David Spade: Why ‘Gap Girls’ movie spinoff of ‘SNL’ skit was killed
What happens on “Saturday Night Live” stays on “Saturday Night Live.”
David Spade recently divulged that his popular, recurring “Gap Girls” sketches on the long-running comedy series were suggested to be made into a movie — though it never materialized.
The 57-year-old comedian revealed on an episode of his “Fly on the Wall” podcast that “SNL” chief Lorne Michaels wanted a film spun off from the iconic skits featuring Spade, Adam Sandler and the late Chris Farley.
The vintage, ’90s-era fan-favorite sketches starred the three men as vapid Gap employees in various mall locations.
Spade noted during his podcast that there was not enough material to write a full-fledged script for a theatrical film.
“We didn’t write it,” he started. “It didn’t happen, but it was sort of when I thought movies were very easy to come by because I was delusional.”
The “Grown Ups” actor said that in the mid-1990s Michaels had a deal with Paramount, which produced the 1995 buddy flick “Tommy Boy,” starring Farley and Spade, followed by their 1996 comedy “Black Sheep.”
Michaels’ next follow-up suggestion: a “Gap Girls” flick.
“Things [the movie] had against it were me writing it — which was probably the first thing — and then I was running out of sketch ideas that were four minutes long,” Spade said about the “Gap Girls” script never coming to fruition.
The skits featuring the “Gap Girls” were released between 1993 and 1995. Spade also recalled that he found inspiration from “Jeopardy!” for one show way back when.
“I remember we did one about ‘Jeopardy!’ because ‘Gapardy’ just sounded like a funny name for a sketch, but there was no sketch [material],” the Golden Globe-nominated actor stated. “So I go, ‘If me, Farley and Adam are the contestants, it will be funny.’ “
However, in the end, Spade decided that scribing a whole “Gap Girls” film would be foolish.
“I said, ‘We can’t do a movie; I’m out. That’s it. I don’t want to wear nails,’ ” he recalled.