First off, did you know David Spade is 56? The eternally youthful SNL vet has been around for a very long time, and though he’s had his ups and downs — including having his Comedy Central chat show Lights Out cancelled early into the pandemic, after less than a year on-air — he’s always found a way to stay in the spotlight. (Indeed, he already has a new show, The Netflix Afterparty.) But will he ever be as ambitious as his good friend Adam Sandler and do the occasional intense drama — make his own Uncut Gems? Well, as he says in a new interview, probably not.
“With Sandler, I think once you do 10 $100-million movies in a row, it’s like, you want to try something new,” Spade told The Los Angeles Times about Sandler. “He’s a f*cking hard worker. Every movie we’re working on, he’s writing the next one at lunch. With me, I don’t work that hard.” In fact, something like The Netflix Afterparty is more his speed.
A talk show just sounded like a fun, steady job. I’m not as thirsty to do a million movies or 20 tours. I don’t want to chase my tail for the next 20 years. I don’t think I could be on the real road like Joan Rivers or something. I’m not as tough as her. To fly f— Southwest and connect in Houston to go to gigs every night? You want a good reputation, but as far as just grinding it out, that’s not my favorite thing.
Spade, however, does say that one does have to be open to new challenges. “Doing different things is sort of a survival mechanism,” he said. But he’s also realistic. “I’m not America’s No. 1 movie star. It’s never been that easy to get a movie going. I’d do one about every two years, and that’s not an everyday job.”
Of course, not that Spade hasn’t done movies. Older ones, like Tommy Boy and Joe Dirt, still get him mentions on the street (or did in the before-time), and he’s had hits with recent Netflix films, like the recent The Wrong Missy, which the service claims had 59 million views in its first month. But Netflix doesn’t often advertise its viewing stats, unless they’ve got a hit, which meant Spade couldn’t rely on, say, box office numbers so that people knew he’d had a hit.
“It’s so embarrassing. I have to go door-to-door around my neighborhood and tell everyone,” Spade said. “I used to have documents and proof. When Netflix started the top 10, that helped. I got 100 more calls than I would have. I was sent a lot of movies after Father of the Year, like, ‘Wouldn’t this be funny if it was you and Kevin Hart?’”
Spade also spoke about accusations of sexual misconduct in the stand-up comic scene, with people like Chris D’Elia, Bryan Callen, and Jeff Ross all receiving accusations over the summer. (The latter filed a defamation suit against his accuser.) Spade acknowledged that it’s a “touchy subject,” but ultimately said such actions have no place in the industry. “If guys are doing something like that right now, get rid of them,” he said. “If you’re still f*cking around and treating people super [poorly] or attacking women or saying ‘suck my d*ck and I’ll give you a job’ and don’t think there’s any repercussions? This isn’t Mad Men anymore.”
That said, Spade said he is surprised that it’s so prevalent in stand-up comedy, especially compared to other industries:
This is the weirdest place that this is all happening. Getting [oral sex] in the Belly Room? You would think the NBA — sports and side chicks. I’m sure the music world is super f— sketchy. I look at someone like David Lee Roth, and he’s having contests to f— as many girls as he can and that’s what you think goes on. Then you see David Lee Roth going, “I can’t believe what’s going on at the Comedy Store!” Comedy, of all places. I wasn’t really aware of all that craziness because I’m not a super club comic anymore. You walk in, see the set list and say, ‘Hey man, how’s the crowd?’ And that’s it.
(Via The Los Angeles Times)
