The Vindication of Sam Hyde

After the war crime of Million Dollar Extreme’s cancellation by Adult Swim, the career prospects of its ringmaster, Sam Hyde, appeared unlikely at best and impossible at worst.

Not only was his name tarnished by media attack dogs, it was also blacklisted from any executive mildly sympathetic to his Andy Kaufman-esque style. “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it,” said the generation of comedians who successfully blackballed Andrew Dice Clay out of the spotlight the same year he peaked. 

The Candyman shares the same struggle as The Diceman. Both had their glory unceremoniously taken away within months of piercing through the mainstream standard. Without warning, they had an avalanche of new coverage asking the comedians to verify what is and isn’t a character. Despite the wide array of support from fans, it was all to no avail.

Journalists and Adult Swim held the power to validate or incriminate Hyde into submission. “You’ll never work in this town again.”

Yet, his online presence never disappeared. The out of pocket quotes from Hyde himself, gonzo delivery, and MDE skits live on. Sketches dating back to the pre-Adult Swim era are often more relevant to political discourse, of all things, than the Johnny-come-lately commentators we soon forget. The standard for comedy never moved past him even after prominent critics took a stand against him. 

Clay faced an identical dilemma when his rival, George Carlin, threw him under the bus on Larry King. During that same year, Clay offered a response, on the same show, to assure critics that his comedy was not painting a target on people’s backs.

Hyde faced the shadow of his predecessors hounding him throughout the dwindling months of his mainstream career. Their influence determined his viability on network TV, not his loyal fans. However, those roles would be reversed after his ousting from Adult Swim.

What followed was a face the media moment on Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller site. The article, with Hyde at the helm, took readers through the unfathomable arc of a dissident taking flight before getting too close to the sun. The humor, the subtlety, and most importantly the charisma was prominent as he playfully puts the sequence of events in motion. Most comedians would be devastated to have their commercial appeal gate kept by insiders, but that’s not the appeal that drives MDE viewers.

The cache that propelled Hyde past the censors, before being crushed by it after Season 1, was not a failure. It was the beginning of his effect on the culture war that would start with Adult Swim rather than end there. His place in pop culture has been left unchallenged by anyone on the left or right and the performance in the O2 arena is proof positive.

Hyde, unlike Clay, will not wither away. His momentum only continues to grow with younger fans eagerly being initiated into the underground world of MDE and Hyde Wars. His name is scattered across political and comedy circles alike, leaving a cultural footprint that hasn’t been stomped out yet.