Andrew Dice Clay is a comedian who has attracted a cult following with his distinctive obscene brand of entertainment. Writing all his own material, he has also worked as an actor and producer.
Andrew Clay Silverstein was born on September 29, 1957, in Brooklyn, New York. He started working as an actor in his early twenties, managed by his father, Fred Silverstein. Early television appearances included roles in M*A*S*H, with Alan Alda and Loretta Swift, and Diff'rent Strokes, with Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges. He got his first film role in 1983, with Greydon Clark's Wacko, and went on to appear alongside Judd Nelson and Dana Olsen in independent comedy Making The Grade.
It was from the name of his character in this film that he took the nickname Dice, later to be expanded to the Diceman, a creation whom Clay describes as "a macho moron" but whom he clearly relishes playing to entertain audiences. He played another version of Dice in Pretty in Pink, alongside Molly Ringwald, Harry Dean Stanton, James Spader, and Andrew McCarthy.
Though he continued to take small roles in films such as the Michelle Pfeiffer comedy Amazon Women on the Moon, and to do television work with an ongoing role alongside Joseph Wiseman in Crime Story, it was at this point that Clay shifted the main focus of his career onto stand-up comedy. His stated interest was in creating the most offensive show possible, and he attracted heavy criticism for some of his material, especially that which included racist comments, though he always insisted that these represented his characters' opinions and not his own. He also became famous for his obscene versions of popular nursery rhymes. Gaining popularity on the club circuit, he achieved major stardom with the success of his comedy album Dice, which sold astonishingly well in a section of the industry notorious for its quiescence. Ice Cube's decision to use samples from it on his own records helped it reach a still wider market, and Clay followed it up with The Day the Laughter Died, which made it into the top forty album chart. This popular success led to appearances on Saturday Night Live and sell-out gigs in such major venues as Madison Square Garden.
Clay's career took a downturn in the early 90s after the failure of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, the first film in which he had taken a leading role, starring alongside Priscilla Presley and Robert Englund. Anxious to get work, he agreed to drop the Diceman persona, at least on a temporary basis, in order to take a role in the mainstream sitcom Bless This House (with Cathy Moriarty), but he lost the part after just three episodes when he was caught performing his old routine in a club.
A dispute with Howard Stern subsequently led to him losing his regular spot on Stern's radio show, and he faded from public visibility for several years. Recently, however, he has decided to come out of retirement with the VH1 reality show Dice: Undisputed.
Clay has been married twice, first to Kathleen Swanson, for two years, and later to the actress Kathleen Monica, with whom he has two sons, Max and Dylan. Though the couple have now separated, he remains actively involved in raising his children. He is engaged to former wrestling star Eleanor Kerrigan, also known as EZ Rider.
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