It isn't often that celebrities go on Lip Sync Battle in order to make themselves look a lot more professional and/or classy than they do in everyday life. And SNL vet David Spade is not bucking any trends with his upcoming appearance on the viral-friendly Spike series, for which he gave an oddly uncomfortable performance as Wham! front-man George Michael, singing the former duo's greatest hit, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Check it out, and try not to go into hiding like Andrew Ridgeley.
Fans of David Spade know that the actor has zero problem getting silly in order to get people laughing, and just the thought of him mouthing the words to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is enough to make me smile without realizing it. (It's definitely that kind of song.) But there's something just a little bit off about this clip from the upcoming episode, in which Spade is competing against Danish model Nina Agdal, that makes the actor seem like he hasn't even quite woken up before all the go-going got started.
Far be it for me to pass judgement on anyone competing on Lip Sync Battle, since it takes skill and courage and all that to get on that stage. But it kind of looks like David Spade used some spray tan to nail George Michael's bronzed skin tone, and that spray tan had a chemical in it that seeped through Spade's skin and made him think he was 20 years older and making his debut on Dancing with the Stars.
Even the big "Gotcha!" moment from the act, when the female dancers tore his pants away, felt like something that would happen on a 1980s sitcom set at a summer camp, and not Lip Sync Battle. This is a show where male celebrities relatively frequently get fully decked out in drag, Bosom Buddies-style, and yet none of that has ever felt quite so dated as this pantsing. I suppose it matches up with Wham!'s heyday, since "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" debuted in 1984.
All that said, I know this is just a short clip from an overall performance that could easily be incredibly complicated and full of precise footwork. And hopefully one where they sell T-shirts afterward, because I would probably buy one.
Find out how well David Spade will do against Nina Agdal when Lip Sync Battle airs on Spike Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET. To see when everything else is hitting the small screen soon, head to our summer TV premiere schedule.
