World famous actor and stand-up comedian David Spade is well aware of what's happening in the comedy industry. Right there on the frontlines and in the center of the action, he's seen it all. After witnessing his good mate and former SNL co-star, Chris Rock, get slapped live on stage at the Oscars, Spade publicly offered his support to his friend. Now, in an interview on Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson, he's sitting down to give his two cents on the incident and spill the beans on all things comedy...
"It's a tough drill. I'm not really the kind that starts a lot of s*** in my stand-up," Spade replied when asked how he navigates around comedy in light of cancel culture. This refers to people being publicly criticized for something they have said, even in a moment of humor. Usually, this is followed by the person in question losing job contracts and being pushed out of the spotlight. "Bill Burr pushes stuff, he offends people, and that was really the idea when I got in. You want to push it a little bit. You want to get people laughing. You want to hit them with the element of surprise. That was the old goal," Spade explained.
Nowadays, with cancel culture hanging over comedians' heads, the landscape has changed. "It's very hard for me to understand that people would want to do that to other people," Spade told Tyson. "I know you get offended. I know you're hurt, but really taking people down? There's some thirst for it, and it's hard because people have families and lives. In the comedy world, you're really ultimately - there's no malice behind it. You're just trying to get a laugh."
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One comedian who attempted to get the laughs this way was Rock, who was slapped on stage. Getting right to the point, Tyson asked Spade what he thought about the incident. "Rock was probably shocked, thinking Will was coming up to do a joke. He's been very quiet about it, which I like. He doesn't want to feel like he's ratting someone out." He also criticized the Academy's approach in response to the incident, which did nothing to remove Will or protect Rock. "Right, there's a problem. Anywhere else you hit someone, something happens." Catch the full forty-five-minute interview above! And stay tuned for more from the world of comedy.
