NEWS: Doug Stanhope @ Tyne Theatre & Opera House

It seems to be an argument as old as time itself. A war that’s been waged on battlefields as vast as inane Twitter threads, clickbait tabloid articles and mundane debates on This Morning: “Can you say anything without offending people nowadays?”

My perception? It’s a boring and redundant argument that very quickly falls apart when you try and analyse it. I could expand on it further, but there’s little need to try and deconstruct it when one simple fact remains: Doug Stanhope’s on tour again.

Whilst Daily Mail readers continue scream into the void about ‘cancel culture’, the Massachusetts-hailing provocateur is returning to our shores, taking in Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre & Opera House on Wednesday 14^th September on the way, proving that there’s very little substance to their vitriol. In his three decade-plus stand-up career, Stanhope has (much like his idol Bill Hicks) been widely welcomed in Britain for his close-to-the-bone brand of comedy, which takes aim at the state of culture, politics and religion with a no-holds-barred approach that has won him admirers such as Charlie Brooker, who regularly featured Stanhope in his acclaimed Screenwipe series. Expect to have your jaw thoroughly dropped.

Doug Stanhope performs at Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle on Wednesday 14^th September.