Andrew Dice Clay is a standup comedian whose humor one critic described as "so gross that it cannot really be descrubed in any detail in a general circulation magazine or new paper, even for the purpose of calling attention to its hatefulness."Another calls his humor simply "raunchy language and derogation of women."
But CBS, eager for a sitcom to capture an audience of late boomers, introduced Clayas Burt Clayton, a postal worker, devoted father, and loving husband (to co-star Cathy Moriarity) in bless This House. The network gambled that women could be persuaded to watch despite Clay's reputation, which he himself dismissed as just a character, just a joke, and not the real guy, As an indication that the real Clay was indeed the show's star, the network and Andrew dropped "Dice" from his name. OK, said the critics, Dice has gone Nice.
When House fizzled in mid-season, Clay recanted his earlier "It's not the real me!" line and signed on with HBO for a humor special called " Assume the Position." Now pay cable's most successful network sent its promoters to work, describing their headliner this way: "Clay is just as raw, rowdy, and raunchy as ever in this uncensored all-new hour of his trademark adults-only humor." At all this taking and shedding of personas, Chicago Tribune television critic Steve johnson wondered
Are there no women, jews, or people of conscience in the HBO chain of command? Dose the channel really believe that "controversy" is a positive value, that income generation is its own justification? . . . And the more [Clay] revisits his "ranting and raving' past, the less likely it is that anyone could possibly try to rehabilitate his career one more time. Is n'tit?
All humor takes a target. Yon cannot tell a joke except that someone's foible are exaggerated or someone's features extended. Humor, by nature, asks that normality be dismissed and incredulity embraced
Is humor above moral considerations, then? Intuitively, we think not. No one jokes about corpses at a funeral or about airline incompetence at the site of a tragic plane crash. Feelings too fragile for laughter are not subjected to humor's latitudes. We respect human feelings by restraining humor when further hurt would be its immediate result. Humor's purpose is a pleasant moment of joy. not a groan or a tear.