Part of Doug's persona is an utter lack of self-respect or self-worth. I think his unapologetic lack of genuine insight into some of the issues he discusses portrays an universal and uncompromising policy of total honestly which is very powerful.
Much of his performances involve veering sharply from some relatively considered insight into the human condition to some completely unnecessarily graphic tirade against a trivial aspect of his everyday life, with absolutely no break between them. In many ways it's as much performance art as it is standup, he has a more fundamentalist attitude towards attacking sacred cows than any other comedian I can think of.
Also I'd add that his more recent work is considerably improved on a lot of his slightly more incoherent stuff from earlier in his career. His "No Refunds" DVD from 2007 is a lot more focused and better paced. Check it out.
Much of his performances involve veering sharply from some relatively considered insight into the human condition to some completely unnecessarily graphic tirade against a trivial aspect of his everyday life, with absolutely no break between them. In many ways it's as much performance art as it is standup, he has a more fundamentalist attitude towards attacking sacred cows than any other comedian I can think of.
Also I'd add that his more recent work is considerably improved on a lot of his slightly more incoherent stuff from earlier in his career. His "No Refunds" DVD from 2007 is a lot more focused and better paced. Check it out.