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Andrew "Dice" Clay (born Andrew Clay Silverstein on September 29, 1957, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American comedian and actor of Jewish heritage. Notorious for his highly profane comedy, his popularity and success peaked during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Clay continues various show business projects with more modest success. Rick Rubin was quoted on the "E! True Hollywood Story: Andrew Dice Clay" as saying, in effect, "What's the bad news? That he's making seven figures in Vegas?", a reference to Clay's popular Las Vegas Strip comedy shows. He was ranked number 95 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. Clay's most famous performance was his live comedy stunt during the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards that earned him a "lifetime ban" due to his profane language and offensive jokes. According to the March 1, 2007 broadcast of The Howard Stern Show, Clay is engaged to Eleanor Kerrigan, a former professional wrestler named EZ Rider from Women of Wrestling.
Early career
As Andrew Clay, he made sitcom appearances on M*A*S*H and Diff'rent Strokes. He then landed roles in movies such as Making the Grade, starring Judd Nelson (1984) (playing a character named "Dice"), Pretty In Pink (1986) (credited for the first time as Andrew "Dice" Clay). As Andrew Dice Clay, he also had a regular role on Crime Story from 1986–1988. That was followed by a series of less-notable films. He eventually turned from acting to pursue a career in stand-up comedy, focusing on the character "Dice" from Pretty in Pink. Possibly named after The Dice Man, a novel by Luke Rhinehart, the persona was that of a highly racist, homophobic, woman-hating, street-wise, Brooklyn tough guy. Although Clay always maintained that the "Dice" in his stand-up act was merely a character that he played on stage, it was often hard for the general public to differentiate between the persona and the actual person.
Comedic style
His material has been described as profane and sexist, with his work portraying women as sex objects and making racist comments aimed toward Asian and Arab people. Some attribute Clay's success to a crass, violent, misogynistic and even sophomoric style of comedy. In an age of increasing prominence of feminism and "political correctness," "Dice" served as a respite for many fans, a caricature of American masculinity embodied in a chain-smoking greaser in a leather jacket. Despite being of Jewish descent, he pretended to be an Italian in his routines.
The Day the Laughter Died
Clay recorded his most successful example of "Dice" as performance art. The two CD set The Day the Laughter Died, lasting just under two hours, hit the Top 40 Album Chart. The concept, according to Clay, was to perform "the worst show possible". Clay went in front of a paying audience with no planned material and insulted them, individually and as a whole, for nearly two hours. Many members of the audience—even some familiar with the standards of a Clay show—walked out, and the entire concert was released without any edits.
Nursery rhyme adaptations
One of his most popular routines involved the subversion of traditional nursery rhymes, turning them from child friendly rhymes into sordid sexual encounters such as Dice's adaptation of "Old Mother Hubbard".
"Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
to fetch her poor dog a bone.
She bent over, Rover took over
and gave her a bone of his own.
Oh!"
and
"Three Blind Mice,
See how they run.
Where the fuck are they going?"
Those rhymes became some of his most widely-known material.
Popularity and controversy
Clay's growing notoriety garnered a recording contract with Rick Rubin's Def American label. Comedy records do not traditionally sell well, and so it was a shock (even to Clay himself) when his debut album Dice was a commercial success. Sampled excerpts from the album made their way to tracks by gangsta rap artist Ice Cube. In 1989, at the height of his popularity, he hosted the annual MTV Video Music Awards, where his raunchy and profane material caused MTV to ban him from the network for life. When he hosted Saturday Night Live, musical guest Sinéad O'Connor and cast member Nora Dunn refused to appear, protesting Clay's misogynistic persona. Clay donated the money from this appearance to charity. One segment on the program parodied both It's a Wonderful Life and the controversy surrounding Clay's appearance on the program, with Clay pondering suicide on a bridge, when he is met by his "guardian devil," played by Jon Lovitz. Lovitz shows him what the world would be like if he had not been born, including Nora Dunn crushed by Sinéad O'Connor's guitar amplifier.
Commercial failure
Clay's first starring role in a feature film was as the title character in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane in 1990. It failed at the box office, effectively ending Clay's chances for a leading man career.
A stand-up performance at Madison Square Garden was given movie release as Dice Rules in 1991. Many theaters refused to show it due to its NC-17 rating, and it failed commercially. By the release of his album 40 Too Long (1992) Dice had nearly been forgotten.
His 1993 album The Day The Laughter Died, Part 2 was recorded in front of a small audience at Dangerfield's in New York. On the album, he reprised the concept of The Day The Laughter Died, again verbally insulting his audience. Apart from the audience-baiting, he also attacked American film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert for giving Dice Rules and Ford Fairlane bad reviews. (Ebert, giving Dice Rules zero stars, stated that, "It could not be more damaging to the career of Andrew Dice Clay if it had been made as a documentary by someone who hated him."). (Dice mispronounced Ebert's surname as "Ebrik") He also insulted Marlee Matlin, the deaf film actress. He went on for a number of minutes trivializing her struggles as a deaf actress. Responding to a request for a nursery rhyme, which he had previously refused to do in The Day The Laughter Died, he claimed, "You don't know how much I hate those fucking poems, you have no idea how I hate those fucking poems, I wish I'd never thought of those fucking poems." Following the release of The Day The Laughter Died, Part 2, Dice vanished from the media spotlight for two years.
Bless This House
He returned in 1995, dropping the "Dice" from his name, eschewing his "Dice Man" persona, and playing the part of a caring family man in CBS' sitcom Bless This House. Fashioned after the popular sitcom 'The Honeymooners', and co-starring Cathy Moriarty, Bless This House received critical acclaim. The show was only cancelled because Clay had signed a contract saying that he would not perform vulgar standup comedy routines while starring in the family comedy (much like Bob Saget signed when he starred in Full House.) Unfortunately for Clay, he was spotted in a nightclub doing his routine and the show was dropped. Clay claimed in a radio interview with Howard Stern that CBS had promised him they would eventually give the character "an edge", this being the only reason he accepted the role. Clay did not discuss his contract breach with Stern.
Later works
Following the sitcom's failure, Clay again retreated from the media spotlight, this time for many years. In 1997 he made appearances on the short-lived UPN comedy Hitz as a record exec named Jimmy Esposito, which was very similar to the Dice character. He attempted a return to comedy with his HBO special Assume the Position and his 2000 album, Face Down, Ass Up, but his audiences were smaller than ever before. Clay did land one small film role in One Night at McCool's (2001), featuring Matt Dillon and Michael Douglas.
Clay had been a recurring guest on the Howard Stern Show for many years before Stern's jump to Sirius. However, a feud formed between Clay and Stern in the mid 90's resulting in Clay no longer being welcome as a Howard Stern Show guest. Clay quickly became friends with Stern rivals, radio hosts Opie and Anthony, and was a recurring guest until the duo was fired for their famous "Sex For Sam Contest" in 2002. He is responsible for Jim Norton being introduced to the show. Clay spent a lot of time with Opie(Greg Hughes) after the firing. However, when Opie and Anthony returned on XM Satellite Radio, Clay did not come back as a guest. In 2006, Clay signed a deal with Sirius to produce and broadcast his own show, Out of the Cage. After signing the deal, Clay and Stern were able reconcile their differences. Both men then claimed not to know the cause of their years-long feud.
Opie and Anthony have claimed that it was Clay who "burned the bridge" between them. Club Soda Kenny, a member of the Opie and Anthony staff, was a longtime employee of Andrew Dice Clay. Opie has said that Kenny was not given a reason that Clay cut ties completely with him. Clay appeared on the Radio Free Wease show on March 8th 2007, and was asked about his dispute with Opie. Clay declined to comment on the show saying "If I have a problem with somebody, I go head to head. No middle man." After Opie called in and asked "Dice what is your problem?", Clay hung up.
CNN appearance
In an interview before a supposed comeback on November 12, 2003, Clay used several profanities on a live CNNfn cable news program, The Biz, hosted by Allan Chernoff; incredulous to the poor research performed by the news staff. The video of this episode is available on-line in many collections of outrageous moments in American television history and "funny video" collections. The channel was not fined by the FCC because it does not govern cable television.
Dice on Sirius Satellite Radio
Andrew Dice Clay ended his long-standing feud with Howard Stern in 2006, making appearances on his satellite radio show and doing his own radio show, Out of the Cage on the "Special Time Slot" on Howard 101 on June 13, 2006, and July 5, 2006.
Artie Lange fight
Clay and Artie Lange had an altercation on the Howard Stern show. Lange claimed Clay didn’t pay him in a timely manner for the gig they did together at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey on July 7, 2006. Artie believed Clay lied about trying to contact him and also accused Clay of patronizing him by telling him that he's a great performer, when it's really just the fact that Artie's on a show that he can promote on. Artie also claimed that it was his presence on the stage that enabled the show to be sold out, which is something Clay denies.
On July 24, 2006, Artie Lange revealed that his agent had finally received payment from Clay, thus ending the reason for the feud.
The First Live Stand-Up Show on Radio
On November 4, 2006, Andrew Dice Clay performed stand-up live with Artie Lange on Sirius Satellite Radio. He was booed and heckled throughout his entire set.
Dice on Tom Green Live
On November 1, 2006, Andrew Dice Clay appeared on Tom Green Live on Tom Green's Internet show at his website. On the show, Clay mentioned his displeasure with MTV, Dick Clark and his subsequent banning from MTV. He also voiced displeasure with Gene Simmons, mocking his reality TV show and hairstyle, and mentioned VH1 was there to film his own reality show, Dice Undisputed. Towards the end of the show, he picked a fight with Green before making up with him on camera. He appeared on the show again on November 14, and Green later admitted (while interviewing Erik Estrada on the show) that their "fights" had been pre-planned. On December 1, Dice and Green taped a segment in which they interviewed Paris Hilton. A video surfaced on the internet of Dice, Green, and Hilton backstage in which Dice is blatantly hitting on Hilton.
Dice: Undisputed on VH1
On March 4, 2007, Andrew Dice Clay premiered a weekly celebreality series on VH1. Similar to other celebrity-comeback shows on the cable network such as Breaking Bonaduce and Shooting Sizemore, the show focuses on Clay and his entourage as he attempts to get his comedy career back on track. The series is produced by Fox and follows Clay as he writes a book, records a CD and produces his own Sirius satellite radio show. VH1 Senior Vice President Jeff Olde describes the show as a "real-life 'Entourage,' only with disheveled fortysomething guys in the comedy world." Dice Undisputed is executive produced by Danny Salles for Fox TV Studios. Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, Alex Demyanenko and Damla Dogan are executive producers for VH1. Press release
Clay would like his fans to understand that he is not attempting a comedy comeback with the show, but instead is "coming out of retirement."
Discography
* Dice, 1989
* The Day the Laughter Died, 1990
* Dice Rules, 1991
* 40 Too Long, 1992
* Day The Laughter Died, Part 2, 1993
* Filth, 1999
* Face Down, Ass Up, 2000
Recordings featuring Dice samples
* "A Gangsta's Fairytale" on Ice Cube's album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (Priority Records, 1990): Dice is heard saying "Good old Mother Goose, remember her? I fucked her." from "Nursery Rhymes" at the end of the song.
* "Just Don't Bite It" on N.W.A's EP 100 Miles and Runnin' (Ruthless/Priority Records, 1990): Dice asking the question, "But does she suck a good dick?!?" from "Couples In Love", is part of the song's chorus.
* "Unbelievable" by EMF (EMI, 1991): Assorted interjections of Dice shouting "Oh, shit!" (sanitized for the radio version), "Whoa, man!" and "It's unbelievable", all from Dice, are heard throughout the song.
Starring roles
* Casual Sex 1988
* Crime Story 1986–1988
* The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, 1990
* Dice Rules, 1991
* Brainsmasher: A Love Story 1993
* Bless This House, 1995
* Dice Undisputed reality show on VH1 2007
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