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David Spade<\/a> has been \u201cpleasantly surprised\u201d with the reception of his new movie, \u201cBusboys.\u201d<\/p>\n On X, which Spade told me garners \u201cthe most vicious\u201d opinions, the feedback has been about \u201c96% positive.\u201d<\/p>\n But in that 4%, one guy gave it a withering F-minus.<\/p>\n \u2018I don\u2019t think we need the minus,\u201d Spade quipped. \u201cI got the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d alum<\/a>, who now hosts the \u201cFly On the Wall<\/a>\u201d podcast with Dana Carvey, is particularly interested in what people are saying. After all, both he and movie co-star Theo Von spent more than $3 million of their own cash to make the crude comedy, about two sweet but naive idiots striving to become waiters.<\/p>\n Spade wanted to work with Von, whose \u201cThis Past Weekend<\/a>\u201d podcast is regularly one of the most popular on YouTube<\/a>, and the pair bonded over their shared experience of working as busboys who never achieved the rank of waiter.<\/p>\n He called \u201cBusboys\u201d an \u201cexpensive experiment\u201d because they wanted test releasing a direct-to-consumer movie through Von\u2019s web site.<\/p>\n But as it all came together, theaters actually called. The scrappy production, which feels like a fun fusion of \u201cDumb and Dumber\u201d and \u201cWaiting,\u201d opened last Friday in 800 theaters worldwide. <\/strong>It reportedly pulled in $1.65 million the first weekend.<\/p>\n Without traditional bosses or gatekeepers, the pair were free to discharge absurd jokes and one-liners that might not have made it past the PC police.<\/p>\n That includes the running gag with Von\u2019s character, Steef, working dirty jobs to buy his mother \u2014 a sloppy brute of a lady \u2014 what has always eluded her.<\/p>\n That would be a penis.<\/p>\n Steef, whose father is in prison, is desperate for the love of a parent, so he tries in earnest to please his mom.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sort of nice in a way that Theo wants to help the situation so he can have a dad. It\u2019s heartfelt to him,\u201d said Spade, adding the spirit of the movie and the gender-bending joke wasn\u2019t mean. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing we wanted to avoid. But we\u2019re making fun of everything and every situation possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Mean, no. Ridiculous? Certainly.<\/p>\n Comedian Tim Dillon plays a closeted restaurant manager paying men for sex in the restroom when he\u2019s not berating the staff. And Spade\u2019s character\u2019s romantic interest works at a sperm bank.<\/p>\n In other words, it\u2019s vintage Spade, complete with a few ratty wigs to rival \u201cJoe Dirt.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I hope it\u2019s a sign that we\u2019ve shed the stifling sensitivity of the last decade or so \u2014\u00a0and can finally acknowledge the wide gulf between what our cultural gatekeepers said was appropriate and what audiences really wanted.<\/p>\n Spade said he felt things loosening up as he made the dark comedy \u201cOutcome<\/a>,\u201d just released on Apple<\/a>, with Keanu Reeves and writer\/director Jonah Hill \u2014\u00a0which includes a joke about Kanye West and antisemitism.<\/p>\n \u201cJonah has some pretty rough jokes, and I was like \u2018Oh good\u2019 \u2026 at least he\u2019s taking swings and doing things that are a little out of the box for a movie these days,\u201d said Spade, adding he hopes \u201ceveryone can just shrug and go, \u2018I like it or I don\u2019t like it.\u2019 But it doesn\u2019t have to start problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the small budget for \u201cBusboys,\u201d Spade did splurge to get Poison songs in the flick. And they filmed in Los Angeles, which wasn\u2019t the cheapest option. But it was after the 2025 fires, and Spade wanted to get people working in a town that seems to no longer make many movies.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s an important subject, and I sort of ragged on Gavin Newsom about it, and Karen Bass \u2026 I\u2019m ragging on whoever is in charge,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy do we have these huge studios, where I\u2019ve done many shows, and they\u2019re closing and going bankrupt? You\u2019re like, \u2018How could this happen?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Tinseltown. This is Hollywood. It\u2019s like closing a coal mine in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n