As pretty much the entire television and film production industry settled into a sudden senescence over the last month, there’s been a lot of talk of shutdowns, hiatuses, and a general sort of holding of horses—but very little in the way of outright cancellations. With the vast majority of series—even those that have had to delay large portions of their seasons as the COVID-19 quaranatine has set in—there’s been a general sense of wait-and-see, as networks scramble to figure out how they’re going to keep on generating content to keep America’s increasingly stir-crazy residents entertained. But not all: Comedy Central has just announced that it’s pulling the plug on Lights Out With David Spade. Like, for good.
This is per THR, which reports that the network has decided that, regardless of whenever the quarantine lifts, Spade’s comedy chat show won’t be returning to its schedule. The channel is reportedly looking to shop the series around to other networks, but the 11:30 p.m. after-The-Daily-Show slot will once again be vacant, looking for the next Stephen Colbert who’ll be able to fill it for more than a season or two at a time.
Lights Out debuted on Comedy Central last July, powered by the same lingering appreciation for Spade’s acerbic comedy that once made Joe Dirt 2 one of Crackle’s most triumphant streaming hits. The series featured a mixture of stand-up, news segments, and panels, the latter drawing from the former SNL star’s deep bench of comedy friends. Spade himself remains popular enough around the network that he’ll continue to produce digital shorts during the ongoing hiatus, but the show itself will not be coming back.
59 Comments
So?
This was a surprisingly fun watch. I liked the changes they made to the typical chat show format. Hope another network picks it up.
Yeah, I found it pretty enjoyable, too. Although it could be uneven, just by the nature of being a panel show.
This was a surprisingly fun watch.Agreed. I’m not a huge David Spade fan so I resisted for a long time. But I happen to tune in one night because they had a guest or two that I liked and it was pretty fun.Spade wasn’t as annoying as I’d remembered him, but it really does depend on who else is on.
The episode where it was just him and Adam Sandler and the one with just him and Jim Carrey were some of the best ones.
Yup. And the one with Kevin Nealon, Norm McDonald and Dennis Miller was just gold!
[Looking at Norm’s SNL-era publicity photo]
“You had a Paul Newman thing going on. What the fuck happened?”
“Have you seen Paul Newman lately?”
I think if they did this show once a week with the bigger names (or better comedians) it would have been great. There was no need for this every night, and when the show was bad, it was BAD.
Still miss the nightly show.
He’s keeping it 100 with the angels in heaven, now.
The world isn’t that desperate.
I did enjoy when Spade had a member of the writing staff do a “Tight 5″ of standup on the show. The highlight was when a writer on the show discussed his having a stroke, and Spade finding him and calling an ambulance. Then Spade added to the bit in which the writer kept telling the EMT’s that he didn’t need an ambulance. Spade then told the EMT’s to tell the staffer he’d pay for the ambulance ride, and the writer decided to take the ambulance.
“Sudden senescence” is pretty funny.
That’s the next Steven Seagal movie.
I’m a devoted Daily Show watcher, this never really caught with me.There was an awkward stage at first where he was trying the standard ‘late night’ bit of doing a monologue then wandering over to chat with his guests. His first few weeks (months?) were done holding what looked like a red plastic solo cup that he would sporadically sip out of. The unfortunate reality was it made him look like the father of a guy from a college frat party who crashed and started trying to tell jokes.He made other changes – the monologue eventually got dropped, it looked like he wound up trying for some of Tosh.0’s internet mocking – but they really just added to the appearance of a show struggling to find footing.Of course, this is all that I saw during the 2-4 minutes a night my DVR picks up as a bumper. I don’t know what happened on the show past that beyond the one time I tried sitting through it right around the premier.
He started doing the monologue at the end of the show, I think it would have been better to just toss it, and do another segment with the panel. I really liked the show, but it seems everything I like goes away before I’m tired of it.
I have to wonder how successful CC expects an 1130 show to be. Colbert was obviously a high water mark, but so was Stewart’s Daily Show as a lead in. Given that The Daily Show is nowhere near the draw it used to be, ratings wise or content wise, the expectations for the 1130 show that more directly competes with late night should be almost non-existant.
I have to wonder how successful CC expects an 1130 show to be.Same. Feels like the expectations are unrealistic. Colbert was given at least two to three years to find its footing and received direct promotion from The Daily Show.They tried to do a similar anti-news format with The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, which found some moderate success. So I’m not sure what they’re looking for.Either way, I’m getting real tired of seeing perpetual reruns of The Office…
The Opposition With Jordan Klepper was cringingly bad. By that point, the Stewart/Colbert formula they were using had been ground into a little nub, and it often felt like the kind of thing it was trying to make fun of. Weird, because Klepper was always solid on TDS.
Especially since, aside whatever they’re paying Spade, it must be costing them next to nothing to produce.
For that slot, David Spade should team up with Larry Wilmore and make Nights Out.
Do Sonny and Cher still have that stupid TV show?
You know Sonny died over 20 years ago, right?
Does it matter? We have computers now. We can CGI him if we need to
You know you just gave up your credibility?
Its a Simpsons reference that you whiffed on.
That’s what makes the show so interesting these days!!!
He’s a congressman and she’s an Academy award winning actress!
GOOD NIGHT!
But whatever became of their super cute daughter Chastity?
Marty! Don’t you & Joey talk any more?
It (and the Cher show) does get rerun sometimes on one of my cable channels that seems to dig old variety shows.
Cher + David Bowie = one of the weirdest things I’ve seen on TV.
Have you seen Bing Crosby + David Bowie?
I have never gotten the appeal of David Spade. I’ve never thought his material was anything above average and everything about him seems incredibly bland. But he’s clearly doing something right given his successful TV career. I just don’t get it.I did think that show was fairly decent though depending on the guests (which was the reason I’d watch depending on who was on). The format is what I what in that time slot; just comedians sitting around shooting the shit and cracking jokes. It’s similar to why @midnight worked in that I just want to see a group comedians laugh and make fun of stuff and each other.
Spade was great on Just Shoot Me, he’s at his best when he’s got a great ensemble cast to play off of.When he goes it alone….well…
I think that is the key, Spade is good when he is working off other good(or great comedians). He doesn’t work well solo or even as the lead in an ensemble.
My favorite AV Club comment is “People like a thing that I don’t like, and I am incapable of understanding why.”Also, you don’t get his appeal… but you watched the show? Shut up, Drew.
And my favorite AV Club comments are the ones with assholes who don’t understand that comment sections are for sharing opinions and having discussions with other people. Also, I said why I still watched the show from time to time; not because I’m a huge Spade fan but because of the guest line up. So fuck off, Fred
I dont get it. Its been six years now. Theyre never gonna get an other Colbert Report. Just do something different. Extend the Daily Show or something stupid like that. Hell, bring back @midnight or something. That was decently good and engaging.
Give Norm the slot.
ew, that made me flash on Lenny Dykstra on Howard Stern carrying on about “The slot!”
You gotta bush, or….????
Just shoot him
David Spade should be hosting the latest version of The Soup
this show was decent and spade has been funnier this last year than all of his SNL appearances he’s dropped the “annoying rat-faced douche” character for the dry witted snarky guy who does a bad carson impression too much
This slot has never really worked since Colbert left all those years ago. Colbert was a reactionary satire of the Fox News world of the time. I feel like now we need someone who can earnestly mock the current right wing talking heads of the day. Honestly I’d love to see a talented comedian really go all in as a Alex Jones style conspiracy theorist talk show host, although I don’t think that sorta character could ever allow for the inherent loveableness that Colbert bleeds even when playing an pompous right wing idiot, so this wouldn’t be a gateway to a network talk show for anyone.
They tried that though…
Did they? I don’t recall but I’ll admit I’m getting old and forgetful
Reality has slipped beyond the point of parody at this point unfortunately, I don’t think Colbert would work nowadays— he’d be considered a centrist or something based on the shifted political window.
He’ll be shouting “Carol fucking Baskin” on camera soon enough. Lol.
I have watched every single episode of The Colbert Report, The Nightly Show (which they never should have cancelled), @Midnight, every episode of The Daily Show since 2004, and even every episode of The Opposition. I couldn’t make it through a single half-hour of this show.
Same here. I watched the daily show/colbert report combo religiously back then. When colbert left I followed him to his new show while still keeping up with the daily show and that time slot. I watch the nightly show, @midnight, and the opposition. All of them were decent. The opposition had the most potential to really take up the mantle. The right had shifted beyond “popa bear O’Reilly” and Clepper had a lot of potential. It just didn’t click. They made it to much “ conspiracy theory Alex jones” when they should have gone more rush Limbaugh. Also cleppers strength really is field pieces and interviews not front man. @midnight seemed like the most commercially viable. It was well put together and a lot more people seemed to watch it. The David spade things I just couldn’t get behind. I like David spade but I really was sad to see it be about pop culture and not the news.They really missed out not giving Samantha bee a show when they had the chance. I want to see some kind of news satire in that slot again. A parody of the fox five could be awesome…..
I’d agree, except that Samantha Bee already did the ultimate take on “the five.” http://www.cc.com/video-clips/930waq/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-passion-and-intrigue-on—the-five-
I liked this show, so of course they cancelled it. It was usually funny, and it lulled me to sleep (which sounds like an insult, but it’s not – I could listen to it with my eyes closed and not get agitated.)
I don’t care for Spade that much but I do wish more shows would do panels and/or multiple guests at once so it’s too bad this is going. Basically all late night these days are just guest and host but the few times the first guest sticks around it gets infinitely more entertaining. Like, those Jimmy Kimmel clips where the whole Avengers cast are together (and definitely a little drunk) are way funnier than like, Robert Downey Jr. plugging a movie alone.
Just bring back @midnight and cut Hardwick out (since he was both the weakest part of the show and is more of a problematic figure nowadays). It had a rotating cast of funny people nightly and introduced people to new comedians they’ve never seen before! I loved it, at least.
I also enjoyed it too, I thought it was good mockery of social media.
Problematic?
-Sincerely, AMC