For a comedian, David Spade has a real problem. He’s just too sexy. That’s not a personal opinion, it’s an astrological one. He’s got the Venus-Mars conjunction that’s the signature of many of the most charismatic movie stars, male and female alike, which more than a little distracts from his droll, understated Capricorn Moon sense of comedy. Worse, he’s got Mars rising ahead of the Sun and ruling his Aries Ascendant, so his strong animal presence, despite his diminutive size (particularly as a child), always puts him in first, up ahead and the center of attention.

That’s always been his problem, even at school. He gets noticed too much for what he is, naturally. With showy Leo Mercury trine the Ascendant, he’s got a head on his shoulders — maybe too much, with Mercury square Jupiter, perhaps why he was persecuted by other kids for being a “brainiac.” Yet, the son of designer Kate Spade, he always looks casual and cool, no matter what he’s wearing. Yet, he’s got what it takes to be a comic — that means a strongly-aspected Uranus. Conjunct Pluto in Virgo, opposite Saturn and trine the Moon and MC, it provides a quiet, dry and dark wit, quite in opposition to the rest of his personality.

So, his career has been a challenge of combining the two — not unlike a smaller version of Cary Grant, with immediate charm backed by ironic and mocking humor (Grant had his Sun in Capricorn, Saturn on the IC). He looks and acts like he could have his pick (and has, famously), but stylistically he shifts to the side at the last moment, always holding something back. Maybe it’s because that Venus-Mars is in Gemini at the cusp of his third house, channeling all that animal magnetism into clever conversation.

Or maybe it’s secret grief, like they say about most comedians. Says his biographical Wikipedia entry: “His stepfather’s suicide, followed closely by his best friend’s death in a motorcycle crash, propelled him into comedy full time.” Really? Well, maybe not. Maybe he wrote the line himself. With a splash chart, he could have, and can and will do a lot of things with his scattershot set of talents. He’s been all over TV and the movies, both as actor, comic, and writer, but with a mind like that, who knows what’s ahead?

Current events: Who, indeed? Something serious is afoot, and we mean serious. His progressed Sun is reaching his natal Pluto, just as he’s approaching progressed New Moon (always a life watershed) and his progressed Ascendant is finishing up Gemini and dropping into Cancer, right onto his North Node, with opposing transiting Pluto working the same spot. Big internal changes are in store for this dude, and you may see some of his signature wisecrack style transform into something much more accessible, even touchingly deep. Maybe it is that comic’s secret grief, coming home to roost.