Doug Stanhope 'Something to Take The Edge Off'
Why Are You Laughing?
Blind Mike Project
4.9 • 782 Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode of Why Are You Laughing?, reviews Doug Stanhope’s two thousand comedy album Something to Take the Edge Off. The discussion focuses on the album’s themes, joke construction, delivery, and performance style, with attention to how it reflects Stanhope’s early development as a stand-up comedian. The episode also places the album within his broader body of work and considers its relevance in the context of stand-up comedy at the turn of the millennium.3:50 Analysis begins9:43 Smoking14:57 Laws21:43 Live like there's no tomorrow28:45 Getting famous from stand-up comedy41:22 CloserFOR ALL THINGS BLIND MIKEhttp://blindmike.netFOR ALL THINGS CRAIGGERShttp://www.verygoodshow.orgFOR ALL THINGS HACKRIDEhttp://hackridethedemon.comFOR ALL THINGS DJ ELECTRA FRYhttp://djelectrafry.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You know, I'm gonna give you a history lesson. |
| 0:03.0 | We got some dumb-ass motherfuckers floating around this country. |
| 0:06.0 | Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. |
| 0:10.0 | And when I do, start, |
| 0:13.0 | also y'all did some nasty-ass jokes on my ass, too. |
| 0:17.0 | Funny jokes and unfunny jokes come out of the same birth. |
| 0:21.7 | You fucking guys are unbelievable. |
| 0:25.1 | Why are you laughing? |
| 0:26.7 | Evening, everybody. |
| 0:27.5 | Welcome to another episode of Why Are You Laughing, a History of Comedy Podcast. |
| 0:31.6 | And today I am pleased to introduce to you, Doug Stanhope, something to take the edge off. |
| 0:37.0 | His 2000 album recording Houston, Texas. |
| 0:41.8 | And this I found really interesting. And I also wanted to bring you guys into my, my sleep regimen. |
| 0:48.2 | That's really why I brought this to the table today, because I fall asleep to different things all the time. |
| 0:52.6 | I get into patterns. And for some reason, recently I keep going back to Doug Stanhope, something to take the edge off. |
| 0:59.6 | You wouldn't necessarily think Doug would be a comedian that you would doze off to. |
| 1:04.5 | But this is such a soothing comedy special, not necessarily the material, but the way he did it. |
| 1:10.7 | And this popped into my mind, I guess maybe close to a year ago now that I think about it. |
| 1:16.3 | But whenever we did the Rodney Dangerfield, no respect album, I kept talking about how |
| 1:21.7 | the feel of the album, how romantic it was, just like you felt like you were in danger field in a smoky nightclub. |
| 1:31.8 | You could hear him, like his glass tinking and like the, you could feel the cigar in his hand. |
| 1:38.2 | And there was a, there was a romance to it. |
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