David Spade

I was very surprised to see David Spade doing stand-up. I was aware that he was on SNL where many stand-up comedians flourish in acting or writing, but I had never known Spade to be a stand-up comedian. Having said that, there wasn't anything particularly different between his stand-up routine and his usual characters and skits. On SNL, he was known for a segment on Weekend Update in which he would smugly comment on the in's and out's of Hollywood. Also, every role he played in movies such as Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, he is a sarcastic realist always commenting on the absurdity of situations. His stand-up is not much different. He sarcastically tears apart his own life and the lives of others. This begs the question: How often is there a change between stand-up persona and other work? Some actors who do stand-up comedy have movies or television shows which are merely extensions of their routine. These people include Tim Allen, Ray Romano and Jerry Seinfeld. However, some people such as Steve Martin or Robin Williams have very different stand-up/work personas and approaches. I guess some of it has to do with how marketable the persona is. Tim Allen plays a men vs. women routine and Jerry Seinfeld is a constant observer of mundane points. These routines can easily be expanded into television sitcoms. However, people like Steve Martin or Robin Williams don't have as easily identified persona and thus they are not as pigeon-holed into doing work which is a direct reflection of that stand-up. 

As for David Spade, I don't think he has been completely marketed as the wise-cracking, sarcastic straight man but the majority of his work surely reflects it. I think that in the past few years he has grown longer hair and looked for different work. Maybe he is trying to branch out of that character or maybe he is just trying to take it in a different, new and fresher direction.