Doug Stanhope – Oslo – Burning the Bridge to Nowhere

Oslo: Burning the Bridge to Nowhere
Doug Stanhope
Stand-up comedy CD and DVD
Roadrunner Records 2011

Doug Stanhope’s Oslo: Burning the Bridge to Nowhere is an entertaining stand-up comedy CD and DVD combo  that  kicks off metal label Roadrunner Records’ first comedy release.

Despite Stanhope’s veteran status in the stand-up business, his set is surprisingly inconsistent. (Note from the Editor: We only found out later part of the concept for this release was Stanhope had only 36 hours to prepare and was unaware of both setting and of an English second language audience. I decided to leave the review unchanged.).

Stanhope’s is not one to shy away from vulgar language or racy topics.  This CD is no exception.  Topics include how Norwegian girls are too angelic to have sex with, fantasizing about a man being impaled to death by a spinning dildo, and the environmental advantages of abortion.  Do any of these subjects make you cringe? If so, Stanhope isn’t for you.  If not, you probably already enjoy his comedy.

Most of the tracks on this album are quality bits, with a few pieces of comedy gold, and a few pieces of garbage.  This album is almost an hour and a half, and if you shaved off about a half hour of it, you’d end up with an excellent hour of stand-up.  The highlights include jokes critiquing the treatment of Susan Boyle, observations about observational humor, and the inevitable conclusion of sex.  These are all fantastic tracks, yet they are all well separated on the album.  While this gives his set depth, it doesn’t create any rolling laughter.  Some editing could have given it both.

The low point comes when Doug Stanhope belittles himself by mocking both his material and his career.  This is a neat strategy to take listeners right out of the set, and Stanhope really should know that.

In the end this is a good stand-up comedy album, but for a veteran comedian like Doug Stanhope, it could have been quite a bit better.

Oslo: Burning the Bridge to Nowhere
Doug Stanhope
Stand-up comedy CD and DVD
Roadrunner Records 2011

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