David Spade's new memoir is Almost Interesting.From his conversation with Mike Sacks for Esquire:
Did you ever talk to [Johnny] Carson later after your first appearance on his show?--Marshal Zeringue
Carson was so scary. I knew him a little bit just from TV. It was really my mom who loved him when I was growing up. But he visited me backstage afterwards when I was in the dressing room. He knocked on the door, and I opened it with my shirt off like a psycho, because I thought it was all over.
I didn't realize this at the time, but I would never see him again in my life. I had my shirt off and I was a fucking B.O. festival. I'm sure a wave hit him like one of those nuclear bombs knocking over houses, in like, slow motion. I had a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and was chugging it, and I've got it all over my mouth, and he goes, "Hey, I wanted to tell you you did a good job out there, but you didn't come over to the couch." If Johnny really liked a comedian, he called them over to talk.
And I said, "Oh my God, I was so nervous! I didn't think I was supposed to go over!" And he goes, "You did a good thing out there." I apologized for the Pepto and he said, "I'm trying to quit the stuff myself."
He gave you a joke.
He gave me a joke! I'm sure this all meant nothing to him, but I loved it.
Why hadn't you gone over the couch when he beckoned you over? That's a huge honor for a stand-up. It happens very rarely.
The producer, Jim McCawley, told me...[read on]