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Promotional art for No Place Like Home
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Apple

No Place Like Home

Doug Stanhope

Prime Video · 2016 · 71 min

A loose, conspiracy-tinged hometown sermon from a tired comedy veteran.

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Doug Stanhope has spent his career cultivating the air of a highly articulate gutter philosopher, and this hour leans heavily into the insular, lived-in reality of his lifestyle. He spends a significant portion of the set explaining the absurdity of local bureaucracy, specifically detailing his partner Bingo’s experience trying to get mental health treatment in Arizona. Her provider, Community Intervention Associates, is located in a strip mall next to a gun shop and a brewery, forcing paranoid patients to walk through a door prominently marked “CIA” only to consult with a nurse on a Skype screen. It is the kind of dark, institutional dysfunction that Stanhope is uniquely suited to point out.\n\nRecorded in November 2015 at the Bisbee Royale in Bisbee, Arizona (the small, sleepy desert town where Stanhope resides) and released on the short-lived streaming platform Seeso in September 2016, the hour serves as a homecoming. The project was executive produced by his friend and occasional Bisbee drinking partner Johnny Depp. Released the same year Stanhope published his memoir, Digging Up Mother, the set captures a comic who was increasingly vocal about preferring his living room podcast to the grind of touring.\n\nThis exhaustion shows in the structure. The set relies on loose segues and inside references that reward regular podcast listeners but occasionally leave casual viewers out in the cold. When he focuses, the material is as potent as ever, particularly a segment where he compares his target demographic of disenfranchised, angry youth to the online recruiting tactics of ISIS. Other bits tackle global poverty, the cancer vanity of public sympathy, and a bizarrely uplifting closing philosophy about why everyone should simply “kick like they kick.”

The set list

6 bits

  1. Battling ISIS for the attention of disenfranchised, angry youth.

    Stanhope claims loner and angry young men are his core demographic, arguing that other comedians pose no competition to him, but ISIS does.

  2. Societal double standards between the mentally disturbed and the developmentally disabled.

    Argues that society offers sympathy to the developmentally challenged while abandoning the disturbed, critiquing Arizona's mental healthcare system and recounting his girlfriend Bingo's struggle to get proper care.

  3. First-world perceptions of poverty versus actual global poverty.

    Observes that American landfills look like 'third-world bling' and acts out a comparison between comfortable US prisons and third-world incarceration.

  4. TMZ corrupting American journalism.

    Labels Harvey Levin the 'Fagin of celebrity gossip,' joking that not even outrageous jokes about the Duggar daughters or the Holocaust could get him legitimate press coverage.

  5. Robin Williams complimenting his acting in 'Louie'.

    Reflects with dark irony on Louis C.K. telling him that Robin Williams called Stanhope's 'Louie' dialogue on suicide the most powerful he'd seen shortly before Williams took his own life.

  6. Athletes and shared locker-room showers.

    Questions the media fixation on whether straight athletes care about gay teammates sharing showers, questioning why sports teams shower together in the first place when no other workplace does.

How it plays

Tone
Dark, confrontational, profane, and unapologetic.
On stage
Abrasive, blunt, self-described anarchist and 'visionary douchebag' fueled by anger, outrage, and alcohol, donning seventies door-to-door salesman attire while remaining fully in control on the edge of implosion.
Pace
Alternates between sharp, biting social satire and aggressive gross-out shock humor.
About
Mental health and societal attitudes toward mental illness, Poverty and American perceptions of wealth, ISIS and terrorism, Media culture and celebrity gossip (TMZ), LGBT issues and sports culture, Vietnam veterans

What the critics said

Hailed by critics as Stanhope's strongest stand-up work in several years, praising his fearless commentary and dark comedic voice, though audience reactions noted a stark shift toward crude shock humor in the second half.

In the room: An intimate crowd of approximately 150 dedicated niche fans and local residents in Bisbee, Arizona, reacting to challenging material regarding local figures and mental healthcare.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, vulture.com, decider.com, thecomicscomic.com, deadline.com, pro.imdb.com.

Backstory

Filmed in Stanhope's hometown of Bisbee, Arizona, following his 2013 special 'Beer Hall Putsch' and the release of his memoir 'Digging Up Mother'. The special was executive produced by his close friend Johnny Depp.

Details

Released
Runtime
71 min
Where
Prime Video
Director
Brian Hennigan
Honors
Peaked at #1 on the US Billboard Comedy Albums chart
Topics
Before
Beer Hall Putsch (2013)
After
The Dying of a Last Breed (2020)

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