by Comedian/actor Andy Dick got his break along with many other alt-comics of the 1990s on the short-lived Ben Stiller Show, but he really got the public's attention later that decade with his portrayal of a wacky radio employee on NBC's NewsRadio. But somewhere along the line, his life became, well, a little Less Than Perfect, and the exploits offscreen became his persona and his reputation. Several trips to rehab later (including one televised on Sober House), Dick is attempting to come back again. This time, he's doing it online via his Atom.com talk show, House Arrest with Andy Dick, and a live touring musical production that shows its influences from another "crazy" Andy, Andy Kaufman. That tour comes to NYC this weekend at Carolines.
I saw Andy Dick's live show last month at Just For Laughs Chicago, and the next day, sat down with the performer to talk to him about that and more, including his new pilot deal to develop a talk show for Comedy Central. You'll notice he's not quite as wild and crazy as the guy who was getting press for all of the wrong reasons a couple of years ago.
Here's the first part of that chat, in which he talks about the differences between him and Kaufman, how he uses Twitter and technology to stream his shows free to fans, how he and his Los Angeles neighbors are all revolutionizing the talk-show game, and more:
After the jump, I asked him how it felt, a year clean-and-sober, to reflect on his career in terms of where he's been and where he could be going now…
