Interviewing Andrew Dice Clay? Really?
Sounds simple enough, oh wait, THAT Andrew Dice Clay.
The man who hit the big time turning children's poems into risque rhymes is back.
Well, more like he never really went away, if you ask him; which I did.
Has time calmed the raunchy bad boy? Will a big new gig put him back in the spotlight? Before his big show at Side Splitters, I got to talk to the one and only, Dice Man.
Andrew Dice Clay, The Dice Man, you are considered the original bad boy of comedy. Before your sensational big break working with with legendary Rodney Dangerfield what kind of pansies had comedy been used to? Was comedy ready for what you had in store?
I never paid any really attention to stand-up comedy — most of the guys who everyone knows and loves were a really bore to me. Don't get me wrong. They were technically good; they just were not exciting performers. I was more into Elvis, Buddy Rich. That's why when I hit, there was such an explosion, stand-up had never seen a performer like me before.
I was just reading that your now world-renowned stage name was derived from a character you played in the John Hughes classic Pretty In Pink. How ironic is that?
My character in the film "Making the Grade" was also named Dice. Who else played two different characters in two different movies with the same name.
Only the Dice Man! Throughout your career there have been a few mild cases of controversy regarding your brand of, and I quote, "vile" humor. When you blow the doors off of Side Splitters here in Tampa, will you be the lewd, ballsy, Dice Man that many have known and loathed?
Let's put it this way, I know the exactly what my audience wants. And I never think of words like "vile or "lewd," I just think of funny! If I laugh, I know the audience will laugh.
Balls/wall, got it. So your comedic style, while rather controversial, certainly made that great name for yourself. It obviously helped make you, but at the same time may have limited you tremendously. Looking back, what do you think of that? Would you have done it any other way in order to achieve a different outcome?
I will tell you right now, I am the Heavyweight Comedy King. I have done things that no other comic has ever done nor will they ever. I could tell ya that I sold out Madison Square Garden three times, but that was one place. I've played so many concert tours including The Rose Bowl with Gun & Roses in front of 100,000 people that we couldn't come up tour names fast enough. So I ask you, what's there to change? I'm unbelievable.
Totally fucking unbelievable. … Tell me some of the best advice you ever received from other comics, perhaps, such as Mr. Dangerfield. Did anyone ever try and tone you down? Did anyone ever try to push you further, beyond the bounds you'd already broken?
The best advice I ever got was to be original and be myself. Like I said before, there is only Elvis. And I think Rodney told me to keep the leather on.
How much of Andrew Dice Clay, The Dice Man, is the real you? Are you merely a performer, playing a character seeking results through edgy comedy? How do you feel/respond to people who have labeled you misogynistic, racist, homophobic?
First of all, I'm from Brooklyn, and I never lost being a grounded person. I can't tell how times ask if I am playing a character. Would you ask Slash if he is playing a character or Keith Richards? Am I the same person on stage as I am off? I will tell you, there are similarities and there are differences. As the labels — I'm now happily married to a beautiful Latina wife and two sons are who are the best.
Congratulations, sir. I understand you are going to be playing a recurring character in the upcoming, and final season of the hit HBO series Entourage. Can you share with me some of the details of this new venture? What's the experience been like?
I've always been a big fan of the show. It's something I've watched since the first season. Life is strange. One minute I'm sitting on the couch doing nothing and the next minute I'm hanging with Johnny Drama. I can't share really anything about the plot. I will tell you this: There is no one better than Doug Ellen. He is a genius. I call him my Quentin Tarantino.
Are you making a comeback, or do you feel you've never really left?
People may call it a comeback, I call it a resurgence.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2011.