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David Spade once refused a David Bowie request to swap roles for a proposed Saturday Night Live sketch.

Spade, who was a writer and cast member on the NBC series from 1990 to 1996, made the Bowie revelation on a recent episode of his “Fly on the Wall” podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow SNL alum Dana Carvey.

The sketch in question was something Spade wrote for a November 1991 episode hosted by Macaulay Culkin, with Bowie and Tin Machine as the musical guest.

Spade was set to portray a snooty receptionist that “stops you because he thinks they’re better than you.” As Spade envisoned it, Bowie was to play himself.

After the pitch meeting where the concept was discussed, Spade received a message to call Bowie at his hotel.

“I called him and he answers and it’s f*cking Bowie,” he said. “And he’s like, ‘This [sketch] is so f^cking funny.

David Spade is revealing the time he turned down David Bowie’s request to switch roles with him for a sketch on Saturday Night Live.

During a recent episode of the Fly on the Wall podcast (recorded before the actors strike), which Spade co-hosts with Dana Carvey, the SNL alum recalled a skit he had written for a November 1991 episode hosted by Macaulay Culkin, with Bowie and Tin Machine as the musical guest.

In the sketch, Spade had himself playing a receptionist that “stops you because he thinks they’re better than you,” and he envisioned Bowie making a cameo as himself. Since the singer-songwriter wasn’t at the pitch meeting to hear the idea, Spade was surprised to get a message asking him to call Bowie at his hotel.

“I called him and he answers and it’s fucking Bowie,” he said. “And he’s like, ‘This [sketch] is so fucking funny.

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When we celebrated David Bowie's 65th birthday last year, we never would have dreamt of what would happen 12 months on. Back from the (as good as) dead, Db returned with The Next Day and we're only just getting over the shock.

To celebrate his unexpected comeback, BBC Two presents a brand-new documentary about our greatest popstar, and having had a sneak preview, Digital Spy gives you five compelling reasons to watch Five Years.

> Ten Things About... David Bowie

1. Golden Years

The structure of Five Years makes it a lot more interesting than your usual pop doc. Rather than try (and fail) to talk about 50 years of pop superstardom in two hours, the film gives us five year-long snapshots. Year One: 1971-1972 (Hunky Dory to ...Ziggy Stardust), Year Two: 1974-1975 (Young Americans to Station to Station), Year Three: 1976-1977 (Low to "Heroes"), Year Four: 1979-1980 (Scary Monsters... And Super...

Throughout his long and storied career, David Bowie has made a habit out of innovating and staying way ahead of the curve. Rather than shift as things are happening (the way Madonna does), Bowie has always anticipated where culture is moving and has gotten there first. He doesn't always knock it out of the park (neither his electronica album Earthling nor his dalliance with Tin Machine should really be considered career victories), but more often than not he gets it right. He has even been on top of innovations that have nothing to do with music, as Bowie was one of the first major artists to embrace the Internet (he even had his own AOL-esque web portal for a while) and on this day in 1997 he kicked off one of the boldest business moves of his career when he sold "Bowie Bonds," which were investment securities people could by that...

Detroit – Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, has died. He was 83.Sales died Thursday night at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said.At the peak of his fame in the 1950s and '60s, Sales was one of the best-known faces in the nation, Usher said."If President Eisenhower would have walked down the street, no one would have recognized him as much as Soupy," Usher said.At the same time, Sales retained an openness to fans that turned every restaurant meal into an endless autograph-signing session, Usher said."He was just good to people," said Usher, a former jazz music producer who managed Sales in the 1950s and...