Like the movie where a Klansman gets the kidney transplant that saves his life from an carefree negro and learns a lesson. Would this surgery make me finally see the weaker sex and the yellow plague of the Rising Sun as equals?

Okay, I don't actually harbor animosity towards ladies or Japaniards but I do think racism and sexism are hilarious and certainly didn't want to lose that to some random act of kindness on her part.

And kindness it was. After my initial visit where you get asked a lot of questions and you tell a lot of lies - it's funny how you lie and say you drink about 20 drinks a week and their jaw drops like that's a lot - I asked her what this would normally cost for a cash paying customer. She said she didn't know exactly but estimated between 8 to 15 thousand dollars. 

This made it very awkward in how the fuck I was supposed to say "Thank You." Not really enough to mail a Red Lobster gift certificate.

So I told the doctors that in return I'd do a benefit show in Tucson for whatever cause they were behind. They discussed it and fortunately they don't like people as much as I don't and decided that it was best to do this for animals, something even my diseased fan-base can get behind.

So on Saturday, December 10th we'll be doing a benefit for the Humane Society at the Rialto in Tucson for my last show of the year. We're not going to be able to fit Phoenix in this year so drag your asses down and join the party. I'm gonna fill the bill with the funniest people I know that will still talk to me and we're going to tear the fucking place down in the name of sad puppies and surgeons and homeless kittens and a belly-button that no longer looks like a cocktail weenie blowing out of my stomach like a turkey timer.

I'm envisioning me tossing stray animals into the crowd from the stage and letting people drink shots out of my new sweaty navel. I want to do a Humane Society benefit that gets protested by PETA. 

Regardless, thanks, docs, for the surgery and the incredible results. I'll post pics of it spilling over a pair of Daisy Dukes with the top button undone as soon as we've pre-sold at least half of the show.

There's your incentive. Now get your tickets and spread the word.

*****************************

I'll be on the "Eddie" episode of the 2nd season of "Louie" on FX. I'm "Eddie." A whole epsiode of me acting. What a treat! If Louis CK can save that, he can do anything. The season has started and mine will air sometime in August. DVR it, queer-holes. 

I had to cancel Dallas and Houston last minute to do the filming and I appreciate you understanding.  If it was anything other than Louie's show I dont think you'd have been so kind. I've rescheduled both and tix are on my schedule.

Also, on July 28th I'm on "The Green Room with Paul Provenza" on Showtime. If you haven't seen the show - find it. It's one of the only shows about stand-up that I've ever liked - and I fucking love it. Check out last season with Patrice O'Neal and Roseanne and you'll see why it's brilliant.

My episode is with Dave Attell, Glenn Wool, Janeane Garofalo and Richard Belzer. Depending on how they edit it down, I may have to update again to defend a bit of a tiff I shouldn't have started but was completely right about. Either way, best to put Vaseline on your tv where my face is to make it more palatable. Hi-def doesn't work for everybody.

stanhope

Salt Lake City DVD/CD Recording!

We're taping two shows at The Complex in SLC for my new DVD to be out for Christmas. It's a very small room and only days away so get your tickets immediately, jump in the van, start driving or flying in from whatever state or country you live in and I'll start doing my hair.

"But a Tuesday night? People have to work in the morning!"

Yeah? Fuck em! Besides, the best audiences don't have jobs or at least show up to them drunk.

I'm done booking 2011 so check the schedule and see when I'm near you. If I'm not, it's probably because you said something mean to me the last time and I'm sore about it. Or maybe I just didn't have time and I'll get there next year.

Sorry Arkansas and Mississippi, somehow your paperwork just keeps getting lost in the mix year after year.

Everyone else... check the tour dates.

Official Press Release:

COMEDIAN DOUG STANHOPE TO RECORD LIVE COMEDY CD/DVD

IN SALT LAKE CITY JULY 19

TWO SHOWS ON SALE NOW

NEW YORK, NY (JULY 11, 2011) -  Doug Stanhope, the brutally honest and shockingly uninhibited comedian will record his next live comedy CD/DVD in Salt Lake City, UT at The Complex on July 19, 2011.  He will perform two sets, using local comedians as openers: one at 7:30pm and another at 10:00pm. Tickets are $19.00 each, on sale now and can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets here.

Stanhope said of filming in Utah, "I'm filming in Salt Lake City because if the recording goes bad, the rest of the country will blame you."

Stanhope’s critically acclaimed cutting edge stand-up, ranging from biting social commentary to the crass and obscene, has landed him appearances on The Howard Stern Show, Comedy Central Presents, Premium Blend, The Man Show, Fox News with Greta Van Sustern, and BBC’s Newswipe.  Stanhope has taped TV specials for Showtime and UK’s Channel 4.  He was also featured in controversial film The Aristocrats alongside George Carlin, Don Rickles and Chris Rock to name a few.

His most recent CD/DVD Oslo: Burning The Bridge To Nowhere came out May 3, 2011 topping the Billboard comedy chart and was recorded in an abandoned factory in the Grünerløkka suburb of Oslo, Norway.

Stanhope will begin a 25-date headline residency in London at the Leicester Square Theatre on August 2, 2011 then he will head back to the States for a series of shows in the U.S.

About Roadrunner Comedy:
Launched in 2010, Roadrunner Comedy represents and encompasses the spirit in which Roadrunner Records was originally founded: a label that highlights brilliant artists that are inherently irreverent and provocative.  Roadrunner Comedy continues to expand with that same attitude and with the ideals that have made Roadrunner a recognizable brand worldwide. Roadrunner Comedy is currently home to Doug Stanhope.

http://www.roadrunnercomedy.com/