The Showbiz Show with David Spade
10 tonight
Comedy Central
Arguably the best thing David Spade ever did on Saturday Night Live—better than his spot-on Michael J. Fox impression, better than the “Buh-bye” flight attendant, better than his “And you are?” receptionist—was his “Hollywood Minute,” the polar opposite of all the E! Entertainment Tonight Access Hollywood The Insider TV Guide Channel celebrity blowjob bullshit that airs nightly. Spade's weaselly smirk, mocking delivery and savage writing made the short Weekend Update segment consistently among the show's best bits. There was even an SNL alumni backlash after Spade, two ticks after an image of box-office dud Eddie Murphy appeared over his shoulder, remarked with mock surprise, “Look children, a falling star. . . . Quick, make a wish.” Legend has it Murphy was fuming on the phone in Spade's dressing room before that night's end credits rolled. And so, justifiably, there were high hopes when The Showbiz Show debuted (hot on the heels of some box-office duds for Spade; payback's a mofo), but what has become most apparent so far is a minute of the “Hollywood Minute” was genius. A half hour? Not so much. Perhaps the writing staff isn't as strong as the vets Spade could lean on at SNL. Or maybe Spade's too much of a Hollywood insider now to whip out his sharpest fangs. Whatever. While it's true Spade occasionally gets game support from his regulars—especially New York comic Jessi Klein, and most especially when she ridicules Spade—it remains to be seen whether that'll be enough to save this show or prevent the host from what will otherwise be his next inevitable stop: a “Hollywood Minute” segment on VH1's Best Week Ever. Say, that would actually be pretty funny . . .
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.