Andrew Dice Clay Is Funnier Than Ever
The style of Showtime’s new comedy series Dice, has been compared to HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, the difference being Curb is to a Prius, what Dice is to a Corvette running on pure ethanol.
Andrew Dice Clay is back in a big way and he’s funnier than ever. For some millennials who might not know who Andrew Dice Clay aka The Diceman is, he’s an actor and most notably a comedian who in the late eighties/early nineties was the hottest standup on the planet. He was the first comedian to sell out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row and during his heyday, the Diceman was cranking out 80,000 tickets a week. There was nothing like him, and political correctness will never allow there to be anyone who had the courage and creativity to be so crude onstage while still being able to churn out the chuckles.
Unfortunately, fame of that magnitude is often ephemeral. Clay was no exception. When it came to Dice’s personal and professional career, let’s just say like Icarus, Dice flew a little too close to the sun on wings made of wax and his fall from grace was anything but graceful.
Take four decades in show business, keep the leather jacket, incorporate the live fast die hard tales, add the pain that came with the ride — picture that type of protagonist — surround him with the perfect supporting cast, most notably actresses who can hang with Dice’s big personality such as Lorraine Bracco of The Sopranos and Goodfellas, Comedy Central’s fiery roaster Natasha Leggero – give the strings to Scot Armstrong (Old School) the creator of Dice, and set it in none other than Las Vegas. Put all that together and you get Showtime’s new hit comedy series, Dice.
Clay is a character who couldn’t be created with the pen. There is only one Dice. Some millennials don’t even know what dice is, let alone the Diceman. For them and anyone else not familiar with his brand of funny, Dice is a fast track to getting to know one of Brooklyn’s finest. The show is well-written, honest, and raw. Unlike reality TV’s programs like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Dice will actually make you “LOL.”
Clay plays an embellished version of his real-life self; a struggling comedian living and working in Las Vegas who gets caught up with stars like Wayne Newton, Criss Angel, and Adrian Brody (to name a few). He comes home to his live-in girlfriend played by the spunky and charming Leggero and discusses the day’s events as well as life through Dice-colored glasses. He also carries around “Milkshake,” his boorish lackey played by the talented Kevin Corrigan.
The genius of Dice is capturing the comedy gold that was hiding under Clay’s nose his entire life, himself. Self-deprecation and Andrew Dice Clay aren’t words that necessarily fit together, especially for anyone who knows Dice from his on-stage persona. When that hyper-confident persona looked in the mirror, introspection was probably not the first thing that came to mind, more likely, the Diceman would be fixing his hair in preparation to impress any potential “piglets” in the crowd — yes, that was the Diceman.
Outside of Dice there’s Mr. Clay, the actor, and of course Andrew, the person (seen below with fellow co-star Cate Blanchett of Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine). In Dice, we get to see Andrew, Dice, and Mr. Clay – that alone is worth the price of admission.
[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]
