The Showbiz Show with David Spade

Comedy Central continues to surprise me. A few years back, most of their original television shows - for lack of a better word - stunk. A lot of the crap they had on just wasn't funny.

A few years have passed and now they're airing hilarious original programs such as "Reno 911," "South Park," "The Daily Show," "Too Late with Adam Carolla" (not hilarious but entertaining) and now "The Showbiz Show with David Spade." Spade was really famous for a while and had his face on a few TV shows and movie covers, but Hollyweird roared its ugly head and he basically ended up being the next cruel joke of Hollywood - "that skinny blonde guy who was in the movies with the fat guy." When I first saw ads for his new Comedy Central show, I thought to myself, "Oh no, he's not only lost his career, he's selling out to Comedy Central." And the ads seemed to imply David was now on the outskirts of Hollywood (which was somewhat true) and giving us "the scoop" on the insanity of Hollywood... the beast he was once very much a part of. It seemed kind of contradictory or hypocritical.

Nevertheless I was surprised by the first episode. Sure, it's got a few loose ends that could be tightened and some segments are a bit lame, but for the most part it's quite funny.

The show opens up a la "SNL's" Weekend Update (which Spade used to host, so he's at home here) - he satirizes media headlines. Next he interviews a "geek" about MTV, which I thought was really funny. There were some good points. And considering David is the writer of the television show, as well as presenter, it's nice that he took a stab at himself - the geek tells him something to the effect of, "You have to walk around with a ten-year-old copy of 'Tommy Boy' to remind everyone of who you are." Very nice.

Overall this show isn't the best on TV and does have some loose bits (like the coverage of the Rolling Stones concert - good potential, but it goes on too long and seems like a Daily Show rip-off). Not exactly the most original television show to be airing right now, but quite funny if you're in the mood.

I knew this show would suck even before it premiered and I must be psychic because I was right. It sucks! David Spade is so overrated! He is just so unfunny! I have never seen anything good with him in it. This show seems like something out of Saturday Night Live and I hate Saturday Night Live. This show is like a very bad The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where they only talk about entertainment. The last thing the world needs is another show just about entertainment. There's this and Entertainment Tonight and The Insider and Access Hollywood and so on. There are also these weird things before commercial breaks that don't make any sense. One was River Pheniox and Jack Lemmon, separated at death. What the Hell does that even mean!?!? River Pheniox never did any acting together and they didn't even die at the same time. There was also this word scramble that had no real words in it. It was just qkfhvbzxikgbnxkgjd pg0r74jfhdghjep9. We need to stop talking about celebrities constantly. Cancel this garbage show Comedy Central!

To speak the truth I have never found David Spade to be very good. Excreting one bad sitcom after the next, David Spade can only be seen as mildly humorous when pigging back off of Chris Farley. In short, David Spade makes Carlos Mencia look like Richard Pryor. This new show is the result of taking wet, loose fecal matter and digitizing it. It is all one act; David Spade pretends to be morally superior to everyone else while dishing out sub par observation jokes. Comedy Central has been releasing one bad series after another. From Crappy sitcom "The Sara Silverman Program" to the poor man Chappell "The Mind of Mencia," but the showbiz show takes the cake. If given the choice to watch another episode of his show, or to stab my self in the eye with a soldering iron, I would choose the latter.

Grade: 0

NOTE: All other comments on this page that support David Spade are obviously misguided.

Yeah, at first, I was a little disappointed, but the last four or five episodes have been awesome. Spade's been himself and seems to be having fun doing it. The jokes have been dead-on funny. And best of all, he's brought back his Hollywood Minute (though it's now called Hollywood Ending, but still just as funny). There are still some bits that still bomb, but overall, 8/10, could be 10/10 if it just was a little more biting.

Behind South Park and the Daily Show, it's probably the best show on Comedy Central. I like Colbert, but nobody can beat Spade at the top of his game.

I always kinda liked David Spade,as he said himself,he plays snarky to a tee,so I was looking forward to seeing him get more spotlight:this show is the kind of reality check long-overdue for TV&Hollywood,but it is also consistently better written&paced than most "Hit" comedies:as funny as Dave is,he's often out shined by a great cast of correspondents,all able to hold their own&be every bit as cutting as Davey boy,especially the dry as dust Andrew Daly,the fantastically over-the-top(as Lost,Greys etc obsessed fan)Colleen Smith&the acerbic Jessi Klein as well as the rest(the web troller guy etc.).Skewering hollywoodland&crap TV should be easy,but to make it this consistently funny&original,and to give the always hilarious Nick Swardson a regular gig bespeaks of taste&genius,so it's no wonder it's probably dead&buried by average TV fans who also don't get quality comedy like Sara Silverman,Idiocracy or Arrested Development,but would prefer to watch reality shows or lame talent-shows that we all should have either outgrown in High school or kept as a guilty pleasure for our dotage (Ballroom dancing,3 card monty with suitcases&freakshow sorry "talent" shows are primetime quality???) so,I recommend getting this on DVD if possible,it's a mark of it's quality that a gossip-inspired show stays funny long after the gossip has changed,moved on or been recycled.