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