David Spade Sued By Longtime Friend Krista Allen Over ‘Stolen’ Show Idea

It’s called an attorney, David Spade. Look into it.

Spade, a comedian and actor who made a name for himself dishing out unsolicited career advice to celebrities on Saturday Night Live‘s “Hollywood Minute” sketch, might not be laughing once former friend Krista Allen gets done with him. TMZ reports that Allen, who has appeared in numerous television series and on the big screen, has filed a lawsuit against David Spade seeking damages of over 1 million dollars.

TMZ indicates that Krista Allen claims she came up with an idea for a show last year in which unsuspecting rubes participate in faked talent shows that are put on before an audience of actors. The show, tentatively called Frauditions, allegedly reached the development phase but did not advance any further once David Spade balked at splitting the profits with Allen. Krista maintains that Spade turned her concept into the show Fameless, which currently airs on TruTV. Spade is the producer and host of the program. According to IMDb, Fameless debuted in late July of this year.

To be sure, Spade’s program isn’t confined to the aforementioned talent show setting. Fameless participants are pranked in a variety of environments, all under the premise that they’re going to be on television shows. In one sketch, an actor unwittingly stumbles into a fake sting resembling To Catch A Predator, complete with former show host Chris Hansen. The young man becomes convinced that he is going to be arrested and charged with trying to hook up with a 14 year-old. Another episode features a man employed as a TV pitchman who is tasked with selling a new water filtration system. After sampling the water on camera, he learns that he has consumed the inventor’s urine. Put succinctly, Fameless isn’t exactly a night at the opera.

Despite the fact that it is now the subject of a seven-figure lawsuit, Fameless isn’t exactly killing it with the critics. MediaLife Magazine panned the show’s debut as “pointless and laughless.” Boston Globe skewered Fameless with a terse, four-word reaction that ended with the adjective “useless.”

Spade himself shrugs off criticisms, including the recurring assertion that Fameless is mean-spirited,. He told Entertainment Weekly that the show’s participants are just “thirsty” to be on television.

U.K.-based news outlet the Daily Mail recalls that friends-turned-litigants David Spade and Krista Allen were linked romantically in 2001 but remained close in the years that followed. Allen’s IMDb biography notes she married punk singer Mams Taylor in 2010 and divorced the following year. David Spade has a child with former Playboy model Jillian Grace.

Krista Allen still has a lot on her plate even without a stake in Fameless, as she currently stars in the CW show Insignificant Mother. As for David Spade, he is currently gearing up for the release of his memoir Almost Interesting, which goes on sale on October 27.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]