KALAMAZOO, MI -- A lot of comedians try to be dark and edgy, but when Doug Stanhope is on stage, the darkness seems to come naturally to him, and from him.



Comedian Doug Stanhope, shown at his Bisbee, Ariz., desert compound, will perform Sept. 27 at District Square in downtown Kalamazoo.

"I think it's like the old expression, when mother tells you if you keep making that face it's gonna stick like that," Stanhope said from his home -- colorful desert buildings hidden by a fence of sheet metal -- in Bisbee, Ariz. "The darkness, I think at one point, it was an act. It's all pretty real now."

His mother would be proud. She died in 2008, with his help. He turned his mother's assisted suicide into a routine, seen on "Beer Hall Putsch," his stand-up concert film just released on Netflix.

The New York Times called the bit "ruthlessly frank and relatively unadorned. It’s an emotional story in a way, but there’s not a moment when he tries to make you cry." The paper also wrote that Stanhope's "comedic mind is genuinely unusual, fearless and analytical."

Stanhope had to wait for the statute of limitations to expire before he could tell the assisted suicide story on stage, he said in the show (mainly because he used her credit card afterward). His mother, Bonnie Kirk, was in misery due to emphysema. At her request Stanhope sent her off with prescription morphine, black Russians and a personal comedy roast from her son and family.

As she started to drift off, Stanhope yelled, "Mom! Wait! They found a cure!"

"It was a fun way for her to go," he said from Bisbee. "I'm thinking of starting a comedy hospice. ... There's gotta be other people out there who don't want to be mollycoddled into the afterlife. 'Aunt Mary, we love you so much and we're here for you!' 'Shut up! Get me a drink!'"

The Stanhope style of profane and dark humor is likely genetic. When her son was co-host of Comedy Central's "The Man Show," Stanhope's mother had a regular segment where she reviewed porn.

If You Go

Doug Stanhope

When:

Sept. 27, 9 p.m.

Where:

District Square, 139 S. Edwards Street

Cost:

$25 in advance

Contact:

269-264-4229

On the Web:

When told that he'll be at District Square Sept. 27, in their outdoor space, he said with a strangely hopeful tone, "That could suck."

District Square doesn't mention it in their listings, but this is his "S--t Town Tour."

"Kalamazoo, oh yeah, that's a s--t town right there," he said, laughing. (Actually, according to

"What is the S---tiest Town?" poll, 10 of his 18 tour stops lead Kalamazoo, with Muncie, Ind., far ahead at the top.)

Stanhope likes to freshen his act after each release, so don't expect his mother's story or anything else from "Putsch." But do expect shocking, dark and somewhat masochistic material. His previous comedy special was titled with the intriguing half-sentence, "Before Turning the Gun on Himself." The latest is a reference to a young Hitler's 1923 attempt at starting a revolution in a Munich beer hall.

Stanhope's not a Hitler fan, we assume, right? "No, no, no. The idea was, that was his failed attempt at starting a revolution, where, when there was bloodshed, he ran like a p----."

His politics are libertarian, not fascist. After his mother's story and before a disturbing hyper-sexualized bit on football, Stanhope goes on to rant against Occupy Wall St. as well as the banks they protested against. He also faces unexpected foes like Toys for Tots and "Race for the Cure" fundraisers.

He's realized that, when he's commenting on politics or culture, in his own way he's "trying to turn a beer hall into a riot, actually making change. Which will never happen, and if it did, I'd run like a p----. The first can of teargas, I'm out of there."

Are there any examples of comedians who managed to change history? "Nope. Quite the opposite. They just make everyone feel okay about living in a word of s--t. 'Ha, you made it funny. That means we won't have to do anything about it.'"