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Andrew Dice Clay talks being PC, getting fired, grocery shopping

It’s one o’clock in Las Vegas and Andrew Dice Clay just rolled out of bed. “I’m just getting started,” he said of the rainy summer day — and the second act in his career.

Dice is on TV, on stage and on the big screen. Is that enough? Nah. “My sons have a rock band and I’m managing them.” He’s also ready with the sage advice of a show-business survivor.

“I tell them that you don’t wait in this business. You take your success,” said Dice, calling from the home he has owned for two decades near the Vegas Strip.

“I didn’t wait for the industry to come back to me. I went after it,” he said of emerging from a career lull into a second act that includes sold-out club dates, a Showtime series called “Dice,” which was filmed at the Tropicana and returns Aug. 20, and a movie career that includes playing Lady Gaga’s father in the upcoming film, “A Star is Born.”

The Brooklyn native is at the Laugh factory at the Tropicana July 23, 28-30 and August 11-13.

Review-Journal: What is a typical Sunday like for you?

I’ve had a house in Vegas for 18 years. I love it. On Sundays, I’ll stay home or go to the gym. I’m a local. I do a little gambling. But most of all, I try to stay active and get ready for my week.

So, we might see you at Smith’s stocking up on almond milk and bread?

One hundred percent you might see me at Smith’s or at LVAC. What I love about Vegas is it’s a cool city where you can do anything. I’m a guy who is up late, so if you want to go out to eat, it’s Vegas. You’re going to eat. But I still go to the grocery store.

Do you remember the first time you ever came to Vegas?

It was 1979, and I was on my way to L.A. to do a showcase at the Comedy Store. I stopped in Vegas where Sandy Hackett, who is Buddy’s son, was doing showcases at the Sahara. That was my first trip to Vegas. I put some money in a slot machine and won $400 bucks. I started thinking I found a new way to make a living. Hours later, I was calling my sister in San Diego saying, ‘The machine took all my money. I can’t even afford a room.’ I was only 21 and had never left Brooklyn before.

Didn’t you get fired from your first job here?

When they opened the Comedy Store at the Dunes, I was hired to headline. It was me, Jim Carrey and Roseanne, plus Paul Rodriguez. It was great times, but the first time I worked in Vegas, I got fired for language. I was already into the Dice thing and the owner of the Comedy Store here warned me the first night. I could have cared less about what she had to say. I was going to go out there and kill the crowd. After that second show, I said, ‘Yeah. I know. I gotta go home.’

What did you do after being canned in Vegas?

All I remember was standing outside on the Strip and looking across the street at Bally’s. There was a big billboard saying: Tom Jones Is Here. I said, ‘That’s my hotel. That’s where I’ll be.’ I ended up doing Bally’s for 12 years.

How does a comedian sell out arenas?

I sold out a 25-city tour in 20 minutes before the Internet with just an ad in the newspaper. They called it Dice-mania. I remember selling out the Stardust here where Wayne Newton would do the early shows and I’d do the late shows. It took about five years to get me down to earth again.

Then you seemed to disappear or a few years.

I went through a divorce and my sons lived with me. I brought them up and that’s what I really focused on. I call raising my boys my real accomplishment. During those years, I would tell my sons, ‘Boys, wait ’til I step on the gas pedal again.’ When they were old enough, I came back to shows like ‘Entourage,’ and then I did movies with Woody Allen and TV with Scorsese.

You also came back to stand up comedy in Vegas.

As far as Vegas goes, when I came back, I was playing in the back. I sold 12 million tickets back in the day and ended up coming back by playing in the back of a sushi restaurant at the Palazzo. You go up and down and up again.

Are fans surprised to find out that off stage you’re really a sweet, deep feeling guy?

I tell my audience, ‘I don’t want to meet ya or hang out with ya after the show. If you see me in the casino, leave me alone. I’ll give you everything I got right here on stage.’ They always laugh. I mean, what performer says, ‘I don’t want to meet ya? I don’t want to sign anything. I don’t want to hear any of your dopey stories?’ I still have people come up and say, ‘I know you don’t like to talk to people….’ I always say, ‘But you seem okay. What’s goin’ on?’ Then I take 20 selfies. What can ya do?

You got raves for Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine,” and now you’re starring opposite Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in the upcoming remake of “A Star in Born.” How did that happen?

Bradley saw me in ‘Vinyl,’ a TV series I did for Scorsese. Then he called me and that turned into a three-hour conversation. Three days later, without even auditioning, he offered me the role of Lady Gaga’s father. I play a good Dad who loves his daughter and only wants the best for her.

What’s it like to work with Gaga?

We’re great together. As an actress, she kicks ass. When the cameras weren’t rolling we talked about how she has been on tour with Tony Bennett, whom I love. She said she did that to introduce the millennials to that kind of music. Kids see DJs today. They won’t even have memories of bands.

Didn’t you make Bradley Cooper cry during one of the scenes?

One day on the set of ‘A Star is Born,’ I had the whole crew weeping. Bradley didn’t want to know what I was going to say beforehand. He wanted to hear it while it happened. So, I worked on this part for months to get the words out right. Then I showed up on the set and you could hear a pin drop. I looked at Bradley who was also behind the camera, and I heard him crying.

How do you describe your second act?

My comeback has been compared to the resurgence of Travolta or Sinatra. Most people who are gigantic and get knocked down, you never see them again. That’s my thing. I fight for it. And I always fought for my family. My kids are the best thing I ever did with my life.

Let’s finish with a word from Dice about not being politically correct.

PC! I don’t care about PC — and I will never fold. I even work body shaming into it when I’m on stage. I hear, ‘But Diiiiceeee, it’s 2017, you can’t do body shaming. It’s just not right.’ I just say, ‘I didn’t make him look that way!’ To me, if it’s funny, it’s okay. My words are old school.

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