Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is the new David Spade comedy where he plays a has been pre-teen sitcom star that grew out of a job. The twist is that the acid tongue-slashing repertoire for which Spade is famous, dating back to his “Hollywood Minute” in Saturday Night Live, and that later served him to single handedly save a sitcom like “Just Shoot Me,” can be inferred as the absorption of the rumblings of Hollywood types from an early age, a marvelous comedic concept with which to wrap Spade’s well recognized talents.

The question is, if owning such lucidity may desperately require humor as a venting mechanism of sorts, to chase away thoughts like becoming like Dickie Roberts himself one day.

"Definitely,” answers Mr. Spade. “You need to be on your toes all the time, because comedy kind of fades away. It’s like music, in a way. For example, the way Madonna plans her next album, by trying to stay on top of what’s current. The same goes for comedy.”
Pressed for examples, he offers Eddie Murphy’s character in Beverly Hills Cop, the fast-talking hero. “At one point it's had its run,” he explains, “it just evaporated in a way. It's weird, like when you see comedies from the Seventies that did but now do not make you laugh.”

Spade has also given a lot of thought to the possibility of fading away, that is why, he concedes that he tries to remain one step ahead. “I try to evolve. That is why this movie is kind of sweet at the end.”

“This movie also gave me an opportunity to move slightly past the smart comebacks. You can joke about former child stars but when you have to dwell on the subject matter for two hours, at one point, whether you like it or not, you have to consider their lives, even if for one second. This is even truer when you look at it from inside show business. You start wondering about them. If something terrible happened, while at the same time you are also aware that this business can be really tough on people.”

When given the choice about whom he would like to mature like, the answer is automatic. “Bill Murray, who is my favorite comedian in the world. I think it is fantastic how he just does kind of a version of himself in everything. That's still funny to me. That’s where I can see a parallel. I cannot draw that parallel with my generation on Saturday Night Live because there were a lot of successful character-builders at that time, like Dana Carvey or Mike Myers, who can be funny by themselves but are hilarious when they disappear into a character.”

- Considering that most actors never make it to featured players, let alone stars, one may look at it the other way and think that these guys were truly lucky, but still that is no consolation.

“Of course, and it is a cliché but on the other hand once you get there, you miss the early days. You can say that I am nostalgic for my freedom,” Spade continues, “and that's why I did stand-up this summer, because I didn't have any bosses, and wanted a place where I could just see if I'm still actually funny.”

- Did you do any research as to what can be done to avoid a free fall to ignominy?

”An accountant who handles actors and athletes, was telling me they make the bulk of their career money in about four years. So the problem becomes spacing over that money for twenty-five years, if they don’t live longer than that. Now, put yourself in that position, of saying to yourself, “I’ve made millions but I have to live with seventy thousand” and not everyone is centered enough to accept that.”

”You may have your ups and down but what you don't see coming is agents, managers, friends, other actors, people that you thought were close, suddenly disappearing. You're treated differently, and it can make anyone a bit nervous, particularly when, if you are in your job all day, they become your whole world. So when, if by a miracle, all goes back to being good for you, you get a sitcom or a movie, all these people come back again into your life and you have this false sense of, "What, was I wrong?" That is why, looking at it from the inside, so to speak, it is not so insane to see these crash-and-burn stories. And that's why people that are doing well are crazy, because they've ups and downs and they saw how weird it was.”

David Spade has marveled at the fact that the questions about Saturday Night Live have been slow in coming. “That may be a good sign,” he smiles, and then elaborates about the live NBC broadcast of every Saturday night where, for the last thirty years, practically more than half of all known comedic actors in the United States have turned into stars.

“Reminiscing is tough, particularly when you’re still at it. It’s not like a regular actor, unless they are reprising a role, because with comedy it’s also a discipline you’re talking about, not merely performing. I guess comedians have more in common with singers, in that sense. Having said that, it is inevitable to think, first, that you could always do it better. By this I don’t mean to say that I may not enjoy catching up with myself on Comedy Central now and then. I do. In fact, it was a great time and what's good about it was, in retrospect, that I went from the fun of stand-up, where there's no bosses, to the closest to no bosses, which was Saturday Night Live, because Lorne is really good about letting people create with a certain amount of freedom.”

- This you are comparing with television or with movies?

“Both, really, movies even has a ratings board whose rules are a mystery to everybody in this industry. I’m sure that does not happen anywhere else. There is no business like show business after all, right?”
Pressed for more specifics on the restrictions placed by the film industry as against live television, David Spade continues, “There are so many people involved, like fifty. To get one joke it's literally got to be typed-up, sent around, put on pink paper, go to the top, come back to the bottom, everyone's got to OK it. Then it's got to make it through editing. Then someone in the test audience said they didn't think it was funny. With that kind of stuff, the actual movie coming out is a miracle.

-With all these former child stars, did any one of them offer an interesting survival or rejection story?

”They didn't share too much, but they came because they had a sense of humor and appreciated that what we were doing was kind of sympathetic towards them. By then, the former child stars who heard the movie was funny, were like, "We want to be in it now!" We didn't want to waste them, so, we put together this song.”

- And they had an opportunity to return to a movie set, if at least for a joke.

”When they got there, some were genuinely just excited, you know, to be in a town car again.
The ones that are adjusted and land on their feet you don't hear about. Because they got their act together, they have a job, etc. We went to the Facts of Life kids, and they weren't crazy about doing it. We went to a couple different people. And I think the more recent the show was canceled, they don't want to admit that it's not going well, you know what I mean? Just after my last movie, and I was working on Just Shoot Me, I was looking for a funny idea for a movie. My partner called out the blue and said, "Did you see the Leif Garrett: Behind the Music?"

- Leif Garrett was very popular at one point.

”I guess everyone at some point had a stadium concert. We could all fill the Rose Bowl at one point. "Now what about used child stars? It's so perfect. You're mid-thirties, beat-up, angry. Stuff like that we could write around you. People would really buy you as a guy that's really mad at the world for that."

- Can you talk a little bit about Emmanuel Lewis kicking your ass at the beginning of the movies?

”He was cool because he did shave his head for it. We said it would be funny if you shaved your head and you have tattoos and you have a big posse with you. He said, "Alright." But he said he was religious and he wouldn't say, "You're my bitch" or some line we had there, so we substituted for the f-word. We took that out anyway because we wanted to save the f-word for the end. You only get one freebie in a PG-13.”

- If the singing epilogue was an afterthought, at what point in getting this convocation together happen, and did you brainstorm with the former stars about the lyrics?

”We finished the movie and we were kind of doing rough cuts, the director, and I, with the other producer were thinking whether to do outtakes, we brainstormed about doing a song and bring them all in like "We Are The World.” So, Fred got with Robert Smigel, who works at Saturday Night Live, who used to write with us, came up with the song. Then, of course, individually, once we get everyone to record, some said to us "I won't say my catch phrase" or "I won't say this" and we've got to write around that, and it was a constant battle to still make it funny. There were thirty former child stars in one place. I was getting them all coming at me. I didn't know what to do. It was a lot of fun that day because it was a learning experience. I laughed, "My turn is just a day away. You never know."