Doug Stanhope, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, March 11 (From York Press)

Doug Stanhope, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, March 11

12:02pm Friday 13th January 2012 in Comedy

HARD-TALKING American comedian Doug Stanhope will perform at the Grand Opera House, York, on Sunday, March 11, one of 33 dates on his longest British tour.

Vulgar, opinionated, brutally honest, Stanhope is best known over here for his regular appearances on BBC2’s Newswipe with Charlie Brooker.

He goes off the radar in the cause of humour, having played a gig in an Icelandic maximum security prison at the invitation of the Mayor of Reykjavik, comedian Jon Gnarr, who arranged for Stanhope to perform to inmates in Litla-Hraun.

Indeed he is no stranger to bleak Nordic venues. His DVD, Oslo: Burning The Bridge To Nowhere was recorded in an abandoned sewing machine factory and German war bunker in the Grünerløkka suburb of Oslo.

Noted for his scant regard for personal, moral, social or sexual boundaries, Stanhope is a coruscating critic of the “stupidity of our social and political systems and the moronic saps who sustain it”.

When not on the road, he lives in a multi-coloured day-glo compound in the remote town of Bisbee, Arizona – seven miles from the border with Mexico – which he shares with his girlfriend Bingo, two dogs and three cats. It is also the location for his rants to camera on his Screenwipe slots.

Tickets for his 8pm show cost £21 on 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york