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Almost Interesting: The Memoir
Almost Interesting: The Memoir
Almost Interesting: The Memoir
Audiobook6 hours

Almost Interesting: The Memoir

Written by David Spade

Narrated by David Spade

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

A hilarious and biting memoir from the actor, comedian and Saturday Night Live alumni David Spade.

David Spade is best known for his harsh “Hollywood” Minute Sketches on SNL, his starring roles in movies like Joe Dirt and Tommy Boy,  and his seven-year stint as Dennis Finch on the series Just Shoot Me. Now, with a wit as dry as the weather in his home state of Arizona, the “comic brat extraordinaire” tells his story in Almost Interesting.

First Taking fans back to his childhood as a wannabe cool younger brother and recounting his excruciating road-tour to fame—when he was regularly mistaken for a ten year-old, Spade then dishes about his time crisscrossing the country as a comedian, for low-paying gigs and dragging along his mother’s old suitcase full of props. He also covers his years on SNL during the beloved Rock/Sandler/Farley era of the 1990s, including his close working relationship and friendship with Chris Farley and brags about the ridiculous perks that fame has brought into his life, including the constant fear of being fired, a crazy ex-assistant who attacked him while he was sleeping, a run-in with Eddie Murphy on the mean streets of Beverly Hills, and of course an endless supply of hot chicks.  

Sometimes dirty, always funny, and as sharp as a tack, Almost Interesting reminds you why David Spade is one of our generation’s favorite funny guys.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateOct 27, 2015
ISBN9780062419965
Almost Interesting: The Memoir
Author

David Spade

David Spade is an actor, comedian, and writer. A former cast member of Saturday Night Live, Spade has also starred in the films Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, and the Joe Dirt and Grown Ups franchises. He was nominated for an Emmy, two Golden Globes, and an American Comedy Award for his role on NBC’s Just Shoot Me! He also won a participation award for being in show business. That’s the one he’s most proud of. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

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Reviews for Almost Interesting

Rating: 4.320541761173815 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

443 ratings30 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I haven’t laughed this hard in a while. He is compassionate and sweet. I hope he does find the girl of his dreams. Lol

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    So fun to listen to! I wish it was longer!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked it. Wish there was more about his post SNL and Tommy Boy career. He seems to be a genuinely good guy who’s led quite a life.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A really fun book. Never knew David Spade was such a decent guy. Never plays one on TV!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting read how Spade became famous. I didn’t care for the last two chapters, seemed like an after thought.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It was well done . Easy to listen too and very informative.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyed the narration by the author. Like being in a continuous on demand stand up show, presented by a guy who has overcome many challenges to get there.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Surprisingly entertaining. David did a great job reading it in his sarcastic conversational style.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Amazing !!!! Loved this book sooo much!! I tam ate and funny and a little bit of sad all wrapped into one great book! Looking forward to reading his newest book!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I Loved it. Laughed out loud. Will be listening again
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I started listening to this on an airplane and I kept laughing. People were looking at me and probably thinking I was a weirdo, but I couldn't contain the myself. I usually don't enjoy hearing about the childhoods of autobiographers, but I loved all of David's entertaining stories. Everything from his mom making him wear a t-shirt with his own face on it to hiding out from Eddie Murphy for 20 years was hilarious. Hearing all the jokes the actors and writers of SNL played on each other helped me imagine what it would be like to be one of the gang. I've seen David Spade in Las Vegas perform and he was excellent and so is his book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Dang… Spade is hilarious, gotta believe the book is even better with him reading his own life story!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Knowing more about one of my favorite comedians was great
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Love how down to earth Spade is. I used to stay up late when I was younger to tape him when he was on Caroline's Comedy Hour.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As this book came to an end, I have to say he made me laugh many time at his references alone never mind the great stories! I appreciated his insight and honesty!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you need a laugh, I highly recommend this book!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    More interesting than I expected. A nice and honest memoir of Spade.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very interesting read. I was a huge fan of SNL during David's employment there and loved hearing about his experience.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Made my day. Wish I could live with him and listen to him 23 hours a day. Make every story sound interesting. Great book :)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Hilarious! I loved the brutal honesty and the look inside the "industry" he gave us.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    David's interesting life, who would have knew it! must listen
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    this book made my days when I was listening to it, loved the brutal honesty David shares with us, hilarious!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lots and lots of good dating advice. I recommend it highly.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very funny book it is as spade said almost interesting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Funny and heartwarming. It was so much more than I expected. Really enjoyable.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I’ve always been intrigued by David Spade. His Hollywood Minute bits on Saturday Night Live were hilarious and so well-written. He’s been a scene-stealing supporting cast member in the TV series Just Shoot Me and Rules of Engagement. In both shows, he played a womanizing jerk. However, in his appearance on talk shows, he is self-deprecating to the point where it seems like he really does have low-self-esteem. Yet at the same time, he’s kind of a womanizer like his characters. But then, he dated Heather Locklear?! He’s an enigma. I picked up his book, hoping I could get to the bottom of who the heck is David Spade.Almost Interesting starts in David’s childhood but the bulk of the book is about his career leading up to and as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. If you want an in-depth look at how an episode of SNL is put together, this is the book for you. I enjoyed learning about how the writer’s room at SNL works. David was there for five years and had imposter syndrome (that’s my diagnosis, not his) basically the whole time. He was always worried that he was going to get fired. I think that the self-deprecating humor he portrays on talk-shows comes from a place of genuine vulnerability that is in this book as well.There are also some stories about the movies he made with Chris Farley, who was a close friend. He doesn’t go into much detail about Chris’s personal demons but I wouldn’t expect him to. There’s almost nothing about the two TV series he was in. The biggest disappointment is that there is NOTHING about Heather Locklear. I can only hope that he held back some info to include in a second memoir.Memoirs from comedians can be hit or miss. Often their humor doesn’t translate well to the page. While some of the humor in the book was on the obnoxious, swarmy side, I thought that the sincere parts of the book made up for it. Recommended, especially for SNL fans.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you enjoy Spade's snarky sense of humor, you'll probably enjoy this autobiography.

    Spade did not have an easy life and I enjoyed learning about his childhood and family. For me, though, the best parts of this autobiography were easily the parts about when he got to Saturday Night Live.

    All the behind the scenes info on how SNL works, how the skits are pitched, written and rehearsed-it's all here. I was hoping for a lot of this info when I listened to both Tina Fey's and Amy Poehler's autobiographies, but in both of them, SNL only played a small part. Here it plays a big part, as does, of course, Chris Farley. The Farley parts are both poignant and hilarious. I felt my heart crack a little bit when Spade mentioned talking to Dan Ackroyd about how it was to lose such a close friend/partner to drugs.

    There were a few irritating things involving the writing and narration-the need to abbreviate a lot of things into annoying little words-using sitch for situation, for example. I didn't like that and it got on my nerves. Luckily, Spade was entertaining enough that I could overlook it most of the time.

    I'm surprising myself by giving this audio 5 stars. I thought Spade's snarky sense of humor would bother me, but it made me laugh more than ever. He's funny, seemingly honest and as the title suggests-Almost Interesting.

    My highest recommendation to fans of Spade's humor and for fans of SNL.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Spade talks about his life from childhood through the Tommy Boy/Black Sheep days.This one was a hoot. Spade is one of my favorite stand-up comedians, and of course he brings his excellent timing and sense of humor to his memoir, which is filled with fascinating tidbits from his early career and SNL days. I highly recommend the audio version, because he reads it so well, and that goofy laugh cracked me up every time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    David Spade has such great comic timing! Listening to this audio was a such a pleasure. He humorously relates tales from his rather difficult childhood in such a way that you can't help but laugh out loud and upon further reflection respect him for rising above it all. His stories of his own celebrity are self-depreciating and humble - above all hilarious!.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    There are a few different approaches to comedy memoirs. You can go with the actual story of your life (with jokes), a la Amy Poehler: This requires you to a) have an interesting life, and b) be funny. You can try for the structured set approach: You set the book up as a connected strand of narratives, each one with its own theme, and riff as you go. This is the most common approach, at least as practiced successfully: Patton Oswalt's Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, Jim Gaffigan's Dad Is Fat and Tina Fey's Bossypants.

    All of this is by way of saying that David Spade could have really used a thoughtful approach here. The book's a bit schizophrenic: The first part is a pretty straightforward narrative of his life coming up in comedy. It's not peppered full of jokes, but memoirs don't need to be — it's about the person's life, and in Spade's case that life is worth reading about.

    He of course covers Saturday Night Live, where most people know him from, and it's a worthwhile addition to the numerous full books that have been written about the show from Studio 6H. He also touches a bit on his most-well-known partner, Chris Farley, which I mention only because I've read him in other places talking about the emotional bond between the two. There's plenty of Farley information (with new stories), but Spade doesn't delve as deep into himself and his own feelings as he did in the beginning, so it winds up feeling a little bit like fanservice. Which is understandable — maybe he didn't want to linger too much on Farley (whether because of genuine emotion or not wanting to be eternally Farley's sidekick is immaterial) yet knew there would be an expectation for it — but it's noticeable, nonetheless.

    But then it gets weird. We hear a genuinely terrifying about attempted murder, a pretty egregious theft by his housekeeper and ... Spade's thoughts on women? The general reader might not know it, but Spade possess a fairly sizable filmography post-Farley: Joe Dirt, Joe Dirt 2, Grown-Upses, Just Shoot Me, Emperor's New Groove, Benchwarmers, Dickie Roberts ... These get name-checks, at best. I'm not saying a memoir has to include absolutely everything that's ever happened (that's what the sequel's for!), but in this case the latter half of the book is just random stories. Personally, I would have much preferred jettisoning it entirely (except where it made sense in the narrative of his life) and gotten more about his work rather than what sounds like rehashed standup material.