Resurgent Diceman sees himself as Rocky of comedy

And now it's time for tender moments with Andrew Dice Clay.

"I don't know what would be harder to quit - cigarettes or chicks. I'd have to go with the cigarettes. Nah, I'd go with the chicks. I could live without the cigarettes, but not without the chicks."

We're sitting in the Starlite Theatre in the Riviera. Dice headlines Starlite. Before showtime, the room is empty and quiet except when we talk, and except when Dice fires up three cigarettes in a half-hour.

He gave up cigarettes years ago. But he went through a heavy divorce. His parents died. He had sons to raise. So he rediscovered butts.

"If you're a smoker, you're gonna light up again," he says, still a voice grown in Brooklyn.

At 54, Dice's career is erect again. He was on "Celebrity Apprentice" in 2009. He's been doing this Riviera gig. He's touring. In August, he will record his first special (in Boston) in a decade and a half.

Also in August, he begins acting in Woody Allen's next film, co-starring Alec Baldwin and Louis C.K., among others. He is ecstatic about this development. (Let's be honest, being cast in a Woody Allen movie is more respectable than winning an Oscar at this point.)

Allen cast Dice in a beefy role as a tough guy, choosing him over Dice's friend, Louis C.K., who won a smaller part. This is interesting since, if you listen to me, I'll tell you Louis' stand-up is absolutely dirtier than Dice's was when Dice was catching hell a generation ago.

Dice didn't censor himself so long ago, and neither does Louis.

But Dice - despite selling out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row, a comic's record - had to deal with media backlash calling him crude and sexist, etc., whereas Louis is a media darling.

But Dice tells me they are two different comedians, and these are two different eras.

"Well, you know what?" Dice says. "I dealt with the backlash. I came through it. You know what I mean? That's what I love about myself. I refer to myself as the Rocky of comedy."

Anyway, Dice loves Louis, who also went through a divorce and now jokes about it onstage and in his FX show.

"I love his success, because I know a lot of what he's been through, personally and in the business."

Dice loves his sons Max and Dylan. As we do this interview, Max and Dylan are setting up drums. They've been playing rock songs since they were kids. They're opening for Dice on the night of this interview.

Dylan is an actor, too.

"He (Dylan) likes actors like Ryan Gosling, and (Leonardo) Dicaprio, and James Franco. Those are like the kinds of roles he wants to play in film," Dice says.

I bet, I say, who doesn't? But Dice vouches for Max.

"He's got that depth to him. Because I would know in a second, because if I wasn't a performer, I woulda wound up a manager. I could always tell when somebody's got talent."

Max is a comic, too. Dice and Max will sit outside his house until 4 or 5 in the morning, going over bits.

"I'm like his comedy coach," Dice says. "I always tell my kid: 'Take your own path. Don't live in my shadow. Whatever kind of comedy you wanna do, just make it kinda truthful about what you already (know).' "

Dice loves his wife, Valerie. They got married Valentine's Day 2010 in Vegas.

"It's working out great. You know, that's also something I try to teach my kids. This is my third marriage, but I never gave up on romance no matter what I've gone through with anybody else."

I ask: How is that possible, not to give up on romance?

"You move on to the next one. And you give it another shot," he answers.

"There are some guys that become like women haters. That's not what I've ever been about. That's why anytime I've ever read press about how - 'He doesn't like women' - how could I (not) like women, if all I talk about onstage is sex?

"And I talk about it in a funny way - in a cartoonish way - that I paint these unbelievably crazy sexual pictures for people to laugh about their own life.

"We're all humans, and we're all sick in the head, but nobody likes to admit it."

I reiterate to him: It's remarkable he still has faith in relationships, since many of us get fed up with all the crap.

"I like the game. I don't mind the game. Yeah, because that's what life is. It's a game."

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.