A vicious, uncompromising comic genius, American stand-up Doug Stanhope is contemplating stirring up trouble as his UK tour hits three Kent venues. Chris Price found out more.

It is nerve-racking beginning a conversation with a man whom a feature for GQ magazine asked, Is This America’s Most Depraved Man?

On stage, comedian Doug Stanhope is vulgar, opinionated, brutally honest and shockingly uninhibited. Off stage, it’s a very different story.

The Phoenix-based comic has been offending people in his stand-up for more than 20 years. UK audiences may recognise him from appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats and BBC2’s Newswipe with Charlie Brooker, but TV outings have been few and far between for the savage two-time winner of Time Out New York’s Comedy Performance of the Year.

Yet Doug is proof that just because your material ranges from true-life graphic perversion to volatile social criticism, it does not mean you are a horrible person.

“That’s all hype. I’m a very nice guy,” said Doug, who turns 45 the day after a gig at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre.

“I’ve been booed off stage a couple of times and one guy who was very good at selling his stories wrote the headline 'Is This America’s Most Depraved Man?’ But he put it in the form of a question and the answer is no. At least it got people to read the article.

“I’m never unfriendly. If I get unfriendly and personal it is because someone else started it.”

Never a fan of comedy gigs in London, this is set to be Doug’s longest-ever UK tour, with 33 dates taking him to several venues he has never performed before, including three in Kent.

“I hate London and all my fans hate London too. I did five shows there in August and I wanted to quit comedy. It is overcrowded, awful and overpriced. It is depressing.

“I’m really looking forward to this tour because I love going to towns I have never heard of. And if it all goes wrong, then you know what, I did 21 years of my career without going there before. I have not been booed off stage for a while – maybe I’ll stir up something.”

So what’s Doug expecting out on the road this spring? UK audiences are more polite he observes, “which can be good or bad,” meaning they listen to his jokes but “treat comedy like the theatre.”

The one thing his audiences can expect is for Doug to always have a drink in his hand on stage.

“I’m funnier when I’m drinking. I can think on my feet more. If I’m sober I’m over concerned with the dynamics of the audience. Why is that person talking? Can that person see me? When I’m too concerned with what is going on in the room I am not thinking about what I am saying.”

Inspired by “anything that slaps the face of logic and reason,” Doug is not lured by the temptations of fame with more TV work.

“I have enough difficulty being as famous as I am now, which is completely not famous at all. I thank people who want to talk to me after the show – all three of them – but I never know what to say.

“The only reason I would do anything other than stand-up comedy is when drinking takes it’s physical toll. I treat film or TV as getting a day job. In my eyes that’s a step down because it is actual work for less creative reward.

“You go on stage with no one telling you how to say a line, then if it sucks when you tell it, you forget it and go to the next town. There is no way any TV or film could live up to that.”

'Government doesn’t work’

Doug has ruled himself out of this year’s US presidential race, after announcing in 2006 that he was going to run for office in the 2008 campaign.

The act was actually a PR stunt and he re-entered the election scene in 2008 with the creation of www.savingbristol.com, a website dedicated to raising money to pay for an abortion for Bristol Palin, daughter of staunchly pro-life Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

He said: “I didn’t realise how apolitical I was until I started to run for president. Government doesn’t work. They should all be strung up.

“I will watch this year’s race for the same reason as I watch football. It is a distraction. I don’t ever pretend that these people have anything to do with conducting my life.”

Doug Stanhope takes to the stage at Tunbridge Wells’ Assembly Hall Theatre on Saturday, March 10. Tickets £19.50. Box office 01892 530613. He visits Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre on Saturday, March 24. Tickets £20. Box office 01227 787787. He plays Dartford’s Orchard Theatre on Wednesday, April 11. Tickets £20. Box office 01322 20000.