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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." 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."
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.”
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.
Earlier this summer, 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.
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.
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. |
