Clay was born to a Jewish family[3] and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay.[4] His parents are Jacqueline and Fred Silverstein; he has one sister.[5] Clay's father worked in real estate sales and also as a boxer.[6][7][8] Clay was doing impressions and entertaining his family in his living room by age 5. He played the drums at James Madison High School and later worked as a drummer in the Catskills in the late 1970s.[6]
Career[edit]
In 1978, he auditioned at Pips, a local comedy club in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, doing comedic impressions, then headlined there the following week as "Andrew Clay." His act at the time included an impression of John Travolta in Grease and Jerry Lewis as The Nutty Professor. He did a character called "the dice man" that was wildly popular that was based on Buddy Love. Clay eventually became this character full-time in his act. Clay graduated to the major Manhattan comedy clubs, including Budd Friedman's The Improv, Catch a Rising Star and Dangerfield's. In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles, where he was "adopted" by Mitzi Shore, owner of the famed Comedy Store. His work at the Store led to sitcom appearances on M*A*S*H and Diff'rent Strokes. He later landed roles in movies such as Making the Grade (1984), Pretty in Pink (1986) and Casual Sex? (1988).
He had a regular role on Crime Story from 1986 to 1988.[9] He eventually turned from acting to pursue a career in stand-up comedy, focusing on the character "Dice" from Making the Grade. His big break came in 1988 when he did a seven-minute set at Dangerfield's during the Rodney Dangerfield special "Nothing Goes Right." It was there that he met his agent Dennis Arfa, which led to his first HBO special, and ultimately his starring role in the 1990 film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.[10]
