‘I Was the First One Canceled’

Andrew Dice Clay has seemed again on his notorious look at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, which resulted in his lifetime ban from the community.

“I was the first one canceled,” the comic declared throughout an look on the Talk Is Jericho podcast earlier than detailing the controversial set.

Clay was already considered one of comedy’s quickest rising stars when he took the stage at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on Sept. 9, 1989. His job was to introduce a efficiency by Cher, however issues began to take a flip backstage when producer Dick Clark approached Clay.

“I can’t even believe I’m meeting him,” the comic admitted. “Because I’m watching him since I was a little kid. It’s Dick Clark!”

READ MORE: 10 Ways Rock Ruled at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards

The producer’s notes began innocuously sufficient. “He goes, ‘If you’ve got to stretch for time, I’m going to send Arsenio [Hall, who was hosting] over and you’ll play around with him,” Clay recalled, including that issues had gone poorly earlier in the night time when two comedians equally tried to vamp to fill time.

“So I go, ‘No, no, no, no. I’m not doing that. Because my career is happening. I don’t want to bomb at the Universal Amphitheatre in front of 6,000 people,” Clay explained. “I go, ‘You can’t tell me that now.’ [Clark] goes, ‘Well I’m the producer of the show.’ I go, ‘I don’t give a fuck who you are!’”

The argument was quickly interrupted as Clay was introduced. The comic then walked onstage with a chip on his shoulder.

Dick Clark Had to Be Stopped From Tackling Andrew Dice Clay

“I always had an expression: ‘Nobody fucks with Dice. Dice does the fucking.’ So, you think you’re going to tell me what I do out there?” Clay famous, earlier than detailing a few of the raunchy materials he carried out on MTV. “I’m talking about fat girls going, ‘You don’t know where the tits begin, the belly ends. It’s like one big glop of shit.’ And you gotta understand, this isn’t HBO. They called it cable, but any house could get it.”

Backstage, Clark was fuming throughout Clay’s set and reportedly tried to cease the comic mid-performance.

“Arsenio had to jump him to stop him from getting on camera,” Clay recalled. “He tackled Dick Clark, because Dick was going to tackle me.”

Andrew Dice Clay’s Career Soared After MTV Ban

Clay ultimately did introduce Cher and, after strolling offstage, entered the close by pressroom. “Not one question [was asked],” he recalled. “The next day, they weren’t even talking about the winners of awards. It was all about Dice.”

Watch Andrew Dice Clay at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards

MTV rapidly introduced Clay had been banned for all times, however the comic performed little consideration to the punishment.

“What do I care? I’m not a singer. I’m a comic,” he remarked. Instead, the comic was rather more targeted on what the MTV look did for his profession.

READ MORE: Rock’s 40 Biggest MTV Moments

“So now I’m doing like 80,000 people a week as a comedian, and the first comic to ever do anything like this,” Clay defined. “I couldn’t come up with names of tours quick enough. Every country was offering me deals, I just didn’t want to go to other countries. I didn’t need to. It was just absolute bedlam at my shows. The audiences, when I would tell a joke, they’d scream like if it was Elvis singing a song.”

Interestingly, there was one man who argued in opposition to Clay’s MTV ban: Dick Clark.

“They get all these top dogs of MTV together and they’re all like, ‘Dice is banned for life. He’s never going to be allowed on MTV again,’” Clay noted. “And Dick Clark, as calm as can be… He goes, ‘Do you really want to do that? This guy is the biggest thing in the world today. Why would you want to ban him for life? I’d have him back next year.”