Spade returning to late night
David Spade is returning to late-night TV, in a bid from Comedy Central that will shake up the way the network does business around midnight.
Spade, the comedian once famous for delivering the Hollywood Minute during the Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live, will later this year launch the series, which will follow The Daily Show, the network’s flagship. At 11:30 p.m., he will go head-to-head with opening monologues from NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, CBS’s Stephen Colbert and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.
In Canada, much of Comedy Central’s current and past programming airs on Comedy.
Spade is expected to focus on other areas of discussion, offering a “signature take on the pop culture news of the day,” according to the network. The program is yet to be titled and will include a rotating group of celebrities and comedians. With this choice, Spade and Comedy Central will be moving against the current grain. Many of the newest offerings in late-night tend to centre on national news and a news cycle driven by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The most-watched late-night show on TV, CBS’s The Late Show, has seen its viewership surge as its host tilts nightly at the Trump administration’s latest feints and foibles. TBS’s Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (which airs on Comedy in Canada) trades heavily in political satire, as does HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. Comedy Central’s last late-night entry was The President Show, with comedian Anthony Atamanuik doing a take of Trump leading a late-night program from the Oval Office.