Andrew Dice Clay

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Andrew Dice Clay (2012)

Andrew "Dice" Clay (* 29. September 1957 in Brooklyn , New York as Andrew Clay Silverstein ) is an American comedian and actor . He was best known for his appearances as a comedian, in which he stood out for his extremely vulgar language and thus polarized the American public. It peaked in popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After that he worked on other show business projects with significantly less success . He ranks 95th on Comedy Central's list of the top 100 comedians.

Start of career

Under the name Andrew Clay , he was initially often in the US sitcoms M * A * S * H and Nochfragen Arnold? to see. He then acted in films such as Zoff in the Hoover Academy (with Judd Nelson in the lead role), where he played a character called "Dice" in 1984 and two years later for the first time as an actor called Andrew "Dice" Clay in the Teen comedy Pretty in Pink , starring Molly Ringwald , where he played a bouncer himself . Between 1986 and 1988 he was regularly seen in the television series "Crime Story" (with Dennis Farina ), but then developed further and further into the stand-up comedy field, where he largely developed from the "Dice" figure "Pretty in Pink" oriented. The figure, which he called "The Dice Man" from then on, presumably has a further origin in the novel of the same name by Luke Rhinehart , whose main character reveals a highly racist , inhuman and especially misogynistic personality .

Clay as a comedian

Unlike comedians like Lenny Bruce , Sam Kinison or Bill Hicks , who also pursued political and socially critical goals with an equally aggressive and aggressive style, Clay initially only aimed at maximum shocking his audience. He limited himself to superficially rude and sexist sayings that portrayed women as pure sex objects and overemphasized his own potency. Other targets in his programs were mainly whites , Asians and Arabs . What is noticeable here, however, is his emphasis on taking on everyone ("I fuck with anybody"), but in contrast to this he always used the same stereotypes as targets. For example, he never attacked Jews or blacks , but idolized the latter. His performances changed constantly so that, on the one hand, the stereotypical figure became clear to the viewer as a caricature, up to and including appearances when both supporters and critics had difficulty distinguishing between figure and reality.

Especially the open insults from individual viewers in the audience, who then often even left the ongoing event, made Clay a subject of great criticism.

On the other hand, this is exactly what led him to his great success. At a time when feminism and the concept of political correctness were playing an increasingly important role in society, “Dice” with his outfit from the 1950s stood for caricature as a chain smoker in a leather jacket with Tolle a bygone American manhood.

Nursery Rhymes

Clay also became known for his rewritten nursery rhymes , which previously transformed friendly text rhymes into vulgar descriptions of sexual contacts . In addition to public outrage, these rhymes also increased his popularity.

Popularity and controversy

With the help of his growing popularity, Clay got a contract with the Rick Rubin- led record company Def American . Traditionally, comedian records have traditionally not sold well. It was all the more surprising (even for Clay himself) that his debut album called "Dice" developed into a commercial success. Parts of this album were subsequently used by gangsta rapper Ice Cube . When Clay hosted the Saturday Night Live show , both Sinéad O'Connor, originally intended as a music guest, and Nora Dunn - a normal member of the Saturday Night Live cast - boycotted their performance. During the broadcast, the film “ Isn't Life Beautiful? "In connection with Clay's participation in the mission parodies . Clay, who toyed with the idea of ​​killing himself on a bridge in this parody, met his " guardian devil" there (as opposed to a " guardian angel "), who was played by Jon Lovitz and showed him the world as it was presented himself if he did not exist. There Nora Dunn was seen slain by O'Connor's guitar amp.

"The Day the Laughter Died"

Clay's most successful period as "Dice" followed when he recorded the double CD entitled "The Day the Laughter Died". This recording, which lasted just under two hours, was temporarily in the “Top 40 Album Charts” and, according to Clay's statements, had the goal of “putting on the worst possible show”. Clay posed in front of a paying audience, apparently had no elaborated concept and insulted both individual viewers and the audience as a whole throughout the performance. Once again, many spectators left the event, including numerous supporters who were familiar with his style. The performance - produced by Rick Rubin - was published uncut.

Commercial failures

In 1989, Clay appeared at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards . There he should announce Cher . Shortly before that, he had a short stand-up gig where he sang nasty Mother Goose rhymes. The MTV officials disagreed and imposed a life-long ban on MTV .

Clay first starred in the 1990 film " Ford Fairlane - Rock 'n' Roll Detective ". Ford Fairlane was a box office flop and would mark the end of Clay's film career as a leading man. Later, however, the film developed into something of a cult film in the video business .

Under the title " The Show on the Edge of Madness " (in the English original: "Dice Rules") an appearance of Clay in New York's Madison Square Garden was filmed in 1991 . However, since numerous cinema operators refused to show the film, it became a commercial failure. His subsequent album "40 Too Long" was already less popular in 1992, so that Clay slowly disappeared from the light of the general public.

His follow-up album "The Day the Laughter Died, Part 2", released in 1993, was only recorded in front of a small audience at Dangerfield’s in New York. He continued the principle from the first part and besides the audience attacked the film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert , who had both written bad reviews about both "Dice Rules" and "Ford Fairlane". After this project, Clay disappeared completely from the public for two years.

"Once love, no turning back"

Clay returned in 1995, renounced the Dice addition in the name and played a caring family man in the sitcom "Bless This House" (German title: once love, no return ) broadcast by the television station CBS . However, CBS then separated from Clay and pointed out the difficulties in working together, as well as Clay's misconduct, which included a refusal to learn the given text. The show was canceled, and Clay complained in a radio interview with Howard Stern that CBS had promised him before he would give the character "rough edges". The conversation with Stern ended in open verbal attacks.

Later projects

After the bad sitcom experience, Clay returned to his original comedy profession, appeared on the HBO TV program "Assume the Position" and released another album in 2000 with "Face Down, Ass Up". Its audience was now smaller than ever before, which was also due to the fact that the genre of "assault comedy" had lost significantly in popularity after the deaths of Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks.

Clay came to other minor supporting roles in films such as One Night at McCool’s , where Matt Dillon and Michael Douglas cast the leading male roles in 2001 . In 2011, he returned to television with guest appearances on the HBO series Entourage .

Appearance on CNN

Caused a stir Clay again on 12 November 2003 when he was facing a possible comeback to CNN presenter Allan Chernoff live attacked in his news program "The Biz" verbal. A recording of this interview exists in many places on the Internet and is often broadcast on programs related to curiosities or American television history. CNN itself received no penalty from the congressional FCC only because cable television is not under their control.

Dice on "Sirius Satellite Radio"

In 2006, Clay ended his long-standing feud with Howard Stern and now even appears regularly on his radio program with the program "Out of the Cage".

Filmography (selection)

Discography

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

Music recordings with dice samples

  • “A Gangsta's Fairytale” on the album “ AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted ” by Ice Cube ( Priority Records , 1990): At the end of the song Dice can be heard with a rewritten nursery rhyme: “Good old Mother Goose, remember her? I fucked her. "
  • “Just Don't Bite It” on the EP “100 Miles and Runnin '” from NWA ( Ruthless Records / Priority Records, 1990): Dice is in the chorus of the song with his question “But does she suck a good dick?!? ”(Taken from“ Couples In Love ”).
  • “Unbelievable” by the band EMF ( EMI , 1991): Several exclamations from Dice (“Oh, shit!”, “Whoa, man!” And “It's unbelievable”) can be heard throughout the song.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Harmon Leon: History of the Andrew Dice Clay Controversy. Comedy History 101, April 3, 2018, accessed July 1, 2019 .
  2. youtube.com: Andrew Dice Clay Gives CNN **** (English)