Andrew Dice Clay: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Andrew Dice Clay (1957-), comedian and actor.

Andrew Dice Clay was born Andrew Clay Silverstein on 29 September 1957 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. In the early stages of his career, using the name Andrew Clay, he was an actor and appeared in '80s low-budget porn films. He eventually gave up acting and turned his hand to standup comedy, inventing a persona known as The Dice Man. Named after a Luke Rhinehart novel, the persona was that of a highly racist, homophobic woman-hating street wise Brooklyn tough guy.

Unlike many other comedians who turned their comedy into a tool of political or social commentary, including contempories like Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison as well as influences such as George Carlin and Lenny Bruce, Clay's desire was to be as shocking as humanly possible. His material consisted of highly sexist routines, portaying women as sex objects and nothing more, and would regularly portray minorities, both racial and sexual, in a derisory fashion.

Dice would often insult members of his audience while they were actually there, and made many so uncomfortable that they actually left his shows. At this time, his most popular routine involved the subversion of traditional Nursery Rhymes, including "Jack and Jill went up the hill" and "Little Miss Muffet", turning them from child friendly rhymes into sordid sexual encounters. It was these rhymes that subsequently became both Dice's breakthrough into the mainstream as well as the routine that he most despised.

Comedy records do not traditionally sell very well, and so it was a great shock, even to Clay himself, when his debut album Dice was a commercial success. Clay was the most controversial comic since Lenny Bruce, and his appearance on Saturday Night Live as host resulted in guest Sinead O'Connor and cast member Nora Dunn walking off the set in protest to Clay's misogynistic persona. Naturally this made him even more famous. Further controversy ensued when Clay appeared on MTV to promote his new movie, The Adventures Of Ford Fairlaine, and performed an expletive filled routine that earned him a lifetime ban from the network.

Clay would then go on to record what some regard as his masterpiece. The two CD set The Day The Laughter Died, lasting just under two hours, hit the Top 40 Album Chart and is cosidered the first ever comedy concept album. 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 the audience, as whole as well as individually, for nearly two hours. Many members of the audience, even by the standards of a Clay show, left and the entire concert was released without any edits. The album was produced by Beastie Boys and Slayer producer Rick Rubin.

After Ford Fairlaine failed at the box office, effectively ending Clay's movie career, a standup performance at Madison Square Garden was given a movie release as Dice Rules in 1991. It failed commercially due to many theaters refusing to show it, and by the release in 1992 of his album, 40 Too Long, Clay was almost forgotten.

His 1993 album The Day The Laughter Died, Part 2 was recorded in front a small audience at Dangerfield's in New York. On the album, he reprised the concept of The Day The Laughter Died, verbally insulting his audience. Apart from the audience baiting, he attacked American movie critics Siskel and Ebert for giving both Dice Rules and Ford Fairlaine bad reviews. He also responded to a request for a nursery rhyme, which had previously refused to do on The Day The Laughter Died, by stating "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 2 years.

He returned in 1995, playing the part of a caring family man in CBS' sitcom Bless This House. Dropping the Dice from his name and eschewing his Dice man persona, CBS alleged that Dice was difficult to work with, refusing to learn his lines among other things, and the show was quickly axed. Dice claimed in a radio interview with infamous Shock jock Howard Stern that CBS had promised him they would eventually give the character "an edge", and that was the only reason that he did the show. In typical Dice form, the interview ended with an on air augument with Jackie, with Dice calling Jackie "the dumbest thing since pumpkin pie".

Following the shows failure, Dice returned to comedy with his HBO special "Assume the Position" and his 1999 album, Face Down, Ass Up. His audience was smaller than ever before due to the fall from grace of so called "Assault comedy" following the deaths of Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks.

Discography

• Dice, 1989
• Day The Laughter Died, 1990
• 40 Too Long, 1992
• Day The Laughter Died, Part 2, 1993
• Face Down, Ass Up, 2000

• The Adventures Of Ford Fairlaine, 1990
• Dice Rules, 1991
• Bless This House, 1995