Anyone remember this show? The history of SNL (predictably)
held the former opinion, yet the show definitely had some
great moments, and some very talented alumni including Larry David and Michael Richards. My own take is that sure, it was something of an imitation of SNL, but you have to remember that the viewing public had an insatiable demand
for late night sketch comedy during those years (late 1970s). In view of that, it seemed that the producers were just giving us another helping of what we liked.
Damn! I meant, "the history of SNL which I read. I have to start proofreading my posts better.
[Jamaican accent]
Do we add oregano?
No no noooo no!
Do we add de rosemary?
No no noooo no!
Do we add sugar?!
No no noooooo no!
Well den, what do we add?!
[/Jamaican accent]
I thought at the time that it was pretty funny, but in retrospect, it often centered around drug humor, which I rarely find funny these days.
Michael Richards was insanely great in his reoccurring role as an uber-geek with the reactive nervous system of a chihuahua who fancied himself as a suave bachelor.
As far as being a lame rip-off of SNL, SNL itself is often just a lame rip-off of SNL’s glory days.
I agree with you on the drug humor…and it’s not as if I’ve become a conservative suburbanite with 2.3 kids–because I haven’t. It’s just that I don’t care for that type of humor.
Actually though there were quite a few sketches or bits I thought were hilarious, and I’m sorry I can’t remember more than one or two of them. It’s just been too long. But one that I liked was where three guys walk into a tropical fish
store, and they’re made up to look like fish…they actually
think they ARE fish. And they would move around the stage
together, in parallel, just like a school of fish. At one point one of them actually tries to get into a 10-gallon
fishtank, at which point I think the proprietor throws them
out.
Then the Three Stooges bits…you’re right, there was
a lot of drug humor.
Andy Kaufman.
Not everyone was in on his “joke,” when he started improvising during one skit.
I just remember Michael Richards going offstage, getting cue cards or something and dropping amidst the group.
Things went wild, and I think Jack Burns (the announcer)was trying to say something like “Hey, it’s not serious.”
Then they cut to a break.
Hey, y’mean someone besides me remembers that show?!?
Disclaimer: I’ve not seen it since it was originally shown some two(?) decades ago. <TWO DECADES?? Ulp!>
Thought it was quite funny at the time. Freaking hilarious on occasion. Now that ya mention it, they did do a lot of drug humor, but then I’ve got nothing against drug humor. As long as it’s funny.
Yeah, it was sketch comedy, like SNL. There’ve been lots of sketch comedies. It’s not like SNL originated the idea, fer cryin’ out loud.
I remember Fridays. I actually liked it better than SNL. I don’t remember very much of it, but I do remember The Boomtown Rats (one of my favourite bands at the time) singing I Don’t Like Mondays on it. I think I remember seeing Manfred Mann doing Blinded by the Light, but that could have been another show. (Although I think it was Fridays.
The only skit I remember is one where a car is weaving on the road, and it turned out that the skit was a Public Service Announcement to make people aware that there was a problem with people “driving while deceased”.
I missed the first show, and I think there was a skit called “Diner of the Dead”. IIRC, they got so much flak for that (apparently distasteful) show that they never showed it again.
Another show I liked around that time period was Almost Live, which introduced Bill Nye to the viewing public.
I guess by saying “drug humor” you are referring to Mark Blankenship(?) playing the pharmacist who is imbibing of his inventory. At the time, I thought that was some of the funniest stuff I’ve ever seen.
So, is SNL dissing Mad TV, too?
I recall liking Fridays as well or better than SNL at that stage; I enjoyed the drug humor at the time, especially Mark Blankfield’s speed-freak pharmacist, Darrow Igus’ Rasta gourmet, et al. I also had a crush on Melanie Chartoff, though looking at publicity photos of her now (she does voice work on The Rugrats), I can’t understand why – what the hell did I know at 16?. Michael Richards’ sadistic kid with his army men was pretty brilliant. I’m surprised at how much of the show I can remember over twenty years later, especially since it only lasted one year and hasn’t been re-broadcast endlessly like SNL.
Where Fridays had it all over SNL from my point of view was the musical guests: The Boomtown Rats, Split Enz, The Clash, etc.
Sort of like when Louise Lasser, hosting SNL around the same time, started talking about her recent bust for cocaine
and went into a serious nervous breakdown on the air. The book I mentioned in the OP (which, btw, I think is called "A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live) said that Lorne Michaels never allowed that one to be shown again.
They only 2 skits I remember from the show were Michael Richards playing with green army men on the big pile of dirt and the ganga man already mentioned. I thought it was probably about the same caliber as SNL, and yes, they were looking to grab some of SNL’s audience, but I do not credit SNL with inventing sketch comedy.
Hilarious show! Yeah, the humor was centered around drugs but at the time it didn’t bother me a bit. The Transphibeans, Drugs R Us, Gimme Ganga, and the hyper-kid with the army men have stuck in my mind over the years and I have been known to giggle for no apparent reason simply because I recalled some goofy bit from the show. SNL rip-off? Sure, but so what, it was funny and SNL needed the competition to keep from becoming too boring.
Jeez, I was a kid when that was on (1981, right?).
I remember that alot of the humor was way over my head (guess that was the druggy stuff) but some of the skits, Michael Richards “Battle Boy” sketches in particular (where he reenacts napalm strikes by dousing his toy army men in lighter fluid), sent me into paroxysms of laughter (but then again, I was nine).
The problem was that Fridays was up against Benny Hill and SCTV in my area, and both of those were better geared twards the mentality of a nine-year-old. Although SCTV had sort of a sophisticated retardedness about it (if thats possible).
For some reason, what I remember best about “Fridays” was the skits with Michael Richards and the chickens. Pure poletry in motion, that.
I think the chicken skit was with someone else (IIRC, he was the nerdy guy in the Police Academy movies).
I liked Fridays - at the time, I found it funnier than SNL.
And who could forget Melanie Chartoff. Mmmmm. Melanie.
it lasted about 6 weeks-thats how good it was-yes it was a BLANTANT rip off of SNL-the most pathetic thing was the camera following the actors after the skit ended, trying to one up SNL showing the actors running to get ready for the next skit-
now mad TV is funny!
oops , i meant BLATANT…blantant too though
Yess!!! Here’s to sophisticated retardedness…I went apeshit over SCTV, and there are still parts that I can hardly discuss without sputtering into laughter. Remember
the game show parody “Celebrity 1/2-Wits”, where the contestants were giving such STUPID answers that the host,
who apparently was modeling himself on Alex Trebek, was ready to explode in anger and frustation. [ul][li]Host: Name an article of clothing you’d find in a bedroom.[/li][li]John Candy: A chest of drawers, Neil?[][]Host: What do you do for a living? []Andrea Martin: I work for Mr. Jones.[]Host: And who is Mr. Jones? Andrea Martin: The boss.[/li]
[/ul]
…ANYTHING Martin Short did as Ed Grimley…
Well sorry for hijacking my own post…
I remember Fridays as being very funny. SNL had gotten kind of stale and not very funny, so I was in search of other sketch comedy shows. At the time I liked the drug humor, I was nineteen, but the musical guests were better and acoustics in their studio were better.If you’ve ever been to SNL’s studio you would understand why. On Fridays I saw one of Pat Benatar’s best live performances. My favorite segment was the night Andy Kaufman deliberately ruined every skit he was in and a few others. The show ended with Jack Burns, the director trying to beat up Andy on camera.