Doug Stanhope Reports Live From Outside His Burning Home With A Talking Heads-Inspired TikTok

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for comedians and fire. Just as Jay Leno was thankfully discharged from the hospital after receiving serious burns in a garage fire, Doug Stanhope sent out a tweet yesterday that simply read, “So… my house is on fire.” The comedian watched from the street in the late hours of the night as his home in Bisbee, Arizona burned, and he followed up the announcement with the disheartening comment of “I can hear them tearing out walls. It feels like ripping out teeth,” as firefighters struggled to stop the spread of a blaze that has rendered Stanhope’s home uninhabitable.

Stanhope, however, is no stranger to dark circumstances and the comedy that can be found within them. The standup who once spent half a special telling the story of how he assisted in his terminally ill mother’s suicide immediately found the funny in the situation and fired off a fittingly grumpy, sarcastic and Talking Heads-inspired TikTok in the heat of the moment.

As Stanhope reassured his fans in the thread, “Everything awful is funny.” No one was harmed in the fire, and Stanhope was able to save his phone and his cigarettes, which managed to keep him occupied until the blaze finally died down.

Since the fire, Stanhope’s fortunes have thankfully turned around. Just this evening, he tweeted an update that read, “The insurance co said they would put us up in a hotel until our house can be made livable, which could be a while. When I asked what hotels were available, they mentioned...my favorite bar downtown which I always forget is a hotel as well! Thanksgiving indeed!”

Between booze and David Byrne, Stanhope still has plenty to be grateful for.