1987–1997: Early work and Saturday Night Live Spade began performing stand-up comedy after dropping out of college. After being spotted by a talent agent while performing at
The Improv in Los Angeles he was cast in the 1987 film
Police Academy 4. With the help of friend and fellow comedian
Dennis Miller, he joined
Saturday Night Live in 1990. After the major cast overhaul following the 1994–1995 season, Spade agreed to remain on the show for the 1995–96 season to serve as a bridge between the former cast and new cast members
Will Ferrell,
Molly Shannon, and
Cheri Oteri. During this season, Spade was given a weekly segment called "Spade in America" which was a spin-off of his "Hollywood Minute" and "Weekend Update" commentaries. On December 9, 1995, Spade revived "Hollywood Minute" inside one of his "Spade in America" segments; Spade joked, "Look, children, it's a falling star. Make a wish!" next to a picture of former
Saturday Night Live cast member
Eddie Murphy. The one-liner referred to Murphy's lack of recent box office success, especially the
bomb Vampire in Brooklyn. The quip made Murphy turn against both Spade and
SNL for several years afterward. Spade wrote in his 2015 memoir that he received an angry phone call from Murphy two days later at the
SNL offices; the two did not reconcile until a chance meeting in 2011. Spade left SNL in 1996. He returned to host an episode in 1998 and another in 2005. Spade starred with fellow
Saturday Night Live cast member
Chris Farley in two
buddy comedy films,
Tommy Boy (1995) and
Black Sheep (1996), both of which were distributed by
Paramount Pictures. The two were planning a third film together, but Farley died of a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33 and thus it was cancelled. When Spade declined to attend Farley's funeral, rumors abounded that there had been a falling out between the two. Spade stated that their friendship had been under some tension, partly because of Farley's drug problem and reckless lifestyle, which Spade admittedly could not keep up with. However, it never escalated to ill will, and that the reason he did not attend the funeral was simply because he could not handle it emotionally.
1997–2018: Sitcom success and film roles Although he received several offers to star in his own TV shows, he turned them down and joined the ensemble cast of
Steven Levitan's office sitcom
Just Shoot Me!, opposite
Laura San Giacomo and
George Segal, which ran for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003. He played a sarcastic receptionist,
Dennis Finch. In 1998, Spade appeared with
Marlon Wayans in the
buddy comedy film
Senseless and voiced Ranger Frank in
The Rugrats Movie. In 2000, he provided the voice of
Kuzco in Disney's buddy comedy film, ''
The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and would later reprise the role in its direct-to-video sequel Kronk's New Groove'' (2005). While appearing on
Just Shoot Me, Spade had his first solo starring role as the title character in the 2001 film
Joe Dirt, which was a modest box office success. The film was co-written by Spade and Fred Wolf. Spade starred again in the 2003 film
Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, again co-written by Spade and Wolf. These were the first of many films in which Spade has appeared that were produced by another
Saturday Night Live castmate,
Adam Sandler. Most notable among these are the films
Grown Ups (2010) and
Grown Ups 2 (2013), both of which included Spade and Sandler among the lead roles, and both of which were major box office hits. Other collaborations with Sandler include ''
Grandma's Boy (2006), The Benchwarmers (2006), I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), Jack & Jill (2011), Joe Dirt 2 (2015), The Ridiculous 6 (2015), The Do-Over (2016), The Wrong Missy (2020), as well as voicing Griffin the Invisible Man in the Hotel Transylvania'' film series (2012–2022). Spade hosted both the
Teen Choice Awards and
SpikeTV's
Video Game Awards in 2003. He voiced characters on several episodes of
Beavis and Butt-Head and produced his own TV series
Sammy in 2000. In 2004, he joined the cast of
8 Simple Rules, following the death of the sitcom's star,
John Ritter, for the show's third and final season. He hosted the Comedy Central TV show
The Showbiz Show with David Spade for three seasons, from September 2005 to October 2007. On the show, Spade made fun of Hollywood and celebrities in a manner similar to his old "Hollywood Minute" segment on
SNL. In the 2006 video game
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, Spade provided the voice of Spyro's dragonfly companion,
Sparx. From 2007 to 2013, he starred as Russell Dunbar in the ensemble
CBS sitcom
Rules of Engagement. In 2010, he worked with
TBS on a pilot for an animated series based on
Joe Dirt, but it was eventually dropped. In 2014, Spade had a guest role on an episode of
ABC sitcom
The Goldbergs (on which
George Segal, his former
Just Shoot Me co-star, has a major role as "Pops", the protagonist's grandfather). The end credits featured an interaction between Pops and Spade's character. In 2018, Spade appeared in his first major dramatic role in the movie
Warning Shot co-starring
Bruce Dern and
James Earl Jones, with Spade playing the dangerous grandson of a powerful business tycoon (Dern).
2019–present: Late-night talk show and podcast In 2019, he started hosting a new late-night show called
Lights Out with David Spade on Comedy Central. The television spot was right after
The Daily Show in the former slot inhabited by
The Colbert Report,
The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and
The Opposition with Jordan Klepper. As the production was put on hold during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Comedy Central announced the show would not return to the channel once production can resume, but is instead being shopped around to a third-party broadcaster. In August 2020, Spade
guest hosted two episodes of
Jimmy Kimmel Live! while Kimmel took a summer vacation. In 2022, Spade began co-hosting the
Fly on the Wall podcast with fellow
Saturday Night Live alum
Dana Carvey. Guests include former cast members and hosts of
SNL. In 2024, the
Superfly video podcast (a spinoff of
Fly on the Wall) co-hosted by Spade and Carvey was launched. On April 18, 2023, it was announced that Spade would host
Snake Oil, a new game show broadcast by
Fox. ==Personal life==