After announcing his plans to leave California for Texas last month, comedian Jeff Dye made it clear that this was not a decision he came to overnight. For years, he clung to the belief that the state he loved could still be saved, but eventually that hope ran out.

Dye sat down with Fox News Digital, where he offered insight into his decision to leave Los Angeles for Austin and how politics have carved a growing divide within the stand-up comedy community.

A fixture of the stand-up scene since 2005, Dye is preparing to join the wave of entertainers and everyday Americans who have fled the Golden State in recent years. While he agreed that “there’s nothing heroic about leaving” California, the comedian expressed a sense of hopelessness about the state’s future under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership — especially given his handling of the wildfires that tore through the Palisades earlier this year.

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“I don’t think it’s good to leave California because you’re upset with the way it’s run. We should stay and fight for it,” he asserted. “But at a certain point, you just get a little defeated in like, I don’t know how to fight for it anymore. I don’t know what to do.”

On the issues of homelessness and transportation, Dye questioned where taxpayer funds allocated to tackle these problems have gone, aiming his questions at Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Newsom’s office had a dismissive reply when reached for comment by Fox News Digital, saying of Dye, “Who is that?” When reached for comment, a representative for Mayor Bass replied with a yawn emoji.

In April of last year, a state audit found California had spent $24 billion on tackling homelessness over five years without consistently tracking how the funds actually aided in the homeless crisis.

“How many things does Mayor Bass and Gavin Newsom, you know, how many things can they just lie to our face or ignore or not do before you go, I’m out of here?” he asked. 

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With politics creeping its way into seemingly every facet of life, the stand-up comedy scene has been no exception.

Fox News Digital asked Dye whether he felt that the growing influence of politics in stand-up comedy has had a negative impact on the industry.

“The biggest thing I’ve noticed in stand-up comedy — and people will accuse me of being a drama queen or being a punk for even saying this — but the biggest thing I’ve noticed is that the politics is interfering with the comedy,” he said.

“It used to be my heroes, at least, were like, ‘Dude, don’t be politically correct and say what you think and don’t be afraid to break any faux pas.’ Where it’s now, even the most successful comedians are being like, ‘Hey, you can’t joke about that,’ or, ‘You can’t say that,’ which breaks my brain.”

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According to Dye, today’s stand-up stars tend to follow an unspoken rule: “Say whatever you want, but you better be liberal.”

One comedy legend whose words have stayed with Dye over the years is George Carlin, whose anti-establishment, provocative style helped define conscious comedy.

“George Carlin once said our job as comedians is to find that line and then deliberately cross it … I’m not running for office. I’m not doing TED talks. I’m not lecturing people on ethics and morals. I’m just supposed to be funny and point out things in society,” he explained.

Dye contended that a few “brave comics” have shifted the Overton Window in regard to what is or isn’t acceptable to speak about as a stand-up.

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He credited comedians/hosts like Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Shane Gillis for this shift, praising their willingness to speak their minds with little regard for what others may think.

“Now you see a lot of comics coming along going, ‘Oh, it’s a little safer now, because these big comics have said a thing.’ I was on the front lines of that in a way,” he said. “I’ve always been more conservative than my comedic counterparts. I’ve always been way more religious as far as like, I’m a Christian, so that’s not a huge, popular thing in stand-up comedy. I was on the front lines in that way.”

Explaining his gradual shift in political ideology, Dye told Fox News Digital, “I was late to the Trump party. I was late to a lot of those things. I thought, because I had gay friends, that I must be liberal, and then becoming liberal became crazier and crazier and more Antifa-ish, and I was like, ‘I’m out.’”

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Dye acknowledged that some may scoff at the idea of comedians being brave for expressing their views, but he pushed back on that perspective — noting the risks that come with challenging the dominant political consensus.

“It is brave to say something that everyone else isn’t saying. There is some bravery in that. To say a thing that your peers and the people you work with are going to hate. And if you don’t think that’s brave, look at what happened to Charlie Kirk,” he argued. “It is brave because there are risks when you say things that people don’t like.”

San Francisco plunged into darkness when nearly 30 percent of the city was struck by a massive power outage on Saturday night.

Over 130,000 houses and businesses were left in the dark, largely in the northwest part of San Francisco, including the Richmond, Sunset, Presidio, and Golden Gate Park sections, officials said on Saturday. 

As of early Sunday morning, just over 36,000 people were still without power.

The “citywide” outages forced Waymo to halt its driverless car service, stranding the autonomous vehicles in the middle of the streets, SF Gate reported.

“We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,” a Waymo spokesperson told the outlet. “We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.”

The company shut down its operation at around 8 p.m. because the cars were unable to operate without traffic signals. Residents shared footage of the Waymo vehicles parked with their hazards flashing 

At least four Waymo vehicles were parked in the middle of an intersection with their hazards on, creating a large traffic jam at the busy intersection in the North Beach neighborhood, according to video posted to X.

One passenger was left stranded inside one of the self-driving vehicles during the outage, footage obtained by the outlet showed.

A portion of the outages was blamed on a fire that broke out at a Pacific Gas and Electric substation at 8th and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco Saturday afternoon. 

The outages began as early as 9:40 a.m. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was aware of the outages and said crews were working to restore power.

Power was restored to approximately 90,000 customers just after 10 p.m. local time, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced on X.

Crews were continuing to work on the remaining 36,000 customers on early Sunday.

“For those of you that do not have power, we want you to make sure you stay safe,” Lurie said.

The 48-year-old Democrat advised residents to check on neighbors but to remember to blow out all candles they may have been using before going to bed.

“I know there’s a lot going on out there, but people really stepped up tonight and will overnight as well,” Lurie said.

Police officer presence was ramped up in the areas without power to “ensure the safety of those still on the road,” he added.

PG&E says the grid has been stabilized, and the company is not expecting any more customers to be affected.

Rail lines and traffic signals were shut down by the outage, with city officials urging residents not to travel for the remainder of the night.

City buses had their routes changed, bypassing certain stops that were affected by the outages.

“Significant transit disruptions” were reported by the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management across the city.

With Post wires

David Adelman’s coaching rite of passage wasn’t quite enough to spark an improbable Nuggets comeback.

Arguing calls in what he felt like was “a reactionary game to earlier in the week” when Rockets coach Ime Udoka insulted the referees after a loss to Denver, Adelman earned his first career ejection as an NBA head coach Saturday. Houston won the grudge match, 115-101, snapping Denver’s six-game winning streak.

The Nuggets (20-7) shot 40% from the field and 28% outside the arc in their lowest-scoring game of the season — an anomaly of a performance from the league’s best offense. But their defense was stingy enough to stay in the game for most of three quarters. Then Rockets guard Reed Sheppard executed an 11-0 run single-handedly to finish the third with an 82-66 lead. Denver kept scrapping but never fully recovered.

The margin was 17 with 8:40 to go when Adelman took exception to a no-call in front of his bench, watching Nikola Jokic attempt to play through a crowd. The first-year Nuggets coach angrily confronted the officiating crew out to mid-court even after being handed his second technical foul, which automatically results in an ejection.

“It seemed like he just kept walking away further and further,” Adelman said, laughing. “I just thought we would talk, and it turns out, they told me I had to leave.”

He received a raucous ovation from a sold out Ball Arena crowd as walked off the court to the locker room.

“I just felt like both teams were playing so hard, extremely hard. Physical,” Adelman said. “I give the Rockets so much credit. They crash the glass every time. And then we get two somewhat soft fouls on our best player. … Honestly, I was confused, and so I was just looking for answers. And I went out there to find them, and it turns out I had to leave. Sometimes, confusion can lead to destructive things. You’ve gotta think things through yourself sometimes. You go to other people, and sometimes they just don’t want to hear you.”

Jokic was held to 25 points on 20 shots and five assists while spending a large chunk of the afternoon sidelined due to foul trouble. Jamal Murray scored 16 points on 13 field goal attempts. Denver’s end-of-bench players briefly threatened to turn the game upside down in garbage time before Houston held on.

Sheppard went for 28 points, six assists and three steals on a 6-for-9 day from 3-point range. He was outdone only by Kevin Durant, who scored 31 and shot 5 for 6 from deep.

After only four days away, the Rockets returned to Denver with every reason to treat this game with playoff-level seriousness — not just due to the overtime thriller that left Udoka fuming, but because they also squandered a mid-week opportunity to bounce back against the lowly Pelicans.

It had been a costly week for them already, not to mention the $25,000 fine Udoka incurred on Monday for saying two refs “didn’t have any business being out there” and the crew chief appeared “star-struck.”

Adelman brought a chip on his shoulder to the arena Saturday even before opening tip.

“We were minus-10 in personal fouls with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter (on Monday). Both of our centers fouled out,” Adelman pointed out in his pregame news conference. “I know the narrative was the opposite, which is fine. I know I had no centers at the end of the game. So things work in weird ways. This game will be just as physical.”

He decided to take his turn chewing out the refs in the first quarter, working hard to earn a technical after Jokic was forced to sit down with two fouls. Both were called on loose balls while fighting for a rebound.

The officiating trio was headed by Marc Davis, who was also the crew chief for the playoff game two years ago when Murray threw a heat pack on the court in frustration.

“Marc is one of the best officials in the league. I thought the other guys, they did the best they could,” Adelman said. “I just felt, like I said, I was confused with the flow of the game. I’ve gotta be better than that, too. That game wasn’t over. I let the emotions get the best of me. But when you care abut your players and you feel a certain way, sometimes, you react.”

Houston made the Nuggets burn energy and clock just to get into their actions. Murray, whose offense has been consistently efficient, ran into one of his first clunky games of the year. Generating clean looks in the half-court offense was laborious. Often, Denver’s safest bet was to clear out a side for Jokic to play in isolation. But he struggled with the late double-teams Houston often sent to him. Durant played excellent help defense, as he did Monday.

Jokic picked up his fourth foul with 7:18 left in the third. Adelman decided to sit him for the rest of the quarter and have him ready to play the entire fourth, but that required a difficult survival game without him. Houston was already ahead by double digits.

The Nuggets almost weathered the storm. Morale was high and the margin was 71-66 shortly after Bruce Brown scored a second-chance bucket and chirped at Durant, his former teammate. But all it took was one heat check from Sheppard, and the gap was too wide.

“We had a game plan, that we were kind of down (the floor). Bigs were down,” Jokic said. “… When he makes one or two, that’s his superpower. That’s his thing. He’s gonna shoot more.”

Brown said after the game that Durant had crossed a line with his trash-talk during the game. Both players declined to get into the specifics of what was said. Durant seemed to relish getting a last laugh of sorts. He gleefully waved Adelman goodbye after the ejection and eventually treated Ball Arena to a cheeky celebration after burying a fourth-quarter 3-pointer over Murray.