FINALLY: David Spade Pledges to Avoid Bashing Trump on New Late Night Show
Tom Pappert
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David Spade is bucking mainstream trends and pledging not to bash President Donald Trump on his new late night talk show slated to premiere on Comedy Central.
While virtually every other late night TV host spends the majority of their broadcast pathetically lambasting President Trump, Spade intends to take his forthcoming late night TV show in a different direction by sticking to pop culture and current events rather than using it as a platform against the president.
The Washington Times reported:
Comedian and actor David Spade said in a new interview that his forthcoming talk show on Comedy Central will largely avoid the President Trump-bashing that dominates late-night television.
“I don’t want half the crowd tuning me out,” Mr. Spade told Variety on Tuesday. “I’m just not that smart, and there are other guys doing it better.”
“Lights Out with David Spade” will have a monologue, guests, field pieces and discussion panels, but will mostly focus on popular culture and digital happenings rather than politics, the host said.
“I still like to make fun of everyone and what they are doing, but it’s more good-natured,” he said, adding that “when people do things, I think it’s fair game to make a few jokes, and then you move on — not too personal, of course.”
Spade’s new show premieres next week on Comedy Central at 11 pm, and will compete with virtually every late night show on the major networks.
However, this would not be the first time late night television outperformed the major networks. In the early 2000s, “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart routinely received such a large proportion of the 18-29 demographic that it became the de facto news source for the generation.
Readers over 30 might scoff at Stewart’s inclusion – assuming they know who he is. For many under 30, the host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” is, improbably, a source for news.
A poll released earlier this year by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 21 percent of people aged 18 to 29 cited “The Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live” as a place where they regularly learned presidential campaign news.
By contrast, 23 percent of the young people mentioned ABC, CBS or NBC’s nightly news broadcasts as a source.
If Spade’s intention to leave politics out of his new program remains true, he could easily become a ratings magnet for the recently beleaguered Comedy Central cable news network, which has alongside many others fallen behind in ratings in the age of President Trump.
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