David Spade is in the headlines, which is no small feat for the comedian and thespian, whose latest roles include the voice of Sparx, a dragonfly in the video game “The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning” and the nay-saying employee in Capital One commercials. Why is he in the headlines? Because of a new role? Nope. Did he do something funny? Nope. Is he directing? Nope. David Spade is in the news thanks to his insightful socio-economic-political analysis. And Spade did what all great thinkers do when they must speak truth to power: he took to the Twitters and to the celebrity gossip think tank, or, technically, website, known as TMZ. On December 14th, Spade, of Saturday Night Live and less funny funny half of Chris Farley duo films Black Sheep and Tommy Boy former fame tweeted,
Why is Obama on Bear Grills trying to survive in the tundra? Isnt the idea to keep the prez alive? And why is he on a reality show?Wtf ?
Spade was referring to a special edition of the show Running Wild With Bear Grylls, (not “Grills” but I digress) in which President Barack Obama visits Alaska to witness, first hand, the effects of climate change. The President, the host of the show and nearly every news article and press release make the policy implications of the appearance extremely clear, by the way.
But Spade had a chance to offer a more nuanced less 140-character-bound critique of the intersection between media and politics on Sunday when he spoke to the celebrity gossip website TMZ outside of Craig’s, which is apparently, some fancy restaurant in LA:
“I criticized Obama because I thought, you know, a president should have a little more dignity than [pauses to come up with hilarious joke] I mean, I realize that Woodrow Wilson went on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ once, but what president’s doing reality shows? It just sounds weird to me, you know, it’s just too much.
I think that, you know,[pauses to come up with hilarious joke] Michelle Obama’s on ‘Ellen’ more than I am. I mean, what first lady – it’s just a new world, it’s just I’m not used to it, and they’re out [pauses to remember that word the kids are using today that means dehydrated]… It just seems a bit thirsty to me, that’s all.
I think they’re gonna do fine but they’re sorta plotting [is thinking so hard that he leaves out preposition ‘for’] after the White House.
Like, he’s on GQ – I’m like, leave that to Bradley Cooper. You don’t need to go – the president, you’re above all of us, you’re above stars, you’re above everything. When he’s trying to get in the mix, like, I want to present at the MTV Awards – all right guy, you got it, relax.
Spade’s commentary was so thought-provoking, I had to share some of my own thoughts and questions.
- Are you, David Spade, for whatever reason, under the impression that anyone turns to you when looking for sociological critiques on the intersection of media and politics?
- If not, are you, David Spade, for whatever reason, under the impression that what you said had any comedic value?
- If not, are you, David Spade, for whatever reason, under the impression that you’re not engaging in embarrassingly transparent behavior which only serves to communicate the extent of your own insecurity?
katiehalper.com 