Getting sober almost a year ago and getting away from network TV jobs has led to a sweet spot for comedian Jeff Dye.

“I was a terrible alcoholic — high-functioning but very much an addict,” he said from home in Los Angeles. “Since getting clean, my writing has been insane. I write every single day. I’m generating more material and ideas and content at a level I didn’t know I was capable of.”

Pair that with leaving TV shows like NBC’s “Better Late Than Never,” and you’ve got a how-to guide for making good comedy.

“The internet has become the Wild West. I can say and do what I like,” Dye said. “When I worked at NBC that was not the case. They said, ‘Jeff, we’re not political here, you can’t say those things.’ And they would have me read something about Black Lives Matter, and I said I thought we weren’t political? What networks and TV channels really mean is we’re not going to do your politics, but we’ll let you do our politics.”

Dye will perform Thursday at Boot Barn Hall.

Politics is one of those touchy subjects Dye isn’t afraid to manhandle in his stand-up. But everything is political now, he says.

“People treat being a Republican or Democrat like it’s a religion,” he said. “They just don’t call it a religion because there’s no church affiliation. But all their activities and mindless traditions are religious. Occasionally I can be wrong or insensitive, but for the most part I’m doing good about pushing back on the right things. We all like to think we’re reasonable, but if you look at your algorithm and echo chambers, we’re not as reasonable as you think.”

Growing up in Kent, Wash., Dye knew he wasn’t going to make a name for himself through athletics or his grades; making people laugh was his thing.

“Turns out class clown is a living,” he said.

He remembers the time in first grade when he made a joke to his friend, Joseph, who then said it out loud and made the whole class laugh. A few minutes later he made another joke, which Joseph also said out loud and earned some laughs.

“I thought screw this, I’m not going to just keep feeding Joseph lines so he can say them out loud and get the laughs,” Dye said. “I said it out loud, and I was off to the races. That became my goal — to get the laugh.”

Because his grades were so poor, he didn’t go to college, but worked as a Young Life leader and youth group leader, where he did sketches and characters to make the kids laugh. Eventually, he worked up the nerve to finally try his hand at 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 landed on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and finished third, turning him into a national touring comedian. Since then he’s worked on multiple TV shows, including Fox’s game show, “Who the Bleep is That?” and “The Masked Singer,” filmed a Comedy Central special, and recorded two albums, including “Dumb is Gooder.” He also regularly appears on Fox News’ “Gutfeld!”

“I’m a lot more conservative and Republican than Los Angles and a lot of people here,” Dye said. “When I go on Fox, I’m more liberal than people on Fox News. It’s interesting to never really have a home group. I’m issue to issue. I can get lonely.”

But he’s OK with not fitting into the city’s political beliefs. In fact, he admires a person who can stick in a place where he’s an outlier.

“It’s not heroic to leave something because you’re upset with it,” Dye said. “To say I’m moving to Nashville or Austin or Florida, I don’t find that heroic. It’s better to stay somewhere and fight for what you think is right or to annoy the people around you, to make them defend their position as opposed to surrendering. Similarly to all the celebrities who say if so and so wins I’m moving to Canada, wow, how heroic, how brave you would leave. It makes no sense at all.”