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Doug Stanhope
Stanhope on stage at Charlies, Manchester, England, October 2006
Born	March 25, 1967 (age 40) Worcester, Massachusetts
Occupation	Comedian

Doug Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian and 2008 presidential candidate, seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party.[1]

Contents 1 Career 2 Material and criticisms 3 Presidential campaign 4 Discography/videography 5 Notes 6 External links

Stanhope's career began in 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the host of Comedy Central's The Man Show for its final season and has hosted a Girls Gone Wild video. He has also produced and starred in "Invasion of the Hidden Cameras" (a project for the Fox Broadcasting network). Stanhope has made appearances at several major comedy festivals, including the Montreal Just For Laughs, US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, the Chicago Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, where he won the Strathmore Press Award in 2002. Stanhope was the winner of the San Francisco Comedy Competition. He has released several CDs. He claims that his appearance on the BBC television show, "Live Floor Show," was fueled by "ecstasy". According to Stanhope “TV is just for the money; live performance is where it’s at.”

In 2005, frontally nude photos of Stanhope at a bachelor party were posted on the gay website Campfire Video. They were originally posted on Stanhope's own website.

He is currently working to establish a comic tour called The Unbookables featuring artists such as Andy Andrist, Sean Rouse, Brett Erickson, Travis Lipski, Brendon Walsh, and Norman Wilkerson. The Unbookables' first CD, "Morbid Obscenity", also featuring Andrist, Rouse, Lynn Shawcroft, Mr. Arthur Hinty and Banjo Randy, was released July 4, 2006, on Stand Up! Records.

In summer 2006, he was booked to appear on several bills at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival in Ireland; he told his lairy, late-night crowd, that Irish men sleep with children, because - as the headline to the following day's Irish Daily Star put it (misreportedly) - "Irish women are too ugly to rape! Comic booed after shocking festival jibe." he managed to perform for just 10 minutes before having all his remaining slots cancelled.^[1]

In August 2006 he appeared alongside Rouse at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, to rave 5 star reviews from the press. On his opening night he took what was believed to be an ecstasy tablet that was handed to him by a member of the audience.^[2][3]

Stanhope joined fellow Unbookable Norman Wilkerson and Mancuinan comedian Dave Bishop at the Manchester Comedy Festival in October along with a two week residency at the Soho Theatre in London.

In October 2006, he self-published a book, Fun With Pedophiles: The Best of Baiting, which includes several of his "baits" which had appeared on baiting.org. Baiting is the practice of setting up a false Internet instant messaging persona, say, that of an underage female, waiting for others to message you asking for sex, and then brutally abusing the "baitee" in a chat session that is logged to share with others.[2] He discussed his self-published book and the philosophy behind it on Penn Jillette's (half of the Las Vegas-based comedy/magic duo) radio show on San Diego's 97.1 FreeFM on December 26, 2006.

2007 has seen Stanhope tape two TV specials - in the US for Showtime, recorded at The Gotham Comedy Club in New York and the other for the UK's Channel 4 Comedy Lab, filmed at the Caves in Edinburgh, Scotland.

A self-confident drug user, libertarian and agnostic, Stanhope's humor can convey nihilism despite life-celebrating enthusiasm. He frankly describes 'deviant' sexual activity and sometimes gruesome personal stories gleefully, blurring the lines between an "adventurous spirit" and full-blown "sicko". Stanhope vehemently opposes the gradual erosion of American civil liberties, particularly in his recent performances such as Deadbeat Hero.

Often subject to large-scale walk-outs by his American audiences, Stanhope admits "People will leave. I go on stage, it's like I'm leading you into battle -- you're not all going to be here at the end."

Stanhope had announced on July 9, 2006 through his website that he would run for president in 2008 as a Libertarian. However, after consulting political advisors, he has stated on his website, "... officially - I am reconsidering my presidential run while my exploratory team looks into the viability of such an endeavor." [3] He explained that he made this statement due to campaign finance laws and other reasons. He later said on the same page that he is serious and "The presidential run is getting in order. You keep asking me if I'm serious. You have no idea. Let's have fun again."

• Great White Stanhope, CD, 1998
• Sicko, CD, 1999
• Something to Take the Edge Off, CD, 2000
• Die Laughing, CD, 2002
• Word of Mouth, DVD, 2003
• Deadbeat Hero, DVD/CD, 2004
• Morbid Obscenity, The Unbookables, CD 2006

To coincide with Stanhope’s visit to the Edinburgh and Manchester Comedy Festival's Best Medicine (Ventura International’s new comedy imprint) release ‘Deadbeat Hero’ on DVD on the 21 August.

There is a bootleg video referred to as The Austin Incident, which Stanhope himself keeps in circulation, that features conspiracy theorist Alex Jones introducing him. The gig descends into chaos and twenty minutes in Stanhope can clearly be heard saying jokingly "you're never opening for me again" to Jones.

• Doug Stanhope's official website
• Doug Stanhope's MySpace Page
• Stanhope in `08
• Sacred Cow Productions
• Review of Word of Mouth DVD
• Doug Stanhope on IMDb
• Stand Up Records
• Campaign Website
• Scotsman Review of Edinburgh Fringe Show
• Guardian Review of Edinburgh Fringe show
• Interview from September 2006
• Interview with WickedInfo.com

v • d • e  United States presidential election, 2008
Democratic primaries • Democratic primary polls • Democratic Convention	Republican primaries • Republican primary polls • Republican Convention Republican Candidates' Beliefs
Candidates: Biden • Clinton (campaign, views)(See discussion) • Dodd • Edwards (campaign ,views) • Gravel (campaign, views) • Kucinich • Obama (campaign, views) Candidates with exploratory committees: Richardson Potential candidates: Clark • Gore	Candidates: Brownback • Cox • Giuliani (campaign, views) • Hunter • McCain (campaign, views) • Paul (campaign, views) • Romney (campaign, views) • Tancredo • T. Thompson (campaign, views) Candidates with exploratory committees: Gilmore • Huckabee Potential candidates: Gingrich • Hagel • Pataki • F. Thompson
Announced Third party candidates: Amondson (Prb.) • E. Brown (Grn.) • Burns (Lib.) • Hollist (Lib.) • Imperato (Ref.) • Kubby (Lib.) • Milnes (Lib.) • Parker (IGVA) • Phillies (Lib.), (Campaign) • C Smith (Lib.) • Stanhope (Lib.) • Swift (Grn.) • D. Thompson (Cst.)
Notable independent candidates: Moriarty • Schriner • Weltman • Bloomberg (unofficial)
General articles: Opinion polling (D • R) • Election timeline
Other 2008 elections: House • Senate • Gubernatorial
Federal Election Commission: Campaign filings of 2008 Presidential hopefuls