(light tapping on keyboard)
(pensive music)
- [Narrator] In the late 1980s,
Andrew Dice Clay was a comedy megastar.
- They don't have a championship belt for comedians
but if they did,
I would be the undisputed comedy king.
(audience cheering)
- I went, oh, comedy is now,
you're a rock star.
(audience chanting)
- It was like the Beatles on stage.
- [Narrator] When Dice took the stage,
his Diceman persona took aim at women,
immigrants and the gay community.
- I don't see how any man
could look at another guy's hairy ass
and wanna bang it, you know?
They're not from this planet.
(dialogue drowned out by cheering)
Come on.
- As a gay man, I would never, ever be in that crowd.
- Look at those (beep) tits.
Are we getting a shot of those (beep) tits?
She was built for (beep), I can see that.
(audience cheering)
- Another performer has decided
to stay away from Saturday Night Live.
Cast player Nora Dunn says
that she won't appear because she says
that Clay's humor is offensive to women.
- And he used those attacks
on women and minorities
as a way to profit.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Dice supporters said
his critics couldn't take a joke.
- That's not the guy that I know off stage.
- If you don't know the language.
- [All] Get the (beep) outta the country!
(audience cheering)
- [Narrator] But what happens when a comedy king
cashes in on hate?
- This same debate that we hear today,
it really started with Andrew Dice Clay.
- As a comic, you have to start noticing
when your shows have turned from a comedy show
into like a rally.
(audience cheering)
- Cheering.
Roaring. (audience chanting)
They would be chanting, these, you know,
almost like Nuremberg.
It was scary.
(audience cheering) (dramatic music)
You are no longer a comedian.
You are a deity.
(audience cheering)
You are their God.
(audience cheering)
It's a monster you can no longer control.
(audience cheering) (dramatic music)
- [Mike] Ladies and gentlemen,
you're about entertained.
- [Woman] Getting the laugh is the greatest addiction.
- [Debra] They want more of it, they want more of it.
- [Scott] She was getting death threats.
- [Woman] It (beep) with your head!
- He's out of his skull. - That's what took her down.
- [Man] This is a crazy story.
(microphone whines, bangs)
(upbeat 80's music)
- [Narrator] In the late 1980s, comedy was booming.
Standup comics were on every cable channel
and movie theaters and getting sitcom deals.
With cable TV, came more freedom of expression.
And the new style of comedy was gaining traction,
shock comedy.
- I have this nightmare that I go to Hollywood
and find out that Mr. T is a (beep).
(audience laughing)
- Twins, nasty (beep) little twins.
(audience laughing)
(Sam groaning)
- [Narrator] And Andrew Dice Clay was riding that wave.
- This man probably owns more leather jackets
than anybody in the world.
- The best way to describe him is to say,
he's the typical boy next door. (laughs)
- Meet our own tough and dirty guy, Andy.
- Dice. - Clay, okay, here we go.
Hey, Andrew. (laughing) (audience cheering)
- The Diceman character was a brooding Brooklyn,
street-tough, leather jacket wearing,
street-wise character.
The type of guy that would probably whistle
or make kissy sounds at a woman walking down the street.
- He's the only person I've ever seen.
(tense music)
Oh!
(tense music)
(Debra laughing)
- I was in bed with this broad.
- So I'm banging this hoo-wa!
- I'll tell you today,
they don't suck dick the way they used to.
They dabble in it.
- Hey bud, hey yo (beep).
- You guys are the greatest.
What are your names?
Neil and Bob, or is that like, what you do? (laughs)
(audience laughing)
- It was so outrageous.
And he was saying things
that most people never heard before.
- He went full-tilt with the shock value.
- The minute you get her in a bedroom,
you know what you're hearing?
Oh, your my (beep) my.
- It's testosterone-driven humor.
- I know what you're saying.
Cute comic, but he's got an attitude. (laughing)
So (beep) you. (audience laughing)
- Andrew didn't make his debut
in a motorcycle jacket
and being incredibly controversial.
(gentle music)
He kind of found that along the way.
- Clay grew up in Brooklyn in the 1970s.
At the time, there was a mystique about Brooklyn
and popular culture.
There was this fifties revival
as Andrew Dice Clay is growing up.
There was a movie called the "The Lords of Flatbush",
which co-stared before they were famous,
Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler,
Rocky, and the Fonz.
♪ Hey, hey, what do you say ♪
It was about street toughs in Brooklyn.
♪ Looks like it's gonna be a very fine day ♪
♪ My girl is with me today ♪
This is the type of thing that spoke to Andrew Dice Clay.
♪ Gonna be a very fine day ♪
♪ Hey ♪
- Mr. Butchey,
you interested in a little entertainment, man?
- What kind of entertainment?
- Like putting your fist through somebody's face, man?
- [Narrator] "The Lords of Flatbush" was aspirational
to young Andrew Silverstein,
who was still figuring out how to attract the opposite sex.
(80's rock music)
- And so he was very attracted to these characters
and found that he had a real aptitude for impersonations.
When Andrew Dice Clay started as a comedian,
he started as an impressionist.
One of his comedy heroes was Jerry Lewis.
(playful music) (books thudding)
Jerry Lewis' most famous movie
is called "The Nutty Professor".
And in that movie,
he starts off as a gawkish, nerdy professor
who drinks a test tube serum,
and suddenly turns into this guy named Buddy Love,
who's a brooding, pacing, angry, dour,
chain-smoking son of a bitch.
(pensive music)
And one of Andrew dyes Clay's best impressions
was of Jerry Lewis.
- What I have done is put together a formula
which can turn you into that type of macho man
or foxy woman,
or both.
(Andrew laughing)
- He'd come out first as the nutty professor.
And he had the buck teeth and the coat
and he'd do (quirky laughing).
- He would impersonate Jerry Lewis as the nutty professor,
take the serum.
- So I'm gonna try a little, just to see what happens.
One second. (lips smacking)
(Andrew exclaims)
- And then he would throw off the coat.
- And then turn into a different impression.
Maybe John Travolta.
(70's disco music) (audience clapping)
Maybe Sylvester Stallone.
("Rocky Theme Song") (audience clapping)
- And then the music would end.
(dramatic chord)
(audience clapping)
(swanky 70's music)
(audience laughing)
And he would stand there for a good 30 seconds to a minute
getting big laughs, just doing poses.
(audience laughing)
And then he'd go.
(silly laughing)
And that would get a huge laugh.
(pensive music)
- [Narrator] Dice debuted his earliest act
at Pips in Brooklyn, but it was a small pond.
Convinced he was destined for bigger things,
Andrew packed up for Hollywood.
(glitzy Hollywood music)
- [Announcer] From Sunset Strip in Hollywood,
it's live from the The Comedy Store.
(glitzy Hollywood music)
- The Comedy Store was one of the biggest showcase clubs
for comedians in the country.
- I would go on at The Comedy Store early,
and then I would just sit back and watch Richard Pryor
and Steve Martin,
Robin Williams would get up with Martin Short.
- [Narrator] Dice managed to land a gig at the esteemed club
where so many comedy greats before him
had gotten their start.
(light jazz music)
- I happen to be Paul Rodriguez.
How do I know Andrew D. Clay?
Who doesn't know Andy?
I remember we were the come-uppers at The Comedy Store,
but he always would tell me, you watch, Rod.
I'm gonna fill out stadiums.
- [Andrew] Always want to do something special
with my life.
You know, like even when I'd be in high school
and I'd be failing everything.
- Yeah. - You know.
My mother would go, Andrew,
what are you gonna do when you get outta school?
And I'm going, what do you think?
I'm gonna, I'll be a movie star.
Don't worry about it.
You'll have everything you need.
- [Interviewer] Ah ha.
(reflective music)
- [Narrator] If Andrew was gonna be the biggest star,
he would need as much stage time as possible.
- You know what Dice would do?
He would go to movie theaters.
He would take a boombox.
This is before they did commercials.
Dice would take a boombox down there and just go,
ladies and gentlemen,
I'm Andrew Silverstein!
And you're about to be entertained.
(audience clapping)
He would do Jerry Lewis, Fonzi.
He did it every Friday and Saturday night
for maybe six months.
- [Narrator] Word of his movie theater shtick
made it all the way to Mitzi Shore,
The Comedy Store's queen bee.
- [Mike] He got so good, Mitzi heard about it
and she gave him more spots.
(upbeat jazzy music)
- [Narrator] Andrew Silverstein is one of dozens
of comedians getting their start
at what would become the comedy boom of the 1980s.
- I lived at the Crest Hill House
in the hills above the comedy store.
My housemates included Andrew Dice Clay.
- It was just a place
where we would talk about the last night's set
or who's moving up.
Who got a TV spot.
We were all kind of Clay wannabes.
He had kind of the look and the swagger
that women seemed to gravitate toward.
He'd come up to me, he'd say, hey, fish cakes.
What'd you think of the doll?
She's a dish.
(upbeat jazzy music)
He was not the dirty comic that he ended up being.
But he always had that sort of Diceman persona.
(upbeat jazzy music)
- Some of the most successful standup comedy
is about attitude.
And you can't really create attitude.
It's sort of an organic process.
- This big blonde nurse comes walking in
and shoves a plastic nipple in my mouth.
I look at her, I say, sweetheart,
who you teasing?
Come on honey. (audience laughing)
- He would always be put on late.
And so he'd get hecklers,
these kind of drunk people would just yell stuff at him.
- You're great a guy-
- Your answer to better sex! - What's that?
- [Man In Audience] Your answer to better sex.
- He would still be in that tough guy character.
- My answer to better sex?
Get a new wife. (scoffs)
(audience laughing)
- He realized that the dirtier the put down to the heckler,
the bigger laughs he would get.
- You don't meet too many people
that have a face like a snatch.
I just want you to know that.
Bottom line, you suck a good dick, yes or no?
(audience laughing)
They see the stretch marks around her mouth from here,
who we bull shitting? (audience laughing)
- So Dice went up on stage and tried a million things.
Those million things could be aspects of his personality,
this and that.
But the Dice character is the one that stuck.
- One time I come walking in a little late.
Teacher tries to embarrass me. (laughs)
She goes, hey Dice,
what's the difference between two eights and three eights?
I said, that's what I said, teach. (scoffs)
What's the (beep) difference? (audience laughing)
Now pour me a cup coffee.
She'd be like, hey Dice!
What's the difference between two eights and three eights?
I said, that's what I say, honey,
what's the (beep) difference? (audience laughing)
Now get over here and blow me, huh?
(audience laughing)
Thanks a lot. (audience cheering)
- So when Andrew Dice Clay was developing his character,
he learns that sexism, homophobia,
those types of things are getting a reaction
and he chooses to follow that path.
- How can one man take another man's penis in his mouth,
after it's been in his ass for three hours?
(audience laughing)
Hey, let me tell you something,
I (beep) this lady four times already today, all right.
Catch me early evenings, you (beep) cheap bastard.
(audience laughing)
You slanty-eyed (beep) sucker, what you are.
(audience laughing)
- So there's an ethical and moral quandary at play.
You're either going to step away from,
or you're gonna jump into it.
(tense music)
And Andrew Dice Clay jumped into it.
(tense music)
(pensive music)
- [Narrator] As Andrew Dice Clay doubled down
on his offensive brand of humor.
- People get pissed off, cause I'm a little off color.
What do I do?
I talk about people.
It's like you got herpes, AIDS and (beep)-itus.
They never heard of soap, these(beep) people, right?
- [Narrator] His career skyrocketed to
new levels of fame.
By the late eighties,
he'd taken his act all the way
to massive arenas across America.
- Oh Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
to get her old dog a bone.
She bent over!
- [Audience] She got a bone of her own!
- Oh, she got a bone of her own!
(audience cheering)
Oh, you're un (beep) believable.
- [Narrator] In 1990, he became one of the first comedians
to sell out Madison Square Garden.
- I remember watching Dice perform back then.
I went, oh, comedy is now,
you're a rockstar.
You can become a rockstar.
- They don't have a championship belt for comedians
but if they did,
I would be the undisputed comedy king.
(audience cheering)
- [Narrator] Over two sold out nights,
he performed for close to 40,000 die hard fans.
- In the world of comedy, in 1990,
Andrew Dice Clay was a big blip on the cultural radar.
- [Narrator] And about to get even bigger.
20th Century Fox signs Dice up for a three-picture deal
with his first starring roll in a major motion picture.
(lighter flickers)
On the heels of signing,
Saturday Night Live creator and producer, Lorne Michaels,
invites Dice to host the Mother's Day Special of SNL.
- Saturday Night Live always likes to book hosts
that are in the news, that are in the zeitgeist.
- Since he was a controversial figure,
there were people who were of course, upset about that.
(pensive music)
- Nora Dunn, one of the women in the cast at that time,
really objected, not just to Andrew Dice Clay's act,
but the almost tasked approval
that his act is getting by SNL allowing him to host.
- [Narrator] In an unprecedented move,
seasoned cast member, Nora Dunn,
and musical guest, Sinead O'Connor,
announced they would not be performing on the Dice episode.
- [Reporter] Cast player, Nora Dunn,
says that she won't appear because she says
that Clay's humor is offensive to women.
- I built up a sweat.
I pulled her hair, wrap 'em in the head a few times.
- It's not about foul-mouth or any,
it's not about offensive words.
- (beep) Pig. (audience laughing)
- Howl skank, you know, turn on words.
- It's about what he stands for.
It's that kind of thought.
And I think that's a dangerous kind of thought
and I don't think we should be promoting it in any way.
For me, it was just a no-brainer
because he was so famously, you know, homophobic.
And I lived in the West Village.
So when he had his shows,
we had a lot of thugs that would come down
and try to beat gays up.
And you know, people were repeating the
It's just, you know, garbage is garbage.
- [James] As soon as Nora went public with her feelings,
almost immediately,
people were waiting for Lorne's reaction.
- When you have a cast member boycotting the show,
you would hope that the people at the top
would put some thought into, is this the right decision.
- Mr. Michaels, with all the singers, actors,
politicians and comedians
who are dying to be on Saturday Night Live,
why of all people, did you choose Andrew Dice Clay?
Why you decide to give him that forum?
- Giving people like that a platform,
humanizing them, making them more approachable,
is that the right thing to do?
- I don't think that we're
so much presenting a platform for him
as inviting him to be on Saturday Night Live,
which then means that we will be working with him
for the week.
And the show will still be written.
- [Nora] You know, Lorne,
he drew his line in the sand.
He didn't listen to anybody
because everybody was telling him,
look, you gotta back out of this host.
He's just wrong.
(reflective music)
- [Narrator] Dice didn't agree, there was a problem.
- He was like, they don't get me!
(indistinct) They don't get me!
- [Narrator] The public controversy over Dice
becomes a source of tension behind the scenes at SNL.
- There was not a lot of solidarity among the cast
who were willing to stand with her
and also refused to participate.
- [Narrator] While Nora is alienated by her SNL family,
NBC is forced to beef up security
after receiving over a thousand angry phone calls.
- I was there that night.
He was nervous.
The energy that night at SNL
was so tense.
There's almost, you felt, that they were hoping Andrew
had just told him to kiss off and not showed up,
but that wasn't him.
- I mean, they just proceeded with the show.
(tense music)
- [Narrator] The show kicks off
with a nod to the controversy.
- The writers thought, well, this is like a blessing.
Let's just take this on.
And let's just own it.
Not only were they not trying to bury the controversy,
they raised it up the flag pole and saluted it
right at the beginning of the show.
- Why is this happening to me?
All this fuss over one stinking show.
I never meant to hurt nobody. (sobbing)
Look at me, I'm crying like a chick.
(audience laughing)
That's it, there's no point in going on anymore.
The Diceman's checking out.
- [Devil] I wouldn't do that, if I were you.
(suspenseful music)
(audience laughing)
- [Narrator] In a parody of "It's a Wonderful Life",
Dice learns what would've happened
if he had never been born or hosted SNL.
- Behold. (dramatic music)
- [Andrew] What is that?
- That is Nora Dunn. (audience cheering)
(Devil laughs)
Because you were never born,
she was here that night
and was accidentally crushed
by Sinead O'Connor's amplifier.
(audience laughing)
- [Andrew] That's awful.
- Writing a sketch about killing Nora Dunn.
It just doesn't strike me as very clever.
And it doesn't seem funny.
I think it was a mistake for Lorne to do that.
I completely understood why Nora Dunn did what she did.
Andrew Dice Clay at that time had tipped over.
You shouldn't give him that spot.
(pensive music)
(audience cheering)
- [Narrator] Dice goes on to perform his role as host.
- I'll tell ya something,
some of you might recognize this particular jacket because,
you see, the only other time I wore this jacket-
- [Members In Audience] Racist, sexist and anti-gay!
Clay, go away!
- All right, snapper heads, sit down, shut your mouth
and pay attention, all right?
- [Narrator] Moments into his monologue,
there's an angry interruption.
- Oh, relax, would you? (audience members yelling)
- [Narrator] Despite the extra security,
Dice haters had found their way in.
(audience members yelling)
- That's the type of guy
that hangs out in men's room
to smell other people's crap all day long.
- [Narrator] The crowd applauds Dice's handling
of the heckler.
The rest of the episode proceeds without incident.
- You call Claude. - All right.
- You tell 'em the Diceman sent ya.
All right? - All right, I will.
- [Narrator] But NBC continues to receive complaints
about the episode.
(pensive music)
The controversy easily helps
draw the highest ratings of the season.
(pensive music)
- And he felt like he was on top of the world
and no one could touch him
and he was just the Diceman and that was it.
- Saturday Night Live, did you have a great time?
(audience cheering)
All right, and I wanna say happy Mothers Day to my mother
and every other mother out there.
Take care. (audience clapping)
- [Narrator] But not everyone came away
from the controversy unscathed.
- I didn't understand that
it wasn't just Saturday Night Live.
It was NBC.
And I didn't realize how serious that was.
(tense music)
(pensive music)
- I'm a tiger,
not a wild animal.
- [Narrator] By 1990,
Nora Dunn was one of Saturday Night Live's
longest serving female players.
- Hello, everybody, hello.
Welcome to the Pat Stevens show, I'm Pat Stevens.
- [Narrator] With several seasons
of skilled impressions under her belt,
her tenure in the cast didn't shield her
from getting dragged in the press by NBC and SNL.
- [Nora's] I had a friend of mine
who worked for Associated Press call me to say,
have you seen the release
that's going to be in the paper tomorrow?
So he said, the best thing you can do is make a statement,
put it on the wire now.
So I did and then they withdrew theirs,
when they saw it.
- [Narrator] Nora painted a very different picture.
She was leaving the show on her own terms
and had given notice earlier in the season.
- [Nora] I only had one show to do after that.
And my contract was up and I had done enough sketches.
And my plan was, you know,
that I was gonna be moving out to LA.
- [Narrator] And the damage to her reputation
had already been done.
(somber music)
Though Nora was alienated for speaking out,
the boycott got people thinking.
- Everybody in comedy
has to have an opinion on it at the time.
Everybody is talking about it.
And it created, just like today,
a huge debate about the role of comedy.
- This sort of comedy cashes in on an atmosphere
that is increasingly intimidating to women.
- Is it creating harm in some way?
Is it creating levity, making light?
Is it satirizing bad things?
- [Caller] And I was wondering
if you had any opinion to that.
- Comedy traditionally has picked on people in power,
people who abuse their power.
Women and gays and immigrants are kind of,
to my way of thinking, underdogs.
- If you don't like somebody act,
you vote with your feet, you don't go to it.
You don't go to act, you don't care.
- Do you like the act? - No.
- This same debate that we hear today,
it really started with Andrew Dice Clay.
(reflective music)
- [Debra] When does comedy go too far and promote hate?
- I think the difference comes down to
what are people taking away from it.
- Because it is such a larger than life personality,
you would assume that it wasn't necessarily true.
- Andrew Dice Clay is not Andrew, Andy.
He's a character.
He's misogynistic.
He's over masculine.
He's a testosterone monster.
That's not the guy that I know off stage.
- I think people have read too much into a stage character,
you know, and they just have it
all screwed up in their heads.
- For a comedian to create a character
that is rooted in sexism, racism, and homophobia,
but they're saying, oh, but it's just a character.
Well, is the audience picking up on that nuance?
- In Brooklyn, we don't have any gay people.
They're all dead. (laughs) (audience laughing)
All we got is a big sign that says welcome to Brooklyn.
Fourth largest city in America
with this dead (beep) hanging off the pole.
(audience laughing)
- If people go to a comedy show
and they hear a joke about gay people
and their takeaway is that gay people are less than,
they're second class citizens,
they don't deserve rights,
they deserve to die,
that's hate speech.
- My crowds laugh, they go home.
And that's the end of it.
There's never been one incident at any show
of, you know, guys beating up their girlfriends,
or hitting minorities, not one incident.
- [Interviewer] I want you watch this.
Just press play and I'll step out.
- Okay.
- Oh, shit.
And then you got these other people, right?
(scoffs) I don't know what they are.
(reflective music) (audience laughing)
They're not white.
They're not black.
- I had this one routine that I found really uncomfortable,
which is about what are these people, their color.
What are they, they're not brown, they're not black.
- They're like urine-colored, you know?
They walk around with their (beep) laundry
on their head and shit, you know what I'm saying?
- It was so ugly.
- I could relate to black guys.
I could hang out with black guys.
I can't hang out with a guy whose name is (hawking phlegm).
- When the racist person is the punchline,
they're the butt of the joke,
that's one thing.
But if you're making racism funny,
even if it's through a character,
if you're giving audience permission
that is racist.
- They don't know the (beep) language.
It's unbelievable.
I get in a cab, right?
I get in the (beep) cab.
And he's looking at me.
(speaking gibberish) (audience laughing)
I'm you fucking (beep).
Where did they grow you?
What rock did you crawl out from under, hey?
They should have a sign at the airport that says,
look, if you don't know the language...
- [All] Get the (beep) outta the country.
- Oh! (audience cheering)
- I know that.
And you know what?
I think when you make people live up to their own hatred,
I think that's the point where you gotta step back.
- And when it becomes vitriol,
in order for the sake of vitriol,
then it's not comedy anymore.
- I think as a comic, you have to start noticing
when your shows have turned from a comedy show
into like a rally.
- People would be chanting these, you know,
almost like Nuremberg.
It was scary.
(audience chanting)
As a gay man, I would never, ever be in that crowd.
(audience chanting)
- Cheering.
(audience chanting)
Roaring.
(audience chanting)
You are no longer a comedian.
You are a deity.
(audience chanting)
You are their God.
(audience chanting)
It's a monster you can no longer control.
(audience chanting)
(pensive music)
(reflective music)
- [Narrator] At the peak of his fame,
Andrew Dice Clay had legions of fans
who worshiped his every word.
(reflective music) (audience chanting)
- When anyone reaches the level of fame
and says outrageous, hurtful and stereotypical statements
to large audiences,
not only does it normalize
the attacks on women and minorities,
but we then find that there's an echo chamber
where it's repeated over and over and over.
- Get up, show this (beep) crowd what you got!
(audience chanting)
Get the (beep) up!
Turn around!
Show 'em those (beep) tits.
(audience chanting)
She was built for (beep), I could see that.
(audience cheering)
(reflective music)
- I do believe that words matter.
I think we're casting spells on people.
I'm a little Mr. Rogers in this regard.
We need to like recognize
that what I'm saying right now
is shaping your future.
Magic is real.
Spells are real.
Turns out it's not magic, it's just neuroscience.
It's called conditioning.
(ambient music)
- That's why it's dangerous.
That's why it translates into being adopted
by people who attack women,
attack gays, attack lesbians,
attack people who are transgender.
- [Narrator] While Dice was on stage targeting women,
immigrants, and the gay community,
these groups were experiencing real world harms.
- Violence against homosexuals was up 42% last year
to a record 7,008 incidents.
- Female commuters
may be looking over their shoulders tonight.
Police suspect a rash of sexual assaults
on women in the subway may be the work of one man.
- The violence reported
to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
range from verbal abuse to murder.
The group says the AIDS epidemic
has made homosexuals more visible.
and as a result, more vulnerable.
- In late eighties,
gay bashings were on the rise around New York.
And you could debate all day whether
or not Andrew Dice Clay is culpable
or responsible for any of that.
But the feeling at the time was,
he certainly wasn't helping.
- I was at that time,
fighting a number of discrimination cases
against my clients.
- [Narrator] Women's hall of fame inductee, Gloria Allred,
has been taking on major human rights cases since the 1970s.
(pensive music)
- People were denied rights
because of these stereotypes.
- I mean, it's almost impossible
to really convey to people today how bad it was.
And since gay men were overwhelmingly
the number one victims of AIDS,
it was very much seen as something that was,
didn't really concern the greater population.
And that's why so many of us died.
- [Reporter] So it seems the battle lines have been drawn
between Dice lovers and Dice haters,
while the comic is promoting his first film,
"The Adventures of Ford Fairlane".
- [Narrator] Protest over Dice's act
begin to cast a shadow over Dice's career,
with the soon to be released "Adventures of Ford Fairlane".
The film was a dream part for Dice
and his first starring role.
Widely expected to be a smash hit,
it was to be his first film in a three-picture deal
with 20th Century Fox.
(reflective music)
- [Interviewer] Do you worry about selling this picture?
- Nah, this movie's a hit, you know.
This movie's a hit.
I knew that when we were shooting it.
- [Narrator] But privately,
Dice would receive a career-changing blow.
- When it all happened, you know,
people walking out who are on TV shows
and protests and everything,
and that started to scare people.
And like, you know,
producers dealing with loads of monies,
studios and networks,
There's a lot of money so they got scared.
- You know, he was making all these crazy gay jokes.
The guys that were running the gay movement at the time
were sick of getting shit on.
And they said, okay, let's focus it on Andrew Dice Clay.
And let's go after the money behind him,
who are these gay men who are doing nothing about it.
Barry Diller's running Fox?
David Geffen?
Let's go after all these guys
and let's put posters around town.
Let's make their lives hard.
(reflective music)
And boom, the hammer came down.
- The head of the studio, Barry Diller,
basically said, get rid of 'em.
Let's bury the movie.
- [Narrator] As Dice gear's up to promote
"The Adventures of Ford Fairlane",
he learns the film will be released quietly
with limited promotion. (reflective music)
Worse still, the other movies in his three-picture deal
were not being made. (reflective music)
- There was a certain point that he reached
where he could no longer profit from this type of
woman bashing,
gay and lesbian bashing,
racial bashing.
It wasn't gonna be tolerated anymore.
- But I bet deep down,
the comedian, Andrew Silverstein,
is kind of quaking and going,
I didn't mean this to happen.
(reflective music)
(ambient music)
- This is Andrew Dice Clay.
(audience cheering)
- [Narrator] Facing intense backlash,
Dice appears on "The Arsenio Hall Show",
the day before "Ford Fairlane"
is to be quietly released into theaters.
(audience cheering)
- Everybody relax.
Relax, I'm here.
Actually, I'm not even gonna really do any more arenas,
you know, 'cause I did something,
I mean, people go, you know,
what's the real Andrew Clay Silverstein?
Who is that other, you know, opposed to Dice.
- [Narrator] With his dreams of movie stardom
beginning to drift out of reach,
Dice reveals another side of himself to audiences.
- Because I get, you know, who's Dice?
Who's Andrew Clay?
Who's the Jewish kid?
Who's the guy that's acting Italian?
You know, I get-
Well, you wanna know who he is?
I'll tell you.
(audience cheering)
- Andrew Clay, no, let me get this straight.
Andrew Clay is a guy that came out here about 10 years ago
and broke his ass.
Broke his ass, he believed in himself.
Became the hottest comic in the world.
And anybody that doesn't like it
can wipe their ass with whatever they say about me.
(audience cheering) - Hmm, I, that's...
- No, 'cause just lemme say this
because I always believe that you could take yourself
and put yourself. (exhales) (tense music)
- I actually feel he was getting choked up.
- No, wait a minute. (audience murmuring)
(audience cheering)
You put yourself where you want to be
and I broke my ass for 12 years.
And tomorrow when that movie opens,
the country's gonna see it
and they're gonna laugh their asses off.
And that's what it's about. (audience cheering)
- He chisels his way, you know,
his act to a point where the country responded.
(audience clapping)
- We'll take a commercial and come right back.
- When he broke down and said, this is who I am,
I'm Andrew Silverstein.
I saw him.
I saw the man.
I said, that's who that guy is.
And I was hoping that everyone would embrace that, as well.
- [Narrator] Skeptics said Dice was eager
to earn some sympathetic press.
(reflective music) (audience cheering)
- He has this crying moment,
which I think is fine to do.
- Nah, I get choked up 'cause uh,
you put yourself where you wanna be and uh-
- But then don't be surprised,
if your original fans hate you
because they're like what a pussy.
And you don't gain any new fans either.
- I just wanted to get up
and tell people who I really was and what I was about
and I got choked up.
So the only way to get out of it was to snap into character.
And I'm standing there going,
I can't believe I'm getting (beep) choked up.
(gloomy music)
- [Narrator] Some say Dice was desperate
to get away from his Diceman persona.
- Part of the complexity of what we create
is we begin to resent because people want more of it.
They want more of it.
But you've already created that and you're beholden to it.
So you're not doing comedy.
What you're doing is you're giving the people what they want
in order to get that paycheck.
(reflective music)
- Do I think Andrew Dice Clay is a bad person
because he found something that worked
and he said, I'm gonna milk it
and I'm gonna make as much money as I can,
to hell with what the perception of it is
from certain people?
A lot of people would've done the same thing.
- [Narrator] The Diceman persona held the key
to mega stardom,
but now, Dice couldn't break free.
- [Kliph] It was hard to step away from.
It's hard to reduce it
because it's really making you wealthy
and making you famous.
(somber music)
- It's so hard.
You have to be steadfast
and you have to be brave
to look something like that in the face and say, no.
(reflective music)
- Now, it's time for film.
You know, I'm quitting the concert business, actually.
You know, I did that, you know.
- [Narrator] But the controversy around Andrew Dice Clay
had become too hot for Hollywood to handle.
- There is a mythology surrounding "Ford Fairlane",
which is that the powers that be in Hollywood
kind of voted him off the island after that movie.
- I basically got blackballed in Hollywood.
You know, I couldn't get a job.
- It hurt like hell.
It hurt like hell.
(explosions detonating)
- [Narrator] For a while, he continued to tour
for his hardcore fans.
- This was in the green room
of the Comedy Connection in Boston, Massachusetts,
where I very first opened for him.
And this is right after our first show.
So you can see we're happy.
It was a fun show.
It was great.
It was a great night.
But as time went on, the fan base dwindled.
- He disappeared for a while
and was doing really tiny venues
and not even selling those out,
had a lot of career backlash
because of the type of comedy he did.
I had heard from someone who opened for him years ago,
that he's just always been brokenhearted
because he wanted to be a fine actor.
He wanted to be respected as an actor.
Maybe he learned a few hard lessons.
(reflective music)
(pensive music)
(upbeat suspenseful music)
- Andrew Dice Clay wanted to become
a famous entertainer, comic, movie star.
And for a brief period of time, relatively speaking,
he became what he wanted to be.
- You know, I wanted to develop the most outrageous persona,
the biggest persona ever in standup comedy ever
and I accomplished that.
- [Gloria] And he used those attacks on women and minorities
as a way to profit.
- But is that approach sustainable?
Andrew Dice Clay bottomed out pretty fast.
(reflective music)
- As funny as comedy is,
let's be real.
There's a complexity.
(reflective music)
I don't think it can be simply,
well, I think it's funny and I'm gonna keep doing it.
If that is the case,
and you notice that hatred is happening
and it's happening in the name of this thing,
then it is a reflection of you
and your responsibility or lack thereof.
- He always kind of knew that,
you know, he kicked the hornet's nest
and that he had some culpability in it.
He was always a little kind of befuddled by it.
- [Interviewer] Did you ever feel
like you ever hurt anybody?
Did anyone ever come up to you and go,
you know, you really- - Nah, never.
(reflective music)
- Andrew Dice Clay has to take responsibility,
which I have not seen him do yet.
Responsibility means acknowledging what you did wrong
to the people, to whom you inflicted that wrong.
- It's great power and great responsibility.
It's one of the great questions of humanity.
- [Narrator] Today, Andrew Dice Clay
is enjoying a career renaissance as an actor.
- Come in, it's open.
(indistinct) You don't look so good.
Ginger. - What?
- What are we doing?
We're playing charades?
I mean, come on.
- I really think he's fantastic in the film.
I love him.
When you hang around him for like five minutes,
you wanna like kind of act like him.
- [Narrator] As for Nora Dunn...
- Nora Dunn. - Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Walked off.
Do you have any vivid recollections-
- Oh yeah, I remember all that, yeah.
- [Narrator] Have her former coworkers reevaluated
how they treated her?
- And I remember Jan Hooks walks up and goes,
she's making us look like we're jerks
'cause we're doing our job.
And then she came back the next week
and nobody was speaking to her.
And she's crying.
(reflective music)
Tough.
She was, she was, uh.
She was not...
She was a real bitch. (audience laughing)
The whole time she was there, she was horrible.
- Calling a former coworker a bitch for boycotting a show
'cause it was something she didn't believe in?
In 2021, the audience laughs.
They laugh along with him.
- Nora Dunn,
when you boycotted that episode back in 1990,
you stood up for what you believed
because your comedy has integrity,
your creative space holds integrity,
your social responsibility holds integrity.
And if Nora Dunn is a bitch,
then B.I.T.C.H. stands for beautiful,
and tough, courageous and creative and honest.
Yeah, bitch!
That's the kind of bitch you are!
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] But Andrew Dice Clay
did not become a cultural phenomenon in a vacuum.
- That was the tone.
That's what got people off then.
- I don't agree with the things he said.
In fact, I'm appalled by some of the things he said,
but if he was bombing,
he would've never made it.
Then, obviously he crushed it.
And then people were like, (beep) yeah,
(audience chanting)
Not just fans and the people, but in industry.
He obviously got deals.
He obviously got all those things.
- When something is that large,
like a career that Andrew Dice Clay had
and the audience takes it too seriously,
we have to stop looking at just Andrew Dice Clay and say,
why am I giving you this much time and attention?
(dramatic music)
- You could see that he was,
had gone the line and crossed over it.
And he just went too far
and he was shut down.
(dramatic music)
- But he's still around.
He had a show on Showtime a few years ago.
We're doing a show about him right now.
We're talking about him right now.
- There's always gonna be people who are pushing the limits
or crossing the line,
but I hope that we can look at at the past
and learn from it.
(dramatic music)
We still have a long way to go.
(dramatic music)