I am not the biggest fan of David Spade, it's the constant smarminess (if that's a word), but I caught this special on hBO a few years ago and I laughed my ass off. He exudes a different type of humor in his stand-up. He pokes fun at himself as a nerd in highschool his family. It is worth taking a look at.
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Brad_Dharma5 September 2002
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csmovieman16 May 2006I 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. -
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. -
chriskirk215 May 2006Spade is relaxed, confident, and very funny here. He balances his hateful-little-bastard persona with nice amounts of self-deprecation; coming up with a classic set. His subject matter(gay rock bands, "spanktro-vision", dirtball drug-dealers,etc.) isn't particularly important- but Spade makes it all work. I really liked his bit about rock bands talking to the audience- telling Michael Stipe to "sing Radio Free Europe and beat it!!", when Stipe just wants to whine about how horrible his rich life is. "Just sing the god-damned songs, buddy!!!!". This set is almost 10 years old-and none of the material is dated. Hate him or really hate him; Spade is a funny dude.
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totally_animated1 June 2006Does 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.
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robat19925 July 2006Take 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. -
bonjovifan200012 January 2011Take the Hit is excellent! David gives us his hilariously exaggerated view on life--everything from his deadbeat biological dad, his nerdy high school and college days, his life growing up to the Arizona state fair. He even throws in a Tommy Boy reference! Even his sound imitations are spot on. Spade throws in a lot of self-deprecating humor, he's definitely not afraid to make fun of himself! Spade keeps up his momentum throughout the routine. There's a never a dull moment in this special. Even though this special is over a decade old now, it's still just as funny these days. You're face will literally hurt from laughing so much! Spade keeps the laughs coming from beginning to end.
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DonnieDio15 September 2021Simply the best comedy special ever IMO. Such hilarious, far fetched, insane, yet somehow endearing story telling. Just amazing. Spade is good in movies, but this is him at his best, that creepy dark humour you just don't see from him in movies.