David Spade: Take the Hit

Saturday Night Live alumnus David Spade has appeared in numerous films (Black Sheep, Joe Dirt) and sitcoms (Just Shoot Me, 8 Simple Rules) since leaving the sketch-comedy series that made him a star, but he seems most comfortable in venues such as Phoenix's Improv, where this solo standup performance was shot before a live audience. Spade's hour-long “set” contains a fair amount of self-deprecating humor, but the comic is always more comfortable skewering others, and here he has a field day roasting his high-school stoner friends and self-absorbed celebs (which is also what he does now as host of the Comedy Central-aired The Showbiz Show with David Spade), mostly coming off as rather mean-spirited (think: the kid who got picked on in school but now gets his revenge by roasting his tormentors on a satirical spit). Some of Spade's pop-culture references are trenchant, but all too often he settles for taking the cheap shot, an approach that clearly delights fans, but won't please everybody watching this somewhat dated first HBO solo special that hails from 1998. Optional. Aud: P. (E. Hulse)