Doug Stanhope and Andy Andrist

Doug Stanhope likes to brag about the fact that even his AA friends have to admit that he’s funnier when he’s drunk and that drinking is essential to his job. “You should really quit, but not tonight because we have tickets.”

One person who is apparently not as funny when he is drunk is Stanhope’s sidekick Andy Andrist. I saw Stanhope follow an amusing Andrist set by getting on stage and berating Andrist for being too drunk to be able to do justice to his own material. He then performed the above Andrist bit, which Andrist had already done, in what he felt was a more coherant fashion. It was pretty amazing. Stanhope is even funny doing other people’s material and despite his usual level of intoxication was able to memorize the routine Andrist himself had trouble with. I think in Stanhope’s world that is considered tough love.