Chris Farley and David Spade circa 1996
David Spade is making the rounds to promote his Comedy Central show starting next week. Which I’m excited for and I love seeing him on talk shows. He’s the best guest.
But in a long form interview with the New York Times he got into some heavy talk that we’re not used to hearing from him. He began talking about his sister in law, fashion designer Kate Spade, who took her life last year. How funny she was, despite a long battle with depression.
But Spade has had a lot of death in his life according to him. (and me!) We know his best friend Chris Farley died of a drug overdose in 1997. A death that absolutely destroyed him for a while.
Before that he lost his Stepfather to suicide when he was only 15. ‘People just started going right and left, and I would sit and stare at a wall,’ he said.
‘I just said, O.K., I guess I’ll cross my fingers that it doesn’t happen to everyone. And more people would go,’ he added.
In February his friend comedian Brody Stevens, who was often his opening act, committed suicide. ‘I don’t want to say I’m immune to it,’ Spade said on losing loved ones, ‘but there’s a way you just have to learn to shut off the tear valve. It’s just too brutal.’
Lights Out With David Spade on Comedy Central that debuts on July 29.