Doug Stanhope

Stanhope was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Bonnie (née Kirk), a waitress, and "Russ" Russell Herbert Stanhope (September 16, 1927 – March 17, 2001), head of science at Stanhope's school.

Bonnie quit drinking alcohol and divorced her husband when Stanhope was ten years old, and moved to Florida.

Stanhope and his older brother Jeff lived with Russ.

Doug Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actor, political activist and podcast host.

His stand-up material favors caustic and often obscene observations of life in the style of Bill Hicks, which he delivers while consuming alcohol.

Politically, he has favored libertarianism and once endorsed the Free State Project, a proposed political migration of at least 20,000 libertarians to a single low-population state to foster libertarian ideas.

Stanhope began his stand-up comedy career in 1990 at age 23, first performing at an open mic night at a Las Vegas bar.

He developed his act in Las Vegas before moving to Phoenix, Arizona, where he landed a gig as a house MC at a comedy club.

In 1995, he settled in West Hollywood which he "hated [...] so much" partly due to the slump in comedy acts at the time.

Among his regular spots were the Hollywood Improv or The Comedy Store, before he became based in Playa del Rey and worked in clubs outside the city center.

Around this time, he landed a development deal and "flirted" with the idea of producing a sitcom by co-writing a pilot episode with a writer of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

He later described the script as a "piece of shit", and felt thankful it was never picked up.

In 1995, Stanhope won the San Francisco International Comedy Competition against Dane Cook in a three-week contest.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in New York City, Stanhope received some criticism from audiences over his comments regarding the event.

This included protests outside of his gigs and attacks on stage.

In 1998, he persuaded Bonnie to live near him in West Hollywood.

Later, she suffered from emphysema.

The project began in 1999, with Stanhope writing and producing various pranks for it, before the network decided to withdraw its broadcast.

Stanhope accused Spy TV of stealing half of his ideas and achieving good ratings as a result.

He starred as one of the pranksters on Spy TV.

In July 2002, Fox aired back-to-back episodes of Stanhope's hidden camera television show Invasion of the Hidden Cameras.

In August 2002, Stanhope won the Strathmore Press Award for his week-long run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as voted by 40 press critics.

The prize was £1,000 and a feature in the British celebrity magazine OK!.

Following the run, Stanhope signed with his longtime manager Brian Hennigan.

In 2003 and 2004, Stanhope co-hosted the fifth and sixth seasons of The Man Show with Joe Rogan.

He agreed to the project in order to become more financially stable.

Among the show's segments included Stanhope lasting five rounds in a boxing match with Tonya Harding in which the 5 ft Stanhope lost by decision, and his mother reviewing pornographic films.

He hosted his own radio show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio in 2005.

That year, Stanhope hosted Girls Gone Wild: America Uncovered.

In 2005, Stanhope moved to Bisbee, Arizona.

In 2008, at her request, she wished for Stanhope to be involved in an assisted suicide with a mixture of cocktails and prescription morphine.

Stanhope waited until the statute of limitations had expired for the ensuing credit card fraud before telling the story in his stand-up act and his second book.

Stanhope has an elder brother, Jeff.

At age 12, Stanhope's school psychiatrist wrote a letter to his mother detailing his concern with Stanhope's tendency to sketch gory images and adult-themed cartoons, suggesting he was "in need of professional help".

Stanhope quit school at fifteen.

Among his early comedy influences were Monty Python and National Lampoon.

Before he started comedy full-time, Stanhope worked in telemarketing, "borderline legal stuff, trying to scam people basically".

Eventually Stanhope left Worcester and lived in Los Angeles for six months.

Following this he moved around from Florida, back to Massachusetts, to Oceanside, California, back to Massachusetts again, to Idaho, before settling in Las Vegas.

He now lives in Bisbee, Arizona.