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David Spade interviews 'Tiger King' star for 'Lights Out'

David Spade interviewed "Tiger King" star Kelci Saffery for "Lights Out." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
David Spade interviewed "Tiger King" star Kelci Saffery for "Lights Out." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

March 28 (UPI) -- Comedian David Spade interviewed Kelci Saffery, one of the stars of the true-crime documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, for Lights Out: Live From the Bunker.

Tiger King is a Netflix sensation about a group of colorful characters who collect and care for big cats in the United States.

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Bunker is the home edition of Spade's late-night talk show, which is on hiatus amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

In a 17-minute video chat posted on YouTube Friday, Spade talked to Saffery, who lost a hand to a tiger bite, about what it was like to work with Tiger King star Joseph "Exotic" Maldonado-Passage, a zookeeper now serving a prison sentence for his role in a plot to kill the chief executive officer of Big Cat Rescue.

"Joe has a heart, for sure, 100 percent," Saffery told Spade.

"I've seen it with the animals and whatnot, which is why I got on-board in the first place. We both had this passion and charisma for animals, in general. But you learn very quickly that he is very fast to tell you what he knows you want. He is a man of many masks. He can be anything."

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When Spade jokingly described the show's quirky cast as having a "Craig's List kind of feel to them," Saffery agreed.

"It's people for the most part that have nowhere else to go," Saffery said. "I've met all these people in person and they come off on camera exactly the same way. That is just them."

Saffery also said she thought Spade -- whose film credits include Joe Dirt -- would be perfect to play Maldonado-Passage in a movie or TV drama, while the comedian said he thought it should be Matthew McConaughey.

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