kramdenfan

A friend of mine and I were talking about comedy variety shows (SNL, Mad TV, etc), and she mentioned a show I'd never heard of. She thought it was called "Fridays," and was on about 20 years ago on Friday nights. She thought Michael Richards (Kramer) was on it, but I couldn't find any info in his profile about this...

Does anyone have any info for me?
Thanks!

Mopower

Yes Michael Richards was on it. Don't know anything else about it though.

Jadzia

I used to love that show!

That was the show that Andy Kaufman hosted and did his infamous blow-up on live TV that is detailed in the movie "Man on the Moon".

Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") was also a cast member.

Here is the IMDB link:

http://us.imdb.com/Details?0080219

devilshalo

I liked the show..

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet...t/showid-3599/

Back then... I had a thing for Melanie Chartoff

Clips and stuff here..

http://ca.geocities.com/fridaysalways/index.htm

Charlie Goose

Very hit-and-miss sketch comedy show, just like SNL. I remember a lot of drug humor.

Honk!

Jason

IIRC, they had really good musical guests for the most part.

kramdenfan

Thanks for all the info!! My friend is psyched-

I don't remember this show at all!! I wish they would show reruns on TV Land- the clips on the Fridays' fan site look great!!

Jobronie

One thing I do recall from 20 years ago is that Michael Richards stole the show.

My favorite character of his was Dick; I just remember him as this jumpy self-proclaimed ladies man with lots of Kramer-like spasms.....

Buck Turgidson

Dick's trips to the beach and the bowling alley were absolutely classic. (On the beach he wore: Sports jacket, dress shirt, shorts and cowboy boots. On the sand.)

Michael also had a psychotic little boy character he played named Battle Boy who tended to ge carried away playing army.

(I'm w/ devilshalo on Melanie )

This show was on when SNL was in bad shape (the one dreadful Charles Rocket/Denny Dillon/Gilbert Gottfried year).

I actually liked a lot of the cast. Mark Blankfield's characters were generally funny, Larry David was always amusing and John Roarke did my favorite Reagan, ever. He also did an ace Shatner.

Good show, fondly remembered, at least by me.

MGR

Great hmmm show hmmm.
I hmmm remember hmmm the hmmm series hmmm of hmmm sketches hmmm (lead hmmm by hmmm Mark hmmm Blankfield hmmm) about hmmm the hmmm meetings hmmm of hmmm the hmmm Society hmmm of hmmm Men hmmm Who hmmm Hum hmmm Between hmmm Every hmmm Word hmmm.

I hmmm also hmmm agree hmmm with hmmm the hmmm others hmmm: Melanie hmmm Chartoff hmmm was hmmm hot hmmmmmm!

RandyC

Yes. I loved the show, and mainly for his characters. They were genius.

rkndkn

Oh, I used to watch this every week! The first thing I think of is that guy who used to put his hands in the raw chicken to make it look like it's dancing!

Buck Turgidson

I really thought I was the only person alive who remembered that.

"Ah, la musica, la musica, los Captain Beefheart..."

"But Pastor Babbitt, I don't even like porn-uh-ography..."

I also liked Mahler's drunken pirate poet, who never could rhyme.

That show was quite dadaist, now that I think of it.

Jobronie

And I thought I was the only one who remembered the Spanish/Mexican DJ. You quoted it exactly like I still do, except this is the one I remember:

"Ah, la musica, la musica de los Boss, Brrrrrrrrruce Springsteen...".

For the uninitiated, Bruce Mahler did this recurring short bit. It would open of him as a radio DJ dressed in a loud suit; MARIACHI music would just be ending and he would back-announce it as we mentioned above, but the artist named was always an FM rock favorite. He would then read a commercial (this was the bit) totally using Spanish that you had learned by the end of your first semester (I guess the term would be pidgin Spanish). He would then end the bit by announcing the next song, which was again another Mariachi credited to an FM rock artist.....


The show also did a lot of Three Stooges bits. Mahler did a bit as his Seinfeld rabbi, using matzohs for self-defense ("Maht-zoi").

Could never figure out why the show never re-ran on cable during Seinfeld's heyday; I was sure somebody would have picked it up to capitalize on Michael Richard's fame at the time. Maybe clearance on the music.....?

And yeah, I wanted to 'hit it' with Melanie Chartoff back then as well; they managed to find several excuses to put her in a bikini, IIRC.....

Pointyskull

"Take...a...pill...!"

Jobronie

Which was pretty much 'recycled' by Cheri Oteri into Collette Reardon 15+ years later.....

Captain Harlock

Andy Kaufman and Michael Richards nearly got into a fight live on the set of Fridays. The scuffle ended with another cast member restraining Richards. I think Richards would have mopped the floor with Kaufman.

Fridays also has another distinction. The show marked the first American television appearance for The Clash. They performed "Train In Vain".

Jobronie

See Jadzia's post above RE: the Kaufman incident.

IIRC, Richards did little more than to toss a few things at Andy and lightly bump or push him; I believe they were quickly separated. The main 'fight' was between Andy and Jack Burns, which looked very real but which, I believe, was 'worked'.

I think the only people 'in' on the fight were Andy, Burns, Moffitt, and Lee......

mrpayroll

This show really needs to be put out on DVD. I too remember watching all of the shows and was pissed that they cancelled it after only 2 years.

I remember Michael Richards as being my 2nd favorite behind Mark Blankfield (I wonder what happened to him?)
And Melanie Charthoff

Chris

edit : and I really like it, because it was our (West Coast) answer to the East Coasts, SNL.

Charlie Goose

I remember those too! Do you know who performed as the Stooges? The impressions were quite good.

On an Andy Kaufman tribute, Richards tried to make it seem like he was also in on the joke, but I tend to doubt it. Why would they tell him? It would ruin the gag.

Honk!

Jobronie

IIRC, Roarke did Curly, Mahler did Moe (he had the hair), and David did Larry (he had the hair AND the name).

The bits seemed to revolve around using current subjects and taboos as new plots for the Stooges, i.e., drug dealers, porn, etc. I recall a lot of the plots being drug oriented......

redskull47

Don't forget the "Diner of the Living Dead" sketch!

I think came out around the time of the "Dawn of the Dead" movie. In the sketch, a couple wanders into a small town diner that's populated by dozens of zombies, who are all eating gory body parts.

If I remember right the joke was that the couple was unfazed by the items on the menu. I remember thinking it was pretty gory/graphic for tv at that time.

Buck Turgidson

I always though Ferrell's Alex Trebek was a straight ripoff of Eugene Levy's version from SCTV.

I just thought I'd mention that, but we don't need another Who Ripped Off Who debate...

Here's a rather obscure one: does anybody remember that sketch with the guy who developed a cure for cancer, but couldn't get any attention at a medical conference (because they were debating over the correct pronunciation of "Bologna")? He eventually got so frustrated he had a heart attack and died.

Hoiw about when Howard Rollins was the host and they did the faux sitcom Amos and Ghandi?

Jobronie

Buck:

Then you may have noticed my sig.........

AGuyNamedMike

I loved the show too! Good fan site here.

Melanie Chartoff's personal website here.