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  • No Encore for the Donkey

  • By: Doug Stanhope
  • Narrated by: Doug Stanhope
  • Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (64 ratings)

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No Encore for the Donkey

By: Doug Stanhope
Narrated by: Doug Stanhope
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Publisher's Summary

Misanthrope. Iconoclast. Apostate. Drunk. Many words have been used to describe Doug Stanhope, but rarely has “hopeful” been one of them. However, heading into 2016, Stanhope peered through the apocalyptic fog and saw a forecast that was more rainbows than acid rain: His first book was set for release, his new stand-up special was in the can, and he was about to film a television pilot with his friend and confidant Johnny Depp. The sharks of Hollywood were circling, and Stanhope’s pockets were filled with chum. The only thing that could stop Doug was himself, and that’s exactly what he did.

First came the booze, then came the pills, then came the stripper, and then, Doug came. A tryst aboard a cruise ship leaves him literally and figuratively adrift when his scorned wife, Bingo, reveals she is in love with another man: a jug-sippin’, guitar-pickin’ hobo. A simple, black-out fling turns out to be a pebble tossed into the lake of you-know-what named 2016, and in No Encore for the Donkey, Stanhope traces the resulting rings.

Written and performed by Stanhope, his third memoir follows the veteran comedian on a quest to save his marriage, his wife, and eventually his wife’s life. Our hero's journey finds Stanhope cuddling with Johnny Depp in his Los Angeles mansion, receiving some much-needed TLC from Marilyn Manson, and - most daunting - building a new hour of comedy in the rusted-out hellscapes of post-industrial America.

Equal parts love letter, road romp, and harrowing condemnation of the failures of America’s mental health care system, No Encore for the Donkey is a hilarious and heartbreaking account of a man balancing on the edge of damnation. With Bingo in a coma and Trump about to be elected, Stanhope sifts through the ruins of his own personal cataclysm in order to answer the big questions: What does it mean to love someone when you can’t love yourself? What is the point of success if you have no one to share it with? And is the end of the world BYOB?  

- Sam Tallent, August 2020 

©2020 Doug Stanhope (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.

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Bloody Brilliant!

Funny as shit! Makes me sad that I’m not funny enough to be a comedian!

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Behind the curtain

I had only heard shortened stories of this time in Doug’s life I really enjoyed hearing it all in long form and form none other than the man himself.

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Stanhope

This isn't his funniest, largely due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding but I think it is his best. I felt the same as his friends about the Bingo split up and worse about what happened to her. There are still a lot of laughs. He's a lot more irreverent than me and it's freeing to listen to. The man is insightful. Making light of what most people wouldn't even talk about or admit to is a key to why he's so much more funny than most comedians today.
I was ironically trying to stay away at the time or at least minimise exposure to the Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard case and this gives you plenty of insights if you're starved for gossip on this media sensation. There's a devastating assessment and criticism of her from watching her tear strips off Johnny in front of him that reminds me very strongly of the Amber Heard in my own life. Well the stakes were much higher and the damage worse for Johnny and he's moving on with his life after the win he deserved so so will I.
The show that Stanhope talks about that all went flat and didn't work I think would have and could in the right hands. The jokes were good, the having Bingo showing up at the height of her mental illness to buy a gun poignant. Unfortunately I'm not a cashed up Hollywood producer, just a guy who re-signed up with Audible to listen to this book.

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Brilliant!

Doug Stanhope is a comedy legend and a brilliant writer, his books have it all - humour, pathos, absurdity, honesty, tragedy and triumph. Can't wait for him to write another one!

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heartbreakingly hopeful and real

Doug relates 2016, a year of catastrophe, weathered thanks to a lifetime of friends. Would that we all could create such networks.
Expertly read (as you'd expect from a man who has made what fortune he has from talking), with fewer extra cast members than "Digging Up Mother", this book should be eminently enjoyable to anyone who has ever loved our been loved.

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A tonic for a gin soaked year

Doug's humour and humanity win out over a truely shithouse year. A story of odd and atypical love, Stanhope invokes the cheery nihilism that underpins all his work to tell the storied tale of 2016. Lyrical, at times poetic and very fucking funny this book has helped bring perspective to another shithouse year.

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Stanhope's best work.

An ode to disaster and a love letter to Bingo. All of Stanhope's books are brilliant, but this is the most cohesive, the most refined and most moving. I pray he finds the material and the will for a fourth, but I'm not sure this one could be topped. Special shout out to the masterful titular passage. You'll see.

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