David Spade Knocks Worst ‘SNL’ Host Steven Seagal
David Spade pegged Steven Seagal as the worst Saturday Night Live host during Andy Cohen’s “Plead the Fifth” segment on Watch What Happens Live.
Promoting his new memoir, Almost Interesting, Spade named the person he thought was most successful and overrated during his time on SNL. While Cohen seemed to be fishing for the name of a cast member, Spade spared his fellow players and instead pegged Seagal, who hosted the show in April 1991.
“He was a little tough,” the comedian said. “He was actually tough and he was tough to work with. It was hard. He did not want to play along.”
Spade’s assessment has been corroborated by others on SNL, including creator Lorne Michaels. On a 1992 episode, host Nicolas Cage delivered a purposefully smarmy monologue praising the bodies of actresses he’d worked with, only to be called backstage by Michaels for a reprimand. After realizing his mistake, Cage apologized and proclaimed he must be the worst host ever. “No, no — that would be Steven Seagal,” Michaels deadpanned.
While Spade was able to avoid Cohen’s actual question about his SNL castmates, the host did push him to discuss his supposed rivalry with Rob Schneider. Instead of pleading the fifth, Spade admitted: “We sort of had a little friction. We got hired together; we were best buddies. But some things happened. I think he didn’t put my name on a sketch the first time [and] he didn’t tell me about a writers’ meeting. So I thought he was trying to get me fired, which was very easy at that point.”