STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERFive years ago, current sophomore Josh Stein approached comedian Andy Dick at a St. Louis comedy club and asked for his autograph. Dick’s response? “Eat my balls.” Based on Andy Dick’s antics on campus this past weekend, it seems that not much has changed.
Dick visited Washington University Saturday night for a performance at the Edison Theatre with the “Un-Cabaret,” an alternative comedy troupe. His raunchy routine did not end onstage, however, as several cast members of “The Glass Menagerie” experienced for themselves backstage during intermission.
In the cast dressing room, freshman Robert Klemisch found himself engaged in what was initially a relatively normal conversation with the comedian.
“He kind of came up and talked to us at first, and we got a couple of autographs,” said Klemisch. “Then he went back into his dressing room for a rather long period of time. He started to play guitar and sing along to it really loudly. After a while he came back out and was a lot happier.”
Klemisch explained that Dick then kept asking the cast questions about “The Glass Menagerie.” Klemisch also talked to Dick about “where [he is] from, and how he wound up in St. Louis.”
Sophomore Matt Shapiro agreed that Dick seemed “normal at first, but that didn’t last for long.”
“We were all pretty excited to meet him since he is, I suppose, a B-list celebrity,” said Shapiro. “We were talking to him, and when I asked him how he normally warmed up for a show, he replied, ‘I drink a beer and smoke some weed.’ I thought this was a somewhat amusing answer until it turned out to be true, what with the smell of marijuana smoke strongly moving out of his dressing room shortly after that conversation.”
According to Klemisch, Dick seemed interested in moving the party back into his dressing room.
“Later, during intermission, Andy was there again, and I asked for a picture with him so I could tell my friends I had actually met him and had proof,” said Klemisch. “He told me I should come into his dressing room, so I walked in there and he closed the door. And then he asked, ‘Are you allowed to smoke pot?’ and I said no. He asked me if I had a girlfriend, and I lied and said I had one back home.”
After finally posing for a picture with Klemisch, Dick’s behavior reached a new level of flirtatious madness.
“[After the picture] he gave me a kiss on the neck, and then I said ‘Bad Andy!’ and he told me, ‘Oh, you haven’t seen Bad Andy!'” said Klemisch. “At that point, I had had enough of Andy Dick for the evening, so I walked out and got ready for the second half of the play.”
Shapiro said he was continually shocked by Dick’s behavior throughout the night.
“[He kept asking me] how old I was and if I had a boyfriend or girlfriend,” said Shapiro. “When I found out that he was 38-twice my age-and I pointed that out to him, he said that he thought that was sexy. At one point, when I was backstage by myself…he approached me, hugged me, kissed my neck, patted my butt twice and quickly ran his hand over my crotch. Ah, the lifestyles of the rich and famous.”
Shapiro noted that he wasn’t impressed with Dick’s performance onstage, either.
“Basically, he was a 38-year-old with the libido of a 13-year-old boy and the personal habits of a substance-dependent college kid,” said Shapiro. “I briefly heard part of his act onstage after he was done harassing me, and one of his lines (which I’ve heard before) was that he was ‘trisexual,’ meaning he’ll ‘try anything.’ Apparently that also includes trying to awkwardly seduce college guys half his age backstage.”
Charlie Robin, the executive director of Edison Theatre, said he was extremely unhappy with Dick’s behavior during his visit to the University.
“Unfortunately, he was completely unprofessional in a way that I haven’t seen another artist act in my seventeen years here,” said Robin. “He’s a very immature individual, and he made that very clear based on all of his actions [during his visit].”
Robin added that as far as he is concerned, this would be Dick’s last performance at the University.
“There’s nothing to do other than make sure his agent knows exactly what happened,” said Robin. “The only thing to say is that I apologize for the part I played in bringing him here.”
After his performance at the Edison Theatre, Dick was taken to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, where he spent several hours flirting with many of the brothers in the house.
“He grabbed a few of the brothers’ butts,” said Stein, Sig Ep’s vice president. “One brother bitch-slapped him in the face afterwards. He kept asking people for mind-altering substances, and when we said no he would get angry.”
Stein spoke to Dick about their previous encounter, in which Dick had told Stein to “eat his balls.” Dick’s new response? “Well, why didn’t you?”
Stein’s contact with B-list celebrities also includes posing for a photo with Screech from “Saved by the Bell” during his visit to the University last year.
“I think the Andy Dick experience was more memorable because I didn’t see Screech get bitch-slapped,” he said.
According to Stein, Dick’s behavior at the Sig Ep house was almost reminiscent of his role as Garry the oral sex instructor in “Old School.”
“I’m not sure he was even acting in that movie,” said Stein.
Dick may never be invited back to perform at the Edison, but would he ever be invited back to party at the Sig Ep house?
“Maybe if he were better behaved,” said Stein. “At first people were really excited [to see him], but then everyone eventually got extremely disgusted. He kind of moved from person to person. There was nothing gruesome about it-it was all in good fun-but he was touching everyone.”