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Hi, I'm David Spade, And I Am Doing A Sketch

Though I've always David Spade in general, I had mixed feelings about his arrogant side until I saw it as a tool when he became the guy you love to hate whenever he was teamed with Chris Farley. I've also always had mixed feeling about how often Spade plays his characters as if he is fully aware that it's a performance because when it works, it's brilliant when it doesn't, it feels more like he's phoning it in, which is unfortunately how it felt tonight.

Whether he was in character or not, the night genuinely felt like David Spade was returning a favor. I wouldn't say that this led to a horrible show, but I did feel that if Spade performed with even a hint of fake enthusiasm, the episode wouldn't have felt like a rehearsal to a show that would have been really good. I mean, the sketches were fine enough, but David's low-key delivery kept taking me out of the world, especially since the rest of the cast was still acting their asses off.

At times, part of this performance style almost felt like an inside jokes between him and his die-hard fans who love the too cool for the room approach to hosting, making subtle glances at the camera from time to time raising a brow just the slightest as if to say, “Ya, see what I did there?” He also seemed to telegraph his actions like someone who wanted to get caught in a lie, but at least it felt like a choice that wasn't for me and not just bad acting.

I think this is why I was still able to enjoy the episode at least as much as most of the other shows from this year, which if you've read those reviews, that's not saying all that much. Though most of this review is critical of Spade, my biggest issue was just how much the quality did sync up with the underwhelming episodes that have made up what I've seen so far this year.

With all of that said, it's time to wrap this thing up to move on and get the rest of the year over with and to do so, it's time for me to shift gears and share what I saw, as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a parody CNN News Report where we saw David Spade as Martha Stewart who was just released from jail, was back to work already, and her employees were frightened for the lives as the crafty queen picked up a much more aggressive prison inspired approach to her role as their CEO. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
David Spade then officially opened the show with a monolog about his history with the show before promoting his Best Of DVD which led him to take questions from the audience. Though he was hoping to get questions about the work that he's proud of, the crowd was obsessed with our host’s new Capital One commercial campaign.
Artsy House brought back Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph as the two Nunis who, this time, showed off their quirky décor in their ski home to David Spade and Rachel Dratch who played their new neighbors.
This was followed by a fake ad for a new court drama show called Deaf Judge where Seth Meyers played a judge who couldn’t hear a single thing being said during any of his trials. This ended with another quick ad for another fake show this one starred David Spade and was called Idiot Doctor.
Stunt Double took us to a set where David Spade was starting in a new action comedy with Horatio Sanz as Vin Diesel who played his costar. When we got to a point where Spade had to do a stunt, he was very disappointed by the fact that he was being portrayed by a woman, and even more disappointed that the woman in question, Amy Poehler, kept portraying him in an extremely effeminate way.
This was followed by a repeat of the Woomba ad from earlier in the season which was the iRobot Roomba that automatically manages any feminine hygiene issues with its female owner to free up their time for other tasks.
We then went to a Holding Cell where, after being wrongfully jailed, Rob Riggle shared a cell with David Spade as a character named Spider who obnoxiously kept talking the talk while walking the walk. By this, I mean he acted like he was serving hard time in the big house even though it was just a holding cell where the two were just waiting to be picked up.
Jack Johnson then took to the stage to perform Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.
Once again, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler gave us the news. This week, Horatio Sanz dropped by a Jorge Rodriguez to ramble on about income taxes without ever getting to the point.
This was followed by a parody of The Sean Penn's Celebrity Roast where Seth Meyers as Sean Peen was actual the host of this roast show and not the person being roasted. The person of honor turned out to be Darrell Hammond as Clint Eastwood who took many hits from the cast who were impersonating a cavalcade of comedians and roast style guest but just sat in the seat of honor with his trademark sourpuss look on his face. If Eastwood wasn't bad enough, Sean Penn was utterly offended by everything while being a complete bore of a host.
UPS Guy had David Spade as the titular UPS guy who awkwardly hit on Rachel Dratch at her reception desk while making a delivery. If the at work flirting wasn’t cringier worthy enough, things got even more uncomfortable after he asked her out and she had to turn him down. This led Spade to blow up the building when he found out that Dratch was with Seth Meyers as a Fed-Ex man.
Jingle Singers had David Spade and Maya Rudolph as two commercial jingle singers who were the night's entertainment for a room full of fans of their work. This was pretty much another sketch that made fun of cheesy lounge singers, with that being their performance style.
Bear City then returned for another installment where this time we got to see a healthy bear use a handicapped toilet because it was the only stall left when he entered the restroom. He was then quickly confronted by another bear in a wheelchair who arrived after all of the other stalls were free making the first bear look like a complete jerk.
Jack Johnson then took to the stage with G. Love to perform Mudfootball.
This was followed by a fake ad for the Dirtball And Burnout Convention that had David Spade as Joe Dirt to pitch an upcoming wild event where dirtballs and burnouts would gather to be their rowdy selves amongst their own kind.
Finally, David Spade closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

Here we go with another average show that was still fun enough for the view process with the help of sketches like these that contained my three favorite moments of the night. First, I loved the fake ad for The Dirtball And Burnout Convention because I was a fan of Joe Dirt but as a burnout myself I thought this convention sounded fun. Next, I really liked the Holding Cell sketch because the holding cell tough guy joke always cracks me up, especially when the attitude is supposed to be hiding fear. Finally, I was a fan of Stunt Double because even though it was the worst of Spade being self-aware in the scene the fact that he was also playing himself while talking to a stunt double version of himself caused it to tap into reality layers with is a concept I love.