Andrew Dice Clay heads to Chandler with new standup tour

Shock comedian Andrew “Dice” Clay has been in the entertainment business for 50 years.

“That’s 47 years,” he interrupts, chuckling with the distinct musicality of his Brooklyn accent. “But why quibble, you know?”

That signature East Coast cadence would continue throughout our interview with him for Phoenix New Times. Dice, as he prefers to be called, is making a comeback in sold-out shows on his current eponymous tour.

He'll perform at Chandler Center for the Arts on Friday night. The event, which is presented by Mic Drop Mania Comedy Club of Chandler, is part of the Big Pine Comedy Festival.

By the end of the 1990s, Clay, born Andrew Clay Silverstein, had sold out Madison Square Garden twice, the first comedian to do so. Despite creating an iconic career around his toxic Dice character, his misogynistic and homophobic material was starting to wear thin before the turn of the century, and he was being systematically canceled even before hashtags were created to do the same.

Since then, he has continued to do the character in club venues for his devout fans, but his newest ones aren’t finding him there — they're following him on Instagram. To be fair, his internet presence isn’t the foul-mouthed, provocative, leather-clad chain-smoking lothario that made him famous. It's a softer, self-deprecating Clay who accosts the unsuspecting public and forces them to take a selfie whether they want to or not.

But the “Dice” isn’t dead. He was a guest on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s “Kill Tony” tour in early August, where he was such a success Hinchcliffe hired him on the spot.

“That was amazing,” Clay says. “When Tony asked me, I said, 'They're not gonna know who I am.'  And he goes, ‘They're not 70-year-olds, they're 20-year-olds. Who do you think is looking at you on Instagram?’ So he talked me into it. and when he introduced me, the place exploded, and you're talking about kids. They were as into it as 50-year-olds. I couldn't even believe it myself, because honestly, I was nervous to go up there. ... I put it up on Instagram the other day — just the intro — and they went berserk. I could have done an hour and a half for that crowd, so yeah, it's just amazing. They're just loving it and they're loving the kind of material.”

For those wondering if his material has changed over the decades, Clay says of course it has.

“Do I still do the poems at the end? When I'm doing a real concert, yes, because it is the most famous comedy signature piece that a comic’s ever had because the audience does it with you. That's why they want it.”

The comedian will turn 67 this month, just two days after his Phoenix appearance. He won’t brag about it, but he looks great. What he will say is that he’s not one to sit around and become couchbound.

“If I didn't do what I'm doing, I would be 300 pounds. I weigh about 203," he says, adding that he's up to over 900 crunches a day.

Physical prowess aside, is the Diceman fit mentally for a huge comeback, to perform in venues he hasn't done in years? Emphatically, he says yes.

“It’s what I geared myself to originally become,” he says, his tone turning slightly serious. “When I used to watch comics, like, 40 years ago or more, you know, they just didn't understand performance. So even some of these guys doing the arena circuit, they stand in one spot, they don't really put on a show. It's like you're better off seeing them in a club.

"But, coming up, I didn't study comics. I studied Elvis Presley and that's where I get my stage persona from. And, the ability to entertain gigantic crowds, you have to be visually stimulating or they’re gonna fall asleep in the nosebleeds."

Still, Clay admits that he didn't study any of the great comedians who came before him. He had no interest in it.

"A lot of comedians, they studied comedy through the decades all the way back to Chaplin and I couldn't care less," he says. "I basically knew what my destiny should be. That's it. It’s like, people who just never try, well, then they never do. You know, I'm a guy that constantly tries and constantly goes after things and that's just how I'm built. That's just what I love to do and I keep doing.”

Dice's tour makes a stop at the Cactus Comedy at Big Pine Festival. They asked him to do a set for them at the Chandler Center for the Arts. He has performed in Phoenix before, and he is enthusiastic to return.

“You know what, I'm excited to come there," he says. "I know it's a comedy festival that Mic Drop does and that they wanted me to be their big headliner in the theater there. It’s not like I'm getting those calls now, you know. So, uh I'm glad to do it.”

Andrew "Dice" Clay: 6 p.m. doors 7 p.m. show, Friday, Sept. 27. Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler. Tickets are between $59 and $250. For more information, visit the Chandler Center for the Arts website.