David Spade Reveals He Turned Down the ‘Late Night’ Job that Went to Conan O’Brien

TV Tattle

David Spade reveals he turned down the Late Night job that went to Conan O’Brien

Spade left that revelation out of his new memoir, but he says NBC and Lorne Michaels approached him about taking over for David Letterman while he was still on SNL in the early ’90s. Spade, though, felt he was too inexperienced to host a late-night show — which made it even more shocking for him when somebody with even less experience got the job. “I said, ‘Why me?’ And they said, ‘Well, you sort of brought a new attitude to Saturday Night Live and a little edge, and you’re not like People magazine. You’re going after people, and we like that.’ And I was young and new. And I said, ‘Aw, I don’t think I’d really want to do a talk show.’”


Here’s your first look at Rosie O’Donnell as an Empire waitress

She’ll play a waitress at a greasy spoon. PLUS: Is giving Lucious Terence Howard’s past to make him more interesting?


David Hasselhoff says he changed his name to “David Hoff”

The Hoff really will be The Hoff without the “Hassel” from now on.


John Oliver becomes a dad

The Last Week Tonight host and his wife, Kate Norley, have welcomed a baby boy.


ESPN will air commercials for Will Smith’s NFL film Concussion

It’s unclear if the ads for the movie depicting the NFL in a negative light will run during Monday Night Football, which ESPN pays the NFL $15.2 billion to air.


Aziz Ansari: “If we did a hundred episodes, we definitely wouldn’t have Dev date a hundred white women a la Jerry Seinfeld” on Seinfeld

Like Mindy Kaling on Wednesday, Ansari was asked today in a Reddit AMA about his Master of None character dating white people. Ansari responded that Noel Wells — who is of Tunisian and Latino descent — “blew us away” in her audition in a casting call that was open to all races. “And,” he adds, “for the writing, I’m pulling a lot from my own real current relationship, which is with a ‘white’ person.” PLUS: Kaling tweets: “Someone write an article about white leads on shows who won’t date outside their race. You’ve got PLENTY of options. I dare you.”


Larry David has yet to pick up his $5,000 prize for calling Donald Trump a racist on SNL

The Latino advocacy group DeportRacism.com, which offered the bounty, says it has attempted to reach David’s offices via phone and e-mail with no luck.


Andy Garcia joins Ballers

He’ll spend Season 2 as Dwayne Johnson’s nemesis.


TNT renews Murder in the First

The Taye Diggs legal drama will be back for a third season.


ABC’s Madoff miniseries to air during February sweeps

The two-night event starring Richard Dreyfuss as Bernie Madoff will air Feb. 3 and 4.


Supergirl cut a scene explaining why Kara Danvers wears glasses

Turns out she really does need to wear eyeglasses — not just to protect her identity.


Watch Elizabeth Banks’ newest SNL promos

Leslie Jones just wants a selfie. PLUS: SNL-ers play “Mocking Jay Pharoah” Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.


Limitless adds Georgina Haig

The Once Upon a Time alum will recur as the combat-ready character Piper.


NBC comedy pilot to star Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia and Justin Hartley

The comedy pilot from Dan Fogelman features characters all born on the same day.


See Shia LaBeouf’s reaction to rewatching The Even Stevens Movie

The 2003 Disney Channel film apparently still holds up.


Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wants to guest on Scandal

The Madam Secretary guest-star was asked, ““If you could guest star on any show currently on the air, what would it be?”


How teen shows put together their casts

From Glee to Gilmore Girls to Friday Night Lights.

Nathan For You’s best qualities are its heart and humanity

Nathan Fielder truly wants to do the right thing. PLUS: Watch Fielder hilariously interview the cast of The Night Before.


Teen Mom 3 star is now a bodybuilder

While her fellow Teen Mom 3 stars got into trouble, Mackenzie McKee got into professional bodybuilding.


Jared Fogle prosecutors are seeking the maximum 12-1/2 year prison sentence

The former Subway spokesman could’ve faced up to 50 years before his plea agreement.


HBO is developing When I’m Sixty-Four, a cancer-survivor dramedy

The proposed series follows a narcissistic New Yorker in the aftermath of getting a reprieve from terminal cancer.