Do You Remember ‘Fridays,’ The ‘SNL’ Competitor That Gave Us Larry David?
As we continue to celebrate Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary season, it seems equally appropriate to remember the other shows that have challenged SNL for the sketch comedy throne. From In Living Color to Mad TV, plenty of attempts have been made to put a new spin on the genre — but perhaps none aimed closer to the original concept than Fridays, the sketch show that jump-started the career of Larry David.
Fridays premiered on April 11th, 1980, unleashing a new cast of cutting-edge comedians onto the network TV landscape. Airing live on (you guessed it) Friday night — though instead of being live from New York, the show was “live from the Los Angeles basin” — Fridays only survived two years before being canceled for good. But its edgy humor and memorable moments helped it make its mark on those who gave it a chance during that time. In honor of the series premiere’s 45th anniversary, here are seven little-known facts about Fridays!
1The show turned off critics and TV execs almost immediately
Since Saturday Night Live managed to plant its flag in the sand as the original sketch comedy show of its type, the world was much less welcoming to perceived imitators. Fridays, in particular, was viewed by many to be an SNL clone that resorted to unfunny shock humor instead of originality. In fact, some network affiliates canned the show early in season one, citing instances of cannibalism, gore, and blasphemous jokes (and that was only the first three episodes!)
2The show’s most controversial moment was a set-up
With an eye towards creating buzz for the show, producers staged a “spontaneous” breaking of the fourth wall during a sketch involving guest host Andy Kaufman, the barrier-pushing comedian most famous for his early SNL appearances and role of “Latka” on Taxi. During a restaurant scene where several of the characters were supposed to be acting high after smoking marijuana, Kaufman “broke character” and tried to end the sketch, causing a melee between himself, Michael Richards, and other cast members.
As depicted in Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, the incident was planned, but only Kaufman and a few cast members knew about it beforehand, leading to some very real outrage onstage for the TV audience to witness.
3Two cast members became famous in prime time
Everett Collection
While many of the names associated with Fridays never achieved major fame elsewhere, there were a couple of exceptions who found bigger success in the nineties – on NBC, of all places. Both Michael Richards and Larry David cut their televised teeth on Friday nights before moving onto a little show called Seinfeld years later (Larry, of course, scored another huge hit after that with his own vehicle, Curb Your Enthusiasm). David had previously been a New York City stand-up comedian who worked as a limo driver to keep the lights on; Richards had been performing comedy in his native Los Angeles, with a small appearance on Billy Crystal’s 1979 HBO special his only prior TV credit. Guess the Fridays cast was “pretty, pretty good” after all!
4It was more successful than SNL … for a while
Believe it or not, Fridays became even more popular than Saturday Night Live during parts of season 2. Unfortunately, that success was attributed more to SNL‘s sagging ratings rather than Fridays‘ comedic excellence. Regardless, NBC sprung into action by attempting to lure various cast members over to their Saturday nights, but they all resisted. Only featured performer Rich Hall ended up making the leap to SNL – but only after Fridays had been canceled.
5The show eventually copied SNL‘s guest host concept (and used some of their actual hosts!)
Though the show initially featured just sketches and musical guests, in Season Two, Fridays resorted to the same tactic that Saturday Night Live used to make each episode feel unique – celebrity guest hosts. Showing no hesitation in showcasing stars that had already famously appeared on SNL, Fridays brought in heavy hitters like Andy Kaufman, Billy Crystal, William Shatner, Mark Hamill, and SNL’s very first guest host, the legendary George Carlin.
6Love was in the air (or, at least on the set)
With the unique pressures of working on live network TV, the comedians of Fridays undoubtedly carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. Thankfully, cast members Mark Blankfield and Brandis Kemp each had someone special in their lives that understood what the other was going through: each other! After meeting at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the two became an item and married in 1972, years before they were both selected to join the Fridays cast. Sadly, they divorced in 1987.
7It hasn’t been easy to find
While Saturday Night Live has been ever-present in syndication, home video, and streaming for years, Fridays has been much tougher to locate. The show’s only history in syndication was a brief stint on the USA Network in the late eighties, and a contractual stipulation with Michael Richards prevented the show from being released on VHS or DVD for many years… that is, until 2013, when Shout! Factory finally released a five-disc Best of Fridays DVD set. These days, you can now enjoy the entire series on Tubi TV and Shout! Factory TV.
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