David Spade: Take the Hit

David Spade: Take the Hit is an abysmal comedy special, even in the bare-basic sense of the genre. Everything from the delivery Spade engages in, the general flow of the special, the topics presented, and the direction taken feels like everything that was done to stunt the performance and overall energy of the special was pursued. For starters, Spade has always been a guy to assist a leading performer, bringing his character's own sense of smarmy, insincere personality into the picture but always finding the common-ground of also being funny and likable all the more. When Spade leads the show, be it on stage or in film, he struggles to perform adequately because his schtick is usually composed of zingers or sarcastic responses.

His performance at hand is only worsened by the fact that Spade doesn't seem to want to do anything serious in this special whatsoever. He refuses to dive into his personal views on social issues, political issues, or develop himself as a person rather than a personality whatsoever. While that's no requirement in the field of standup, if you're going to predicate yourself off of stupid humor, oddball delivery, and over-the-top impressions, you better be good at doing so and be able to sustain an hour-long special (see Tom Green's performance in Tom Green Live for a strong example of this). Spade hits the ground stumbling with Take the Hit and continues to fumble through and through, with an awkward sense of delivery and conversational flow, whispering and shouting at the strangest, most indistinct times that throw off the energy of his special very quickly.

Then there's the fact that most of what Spade is talking about doesn't feel like Spade expressing true opinions, but feels like he's playing one of his many characters, never channeling a side more personal or intimate. He speaks of how he was a bad first-date in high school, the awkward bawdiness of his father, and his relationship with his mother in a sense that feels insincere and preconceived for sitcom rather than trying to reveal anything about himself.

Spade labors on for fifty-four minutes, which isn't long by comedy special standards, but feels incredibly overlong given the weakness of the performer at hand. Spade has starred in several good films, and has a charm as an actor playing characters that act as their friend's critic, but he has made one of the worst comedy specials I have yet to see; his title for the special might as well be a message to his audience at hand.

Directed by: Keith Truesdell.

I was a bit disappointed with this stand-up routine. Where I expected an hilarious sarcastic commentary on life from David Spade, what I actually got was a nearly hour-long disjointed and painfully unfunny at times TV special. Some of the segments were just odd. I found the segment about Brad Pitt to just be gross and unfunny. The whole routine felt like lowbrow, college beginner material. You'll sit through five routines of boredom for one routine of hilarity in this snooze-fest. However, I must give him credit for his few good routines, because they were hilarious. If only he could have maintained it through the whole performance.

Stick to his movies. Forget the stand-up.

Haven't seen a David Spade stand up in years so this was interesting to see. It's nice to see how much better he has gotten but that he still seems like the same guy. Over 20+ years later and it's still just David Spade. Which usually is always Not Bad. I've never seen him great except in Rules of Engagement and the Grown Ups movies. Glad the guy is still doing stand up. Even though he's not the best he's still one I'd happily pay for. Mainly because I know I'm not wasting my money on some comedian who can only talk about race or politics. Just the usual dating, sex, the weird human body and his past. A little boring but the guy can swing it.

Does anyone living in the UK, know if it is possible to get this great show on Region 2 DVD, here in England. Loads of places have it in Region 1 format but unluckily i cant play that. Anyhelp would be greatly appreciated. Anyway i have previously seen some of his show and what i saw was brilliant. Spade is a good comedian even of loads disagree. in this show he talks about tshirts, McDonald's and airline attendants (remember BuhBye). This show is brilliant and i really want to own it, so if anyone has any details please leave them here, if anyone wants to know if they should see it, then certainly do as it rocks. yay.

Take the hit is definitely worth watching, i think David Spade can do amazing stand-up. He seems to be able to go on about any topic and make it even funnier than it really is. He's the comedian who says what you're really thinking. His sound effects, imitation voices, and those hilarious short stories that he sometimes makes up are all hysterical, and REALLY worth watching.

So whether you love David Spade, like me, or don't really care for him- chances are, if you have any sense of humor, you'll probably be laughing your ass off by the end of the show. I give "David Spade: Take the Hit" ten out of ten.