Getting sober almost a year ago and stepping away from work in network television has put comedian Jeff Dye in the right place.
“I was a terrible alcoholic. High functioning, but very addicted,” he said from his home in Los Angeles. “Since getting clean, my writing has gone crazy. I write every day. I’m able to generate more material, ideas, and content at a level I never thought I was capable of. .”
Combine that with leaving TV shows like NBC’s “Better Late Than Never” and you have a how-to guide to making good comedy.
“The Internet has become the Wild West. I can say what I want and do what I want,” Dye said. “That wasn’t the case when I worked at NBC. They said, ‘Jeff, we’re not political here, so you can’t say that.’ And they made me read something about “Black Lives Matter” and I said I don’t think we’re political? What the networks and TV channels really mean is, we’re not going to play your politics, but we’re going to let you play our politics. ”
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Dye is scheduled to perform at Bootburn Hall on Thursday.
Politics is one sensitive subject that Dye isn’t afraid to address in his stand-up. But everything is political now, he says.
“People treat being a Republican or a Democrat like a religion,” he says. “They don’t call it a religion because they don’t belong to a church, but all their activities and indiscreet traditions are religious. Sometimes I’m wrong or insensitive. Yes, but most of the time I am successful in pushing back on what is right. We all like to think we are rational, but when we look at algorithms and echo chambers, we It’s not as rational as you think.”
Growing up in Kent, Washington, Dye knew he wouldn’t make a name for himself through track and field or grades. His job was to make people laugh.
“It turns out that class clowns make a living,” he said.
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He remembers when, in first grade, he told a joke to his friend Joseph and Joseph said it out loud, making the whole class laugh. After a few minutes, he told another joke and Joseph also said it out loud and got a laugh.
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“I thought this is no good. I’m not just going to keep saying lines so Joseph can say them out loud and get a laugh,” Dye said. “I said that out loud and headed off to the races. That became my goal – to get a laugh.”
Due to very poor grades, he did not go to university, but worked as a Young Life leader and youth group leader, where he drew sketches and characters that made children laugh. Eventually, he worked up the courage to try comedy, wandered into an open mic at a Seattle comedy club, and fell in love with the art form.
Three years later, in 2008, he competed and placed third on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and became a touring comedian across the United States. Since then, he has worked on several television shows, including the Fox game show “Who the Bleep is That?” He filmed Comedy Central specials on “The Masked Singer” and “The Masked Singer,” and recorded two albums, including “Dumb is Gooder.” He also appears regularly on FOX News’ “The Greg Gutfeld Show.”
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“I’m much more conservative and Republican than many people in Los Angeles and here,” Dye said. “When I go on Fox, I’m more liberal than the Fox News guys. It’s interesting that I don’t really have a home group. I publish issues. I get lonely sometimes.”
But he’s fine with not conforming to the city’s political beliefs. In fact, he admires people who can stick around where they are an outlier.
“It’s not heroic to leave something out of anger,” Dye said. “I don’t think it’s heroic to say you move to Nashville or Austin or Florida. Instead of surrendering, you stay somewhere and fight for what you think is right, and the people around you It’s better to embarrass people and make them stand their ground, just like all the famous people who say, Wow, how brave of you, how brave of you to leave. It doesn’t make any sense at all.”
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