Dice (2016)

What is missing from Dice is more of these scenes, more moments where its clear that Clay isn’t the alpha-male vulgarian that he’s been playing on stage and on screen for most of his career. There’s not enough challenging of his machismo, outside of the age-old routine of Carmen being the sensible one and he being the foolish male, but that hardly counts as a moment of genuine reflection on the comedian’s part.

It has its moments. It just needs a few more of them.

An episode featuring Criss Angel, the “Mindfreak” illusionist, is also quite funny, and practically every installment is enlivened with attention-getting guest stars from the Las Vegas scene. But the series, created by Scot Armstrong, invests an awful lot in the comedic value of crassness, and the result is only a 50-50 success rate.

Strengthen or ditch most of the supporting cast (and go “Louie”-style with a rotating ensemble) and Dice could become something really special. As is, it’s still an interesting chapter in a return of a once-superstar that most of us never saw coming.

Dice is mostly a warmed-over attempt to ape Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” with just a dose of the existential despair seen in Louis C.K.’s “Louie.”

Clay's entry is far from the bottom of this burgeoning genre's particular barrel--Hello, Donny!--and the debut season of Dice actually has some highlights, including a very funny second episode built around an inspired cameo by Adrien Brody, but general unevenness pervades.

Dice has its moments of levity but struggles to maintain a regular comedic pace.