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tv   Tavis Smiley  PBS  November 6, 2014 12:00am-12:31am PST

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it's all emotion because you're telling your story. sops -- >> the thing is i like doing
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thing the way i like to do it. that's the way i've done it my whole life. >> you earned that right. >> working with him, he's a master at the doing autobiographies. i mean, everybody frommeta ja t james to marvin perry to myself -- just did yours, you know. so there were heated moments. but in the end, i let them know it's a masterpiece. what he did is incredible, and i give him all the credit in the world for it because i couldn't have done it alone. >> he worked on yours and worked with me on my "dr. king" book. but yours is the filthy truth. little bit different. >> i think my fan are going to enjoy it -- fans are going to enjoy it. >> i think your fans will enjoy it. which leads me to gask, when - this is not a critique, just a question. when, where and how did provocation -- because this is a provocative title, "the filthy
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truth," i would expect nothing less from you. when, where, and how did provocation become such a central piece to how you express yourself artistically? >> well, you know, i've been asked this in a lot of different ways, why my act is the way it is. when i look at the world, the '50s were nice, the '60s were nice. but as the worldesque%la esquee je escalates, i'm talking about human behavior between men and women. that's what i like to talk about on stage because that's how i make people laugh at themselves. when i take these sexual things and paint these bigger than life cartoonish, comedic pictures. that's what i like to do. and i kill them with it. there's nobody that can do it
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like that. i've had so many comics going, i want to be controversial like you. i go, i didn't set out to be controversial. i just set out to be funny. i come from brooklyn, new york, which i'll always thanks for being me. greatest stomping ground in the world to grow up. and i got a good look at the world that way. especially women because growing up in brooklyn, you got a lot of great girls in brooklyn. when i used to date girls, i would never think, you know, i know no means no. i grew up with a good family that taught me this stuff. i would never make a move on a girl quickly. i'd make her my girlfriend. then what would happen is i moved to l.a., and they had a whole different set of rules out there. you know? the girls out here, i felt like the girl. like i'd be like, you want to get something to eat? no, where do you live? w go, oh, okay.u live?
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then what i would hear come out of their mouths, the most beautiful girls, saying the filthiest things i'd ever hear, so when i started coming out of the act i started with which is impression and developing my on-stage persona as andrew dice clay, i wouldic that material and just blow it up and make it funny for people. >> there's so much people will learn --ka i'm glad you wrote ts because there's so much about your back story that people don't know that they will now know courtesy of "the truth." where did the nickname "dice" come from? >> that's in the book. >> come on -- >> no, all the years when people would ask me where the name "dice" comes from, i go, "i don't talk about it." it's not that big of a deal, yet it wound up as/ very big deal because of what went on with my career and what's going on with my career. >> let me ask you stuff from the
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book that you will talk about. >> i'll talk about anything. >> all right, except that. >> yeah. not that great of a story. >> i think tea party a great story. i digress, we'll leave that. i got more questions. necessa there's a lot to talk about. there's funny stuff, but there's also, dice, a lot of sobering stuff in here. i think every one of us who moves around the country like you do -- you're always on planes, i'm always on planes. you can't do anything sitting in one place. you got a lot -- to travel a lot. there's a sobering story here of one night when you thought you were dead on a plane over iowa -- >> yeah, yeah. >> idaho. >> no, coming out of iowa. i was doing a movie called "brain smash" with er terri hatcher. we had a 13-city tour, a private jet, six-seat jet. there were two shows i'd have to do in that tour in iowa, and
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when -- after we did the first show in iowa and we were flying through kansas city in a big storm. 300 feet from the ground, we hit a wind shear. the plane went sideways. everybody on the plane of just freaking -- was just freaking out. it was almost like almost famou famous," deal going down in a private plane. i crawled to the front to tell the pilots, just get us out of here, i don't care about the show. and all i could think about of a year old. that's all i could think about. it's like your whole life flashes. i'm like, i got to get us out of here. there's no way i'm not going home after this. it was bad. it was very bad. when they finally came around another way and did the show that night. i remember i had an opening act,
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eric edwards, a8" young kid, teaches acting. he was crying in the bathroom. and -- i was. i have to be the strength of the group, and i was saying, but we made it here. let's go out and make these -- it was like 10,000 people, let's make them laugh. >> how did that experience -- i've had a similar experience where i was on stage hours later. i actually at one point lost it on stage. and by losing it, i couldn't control -- i was trying to hold those tears down, and they came up. it turned out to be one of the great speeches of my life because people got a chance to see you in that moment where your humanity comes through. >> my guys got to see it, but the audience didn't. i was so thrilled to be alive, i just wanted to go out and destroy that audience. >> i'm going ask you, that's the way it impacted me. how did it impact you? was the performance even better
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that night? >> yeah. my whole thing has always been to -- to actually just thrill people. that's the kind of comic i am. i walk out going, i never saw anything like this. me. it was even more that night because it was like a celebration of life to me. the awed youyents didn't know what happened, and i didn't want them to know what happened. i just wanted them to have the time to come and see me -- the time of their lives coming to see me. what wound up happening, i called my father at the time. you know, i told him, just cancel the next show in iowa. i don't want to go back to iowa. i just got a bad feeling about it. within two days, he's calling, he has my buddy hop -- hotj tu johnny -- >> hot tub john? >> right. he said, finish the tour.
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i got angry at my agent. they didn't understand the severity of what we went through. i canceled the rest of the tour and went back to portland where they were doing the movie. >> was there a price that you paid for that? >> yeah, $250,000. >> i meant -- >> no, that was the price. we had to pay the promoters back that put up advertising, and i told my father, i don't care. i go, if you were on the plane, you would have understood what happened. you nearly lost your son. you know. and the same thing was said to my wife at the time. that relationship was rocky. >> is there anything you're i ask only because you that night had a scare in that plane. is there anything that in life frightens you? >> that's an interesting question. >> you seem like a guy that nothing -- >> well,7 i don't fear like physical thing. you know, like with other men,
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that kind of stuff. i've gotten my butt kicked a few times in my life. i know what it is to be hit. those kind of thing don't really scare me. >> ups and downs of your career? >> you know, when you pray at night, what do you pray for? to help your and your family. you know, that's what it's about to me. so i'm very protective of my family. >> yeah. the ups and down in your career don't scare you because you -- >> no, that i don't care about really. career -- like when -- when i went through the breakup with my wife, all i really cared about was raising my boys. had nothing to do -- what good is it to have 100 hit movies but your kids are idiots? you know what i mean? there was nobody there to -- if they want to show something they drew in school or there to pick them up if they fall, that's the most important stuff. you know, just to be there for them, to teach them, to raise them, to listen to them. that -- that's what i care
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but i would always tell my kids, you know -- they weren't even kids anymore. they were in their early teens. they would see me at the lowest lows because nothing of going on in the career. you know, i'd go out, i could make a living, but it was hard. you know, i used to tell them that i like teaching by example. i would say wait until i turn it on again. as i got older, i started getting the feeling to turn it on again because the one thing i feel great about today is working with guys like woody allen and martinkp scorsese, th top of the top, the top great actors, cate blanchett, you know, people like that, you know, is that you could -- you know, that's what i needed to do for myself once i brought them up. to prove that from years ago it wasn't just a fluke. and it's interesting because
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before my father passed away, one of our conversations was, he goes, you're going to climb up there again, and they're never going to be able to knock you down again. i would be like, how do you know? he goes, because you always had the talent. it's always been there, it was just overshadowed by all that negative press and, you know, what you -- he goes, you wanted to become the elvis of standup comedy. he goes, and you did it. he goes, what happened to elvis when he first took off? everybody was against him until ed sullivan said this is a great guy. he goerks you always had the talent. he office until i started "the entourage." >> you said to your boys, "wait until i turn it back on again. wait until inr turn it back up again." you said that with confidence that you knew you could dial it back up. >> well, i always knew my talent. see, that was the thing other comedians couldn't take when i
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was starting out. even at 2:00 in the morning if there were nine people on the crowd, i come off stage -- comic always look to knock each other down. say a comic walk over and goes, "tough set, you had, dice?" i go, "tough set." those same people will pay thousands to sit in the front row of the garden. i knew what i was meant to do. i had this conversation with my son, dylan, the other night about knowing inside what you're meant to do. like if you find your talents, you know, it's what you do with it. you know, like people talk about god-given talent. i feel my sonszw have god-given talents, and they're proving it. but it's what you do with it. god isn't there to go, okay, now you've got to stop playing these clubs. once you find your talent, what you do with it is up to you. i always believed in myself. the one thing that is absolutely true about who i am is my
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confidence and belief in my abilities. >> did you believe that -- did you believe or know or hope that the business would let you back in? >> i didn't think about it in that way. i just went for it. especially once i got "entourage." doug allen who writes the forward in this book, he know it as well as i did. he was a fan when he was a smki and he writes about it. he says said, "i'm putting you on the last season of "january tr entourage," and wait until you see what happens." he knew. i give him all the credit in the world because, you know, what was unbelievable is that the first movie i get after "entourage" is woody allen. you know, that blew my mind. >> how much more dialup do you have left? i'm hearing rumor again about madison square garden again. >> well, what is coming 25th an
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did madison square garden. and we've been talking about this, me and my crew you and agent. i'm excited about my acting career. i have a show in the works at fox 21. i'm doing the show for martin scorsese, his new hbo project. but i think i owe to myself and all these people that have been so behindv7hiñycfcrñiçsc?z
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just to show my sons at a time when i wasn't doing it what it would feel like because i knew it would go in. there were only six in ten. now -- they were only 6 and 10. now they're 20 and 24. we were talking that this is an event that in pop culture will never be forgotten. and i like to be that guy and influence all these other generations of comics that are coming up now. somebody's got to do it, i'm the one who's got to do it. >> does that many's going to happen? >> you know what, i can't tell you for sure. i'm not going to say for sure. do i want to do it? i got to train my butt off because you've got to physically be ready to face a crowd of 18,000. if i'm going give them that show, i want it bigger and stronger and better than i've ever been. >> let me throw some themes at you. you can throw anywhere you want to take it. theme that are covered in this
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book. in no particular oord -- women. there's a lot of women in this tech. >> yes, there are. you know, i try to give the fans a look at what i was when i was younger which is an animal. what i was in my 30s, which of an animal. what i am now which is still an animal. you met my wife, you know. i always just loved women. more important than loving women, more important than sexual stuff is i always believed in romance. you know, that's why i got married three times. that's why i believe in it. you know, with my -- my last wife -- you know, my children's mom, you know, that went on for 16 years because i always believed you could fix whatever problems. then you hurt a certain level, and if it's not working comes a time you got to part. >> gambling. a lot of gambling. >> lot of gambling.
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and you know what, i've had a lot of fun with that, i'm not into it now. i used it during the recession. i didn't gamble for ten years. you know, i was being threatened with foreclosure, all that stuff. i had like 30 grand, went to vegas and won $1.150 million with that money. i got in a cycle for a few years. you never get to really keep the money. if you're going buy a car, buy it the day you win. which i did. i bought four cars. i paid off a lot of bills and then lost 80% of it back. that's what it is. i don't look at gambling as an accomplishment. i looked at it to help me, and it did. i don't suggest to anybody watching the show because you're going to wind up losing. that's how the game goes, you know.
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when you win a lot of money at a table, that's great, but there's no accomplishment there. when you stand on stage at a place like madison square garden and you got 20,000, 18,000 people going nuts from the talent that was god given, that's an accomplishment. when you film something for martin scorsese and you see it on tv and go look at this, that's accomplishment, that's lasting. so i got sicked in again. it went in a cycle for a while. i re -- you'll read about the gamb gambli gambling. >> the business, agents, managers, studios. the business. >> you know what? i love it. no matter what i've been through in show business, and i've been through a lot, i wouldn't -- i wouldn't change what i do for anything in the world. you know, and i think spike lee said it best when he goes, to be able -- this isn't an exact
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quote. he said, to do what you love, to get out of bed and do what you love every day is an amazing thing. so, i preach that. that's what i see to people. if that's something you love to do, it's worth fighting for. anything i ever went through with agents, managers, it's all part of the business. you know, it's like the godfather. this is the business we chose. you know, only when we're not shooting each other, just badmouthing. everybody in the business, you work with somebody, they're the greatest. the day you don't work with them, i hate that guy. it's a funny business. >> the acting, i sense from the text and from this conversation and from the prior conversation that you want to do a lot the more -- >> i love acting. that was always the aim. the aim of not comedy. i -- the aim was not comedy. i just used the comedy stiej develop my acting chops.
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you know, rather than being in acting school, a traditional acting school and do a scene once a week, i was able to get on a stage every night. i didn't know the comic i was when i started. that all developed. i started going, you know, you really are funny. you know, what's your point of view? i started going on stage and thinking about the life i was leading and -- you know, i'm talking about when i was 21, 22, 23. and seeing the experiences i was living in hollywood will. -- in hollywood. i just start talking about it on stage. >> you've been at this for 35 years now. how have your values or what you value changed over that 35 years of doing this? >> the values are the same because i was taught well, but the reasons become different. see, we're in such a narcissistic business. when i see actresses, actors,
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it's all about me. you know, see, i never did it for all about me. of course i wanted to accomplish personally, but i loved my family so much when i was growing up, my parents, my sister, i wanted to give them everything they dreamed of. my mother used to sit around saving a few years dollars from my father, you know, to get that garden apartment condo in florida. and i used to say, "ma, don't save it, spend it. don't worry, i'll take care of it." "how are you going take care of it?" "the face, i'm a star, ma." they wound up getting everything they dreamed of. now it's about my sons. they give me the reason. you can either fold, or you can show them what it take to make it in this world. just watching them and seeing them grow into what they want to do is -- is the biggest pleasure in my life. >> the dice man is back. if you want to know what and how dice became the name, you got to
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buy the book. but the book is out now. it's called "the filthy truth: andrew dice clay with david rich." i'm glad you got this done. i'm glad you came back because you promised you would to talk about it. i look forward to you continuing to dial it up. >> thank you very much. >> good to have you back. good to see you, my friend. that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching. and as always, keep the faith. ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. hi, i'm tavis smiley. joining me next time for a conversation with felicity jones. that's next time, see you then.
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made possible by viewers like you. thank you.
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and their buns are something i have yet to find anywhere else. >> 'cause i'm not inviting you to my house for dinner. >> breaded and fried and gooey and lovely. >> in the words of arnold schwarzenegger, i'll be back! >> you've heard of connoisseur, i'm a common-sewer! >> they knew i had to ward off some vampires or something. >> let's talk desserts gentlemen, 'cause i se

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