Summary Of Human Clay By Chuck Klosterman

In Chuck Klosterman’s essay, “Human Clay” he argues that Andrew Dice Clay will never make a cultural comeback even if he died. The fact that things that weren’t acceptable in the past are somehow acceptable in the present is evidence that culture is coarsening. On the contrary there are two exceptions to this rule in terms of vulgarity which include mainstream rap music e.g 2 Live Crew which in retrospect set the limit for how explicit music can get and mainstream stand up comedy e.g Andrew Dice Clay. Unlike other disputable stand up comedians Clay will never become relevant to culture again because of, three main reasons, Clay himself, the era of his popularity had past, and his audience. Andrew Dice Clay is the #1 reason he will never make a cultural comeback. Clay will never be back on top simply because the character he claimed to be while preforming was too closely related to the

During this time people had to be cautious of the words they used which “drove artists to linguistic extremes, and it drove audiences to Andrew Dice Clay” (Klosterman 100). While at Clay’s show his audience was free to say whatever they wished while being able to pin their words to him. As Klosterman explains it, “the only arbitrator was Clay. When the audience chimed in with “What a whore!” they were able to say something without really saying it (because they were technically speaking for Clay, who was latently speaking for them)” (101). The type of people who made up his audience lived vicariously through him in regards to this era because they needed a place to switch up what was politically correct. Since this era had people lusting for a “safe place” for their linguistic desires it made it the only era in which Clay could have achieved being a megastar. However once this era ended his audience was able to move on, Clay on the other hand may never be able to