Andrew Dice Clay to star in Showtime comedy series

March 1, 2014. Actor Andrew Dice Clay arrives at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California. (Reuters)

Andrew Dice Clay’s career comeback bid is about to get a boost with Showtime handing the comedian a six-episode order for the semi-autobiographical series “Dice,” targeted to air in 2016.

The scripted series will revolve around Clay’s life in Las Vegas as he tries to reclaim his former stature as a standup comedian while juggling obligations to his family, his ex-wife and former finance. Series hails from writer Scot Armstrong (“The Hangover II”) and Fox 21 TV Studios. Clay, Armstrong, Sean Furst, Bryan Furst, Richard Shepard and Bruce Rubenstein are exec producers.

The half-hour single-camera series is set to begin filming in Las Vegas later this year. Clay is also toplining the Showtime comedy special, “Andrew Dice Clay Presents the Blue Show,” set to bow April 25.

“Love him or hate him, Dice is a true original, and Dice is always funny,” said Gary Levine, Showtime’s exec VP of original programming. “After a career full of ups and downs, he’s hotter today than ever. Plus, we were looking to do a semi-autobiographical comedy about a one-named icon and Cher was busy.”

Clay made a splash in the late 1980s with his raunchy material and salty language (even by the standards of standup comedy). He was famously “banned for life” from MTV in 1989 after delivering a foul-mouthed routine at the VMA Awards. But his career sputtered within a few years after he made some lackluster movies and forgettable sitcoms, including UPN’s “Hitz” and CBS’ “Bless This House.”

Clay’s career-rehab efforts got a lift from his role in the final season of “Entourage” in 2011. In addition to regular long stints in Vegas, Clay is touring and toplined his first TV special in years for Showtime in 2012, “Indestructible.” He also had a role in Woody Allen’s 2013 film “Blue Jasmine.”

Clay’s rags-to-riches-to-rags trajectory will be fodder for “Dice.” Fox 21 TV Studios execs funded an initial presentation for the show out of their own pocket, which was enough to land a straight-to-series order from Showtime president David Nevins.

“We realized there was a lot of humor and heart in the story of a once-superstar comedian having to crawl back to have a career — a true second act,” said Fox 21 TV Studios president Bert Salke. “Sean, Bryan and Richard immediately saw the potential for a series, and we so believed in it that we asked Scot Armstrong to write and direct a homemade presentation — which David and Gary loved so much they ordered it straight to series.”

Click here to read more in Variety.