became based in Playa del Rey and worked in clubs outside the city center. Around this time, he landed a development deal and "flirted" with the idea of producing a sitcom by co-writing a pilot episode with a writer of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He later described the script as a "piece of shit", and felt thankful it was never picked up. In 1995, Stanhope won the San Francisco International Comedy Competition against Dane Cook in a three-week contest. 2000s In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in New York City, Stanhope received some criticism from audiences over his comments regarding the event. This included protests outside of his gigs and attacks on stage. In July 2002, Fox aired back-to-back episodes of Stanhope's hidden camera television show Invasion of the Hidden Cameras. The project began in 1999, with Stanhope writing and producing various pranks for it, before the network decided to withdraw its broadcast. Stanhope accused Spy TV of stealing half of his ideas and achieving good ratings as a result. He starred as one of the pranksters on Spy TV. In August 2002, Stanhope won the Strathmore Press Award for his week-long run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as voted by 40 press critics. The prize was £1,000 and a feature in the British celebrity magazine OK!. Following the run, Stanhope signed with his longtime manager Brian Hennigan. In 2003 and 2004, Stanhope co-hosted the fifth and sixth seasons of The Man Show with Joe Rogan. He agreed to the project in order to become more financially stable. Among the show's segments included Stanhope lasting five rounds in a boxing match with Tonya Harding in which the Stanhope lost by decision, and his mother reviewing pornographic films. He hosted his own radio show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio in 2005. That year, Stanhope hosted Girls Gone Wild: America Uncovered. In 2005, Stanhope moved to Bisbee, Arizona. He appeared in the film The Aristocrats, telling a caustic joke to a baby. Stanhope established a group of touring comics known as The Unbookables featuring such artists as Andy Andrist, and Brendon Walsh, among others. The Unbookables' first CD, Morbid Obscenity, was released in 2006. In June 2006, Stanhope was booked to perform several shows at the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny, Ireland. However, roughly ten minutes into his set, a joke about Irish men committing pedophilia because of the