Almost Live!

At last! Someone else knows what I'm talking about when I mention "Songs for the Slightly Inebriated" or picture Joel McHale dressed in a kilt instead of his "The Soup" wardrobe of grown-up attire. I watched Bill Nye on Disney with my kids, but still yearn for the cultural splendor of "Green River Dance". Not to mention the various and sundry items tossed, dropped, blown up or otherwise destroyed in some manner every week. Has anyone followed the careers of other cast members ? "Almost Live" was one of my favorite things from WA state. I recently bought a "J.P. Patches" DVD, if anyone remembers him. Does anyone know how to get KONG TV on my Direct TV satellite ?

Almost Live! actually had 2 different formats, but had one theme; Comedy.

The first, was hosted by Ross Shafer (1984-88), which had a "Tonight Show" type of format; Sketch comedy, local and some national celebrity appearances and stand-up comedians were showcased, whether it be local comedians like Chris Alpine or up and comers at the time like Jerry Seinfeld or Drake Sather.

After Ross left the show in 1988, to become Joan River's replacement on Fox's late night talk show, "The Late Show", John Keister took over as host.

He tried to use the same talk show format, but in the summer of 1989, they changed it to all sketch comedy and the show really took off from there.

What made this show great was, it was humor we in the Northwest United States could relate, enjoy and call our own. It's very rare when you see humor based on this region; Usually, shows like this are based on New York, the east coast and California (mostly Los Angeles) humor.

In my humble opinion, here's my top 10 list of the best skits "Almost Live" had:

10. "Grape Nuts" commercial parody. The old Grape Nuts commercial theme from the late 80's was used, but it celebrated the party animal in us.

9. Ross Shafer's video "Too Many Ties" with the "Almost Live Band". Dedicated to all those who get nothing but ties for gifts.

8. "Mind Your Manners With Billy Quan". Wonderful parody of all those bad Kung Fu movies of the 70's and 80's.

7. "The High Five'in White Guys". Pointless, dumb, but hilarious.

6. "Cops in (name of city here)". Parody of Fox's "Cops". Made fun of virtually every community in the greater Seattle area.

5. "The Lame List". Dumb, but hilarious. Featured "Soundgarden".

4. "Ballard Driving School". If you've been in Ballard, you'd get this.

3. John Keister's April Fool's Joke Of 1989. Did a fake news bulletin, that the Space Needle fell like a chopped tree. Funny, but Keister got into a lot of trouble when people took it seriously.

2. "Ballard Vice". One of their most popular sketches. Parody of "Miami Vice". Filmed in the Ballard neighborhood. The Beginning was hilarious, when the camera chased after Canadian Geese, than the pink flamingos you see in the actual show.

1. "Ballard Vice: The Movie". This 15 minute short movie featured, 2 ex-Seattle Seahawks, Hydroplane driver Chip Hanauer among the cast. Hanauer plays an "H" smuggler (halibut), ex-Seahawks Jim Zorn and Michael Jackson play the well dressed Ballard Vice officers, while John Keister and Ross Shafer play the 2 slob Ballard Vice officers.

Honorable Mention: "This Here Place". Pat Cashman parodied PBS' "This Old House" and my sides would be aching from laughter every time.

I also would like to take to task the user comment that claimed that the humor of the show "Almost Live!" was too Seattle-based to appeal to people that lived outside of the area. I live in British Columbia, Canada, and I found the humor of the show hysterical. You did not have to live in Seattle to understand the jokes. For example, there was one sketch called "The Streetwalking Lawyers Of Aurora Avenue", which depicted out-of-work lawyers making a living by offering their services on the side of the road. From that sketch, I could conclude with confidence that the real Aurora Avenue in Seattle was plagued with prostitutes. Further proof that the humor on the show could appeal to outsiders was the little-known fact that the scripts for the show were sold to a German TV show and recreated there for German audiences.

It was a sad day when this show was cancelled. Though part of me would love the show to be revived, the cast is now probably too old. Though maybe they could mentor a new cast and writers.

This was a funny show. We used to watch it a lot in 1992 or so along with the original UK Whose Line Is It Anyway? in college when our college cable picked up Comedy Central. Reading some of the user comments it's coming back to me a little more.

I remember one skit was a game show called "Who Killed J.F.K. Today?", in which contestants had to present their conspiracy theories as to how JFK was killed. Bill Nye's character won, because his took the least time to explain: "A tiger ate 'im!"

I also recall Bill Nye did science demonstrations. He tested the urban legend about "if you jump up at the last minute in an out of control plummeting elevator, you'll survive" years before MythBusters even started. Of course, he didn't use a dummy in a real elevator, but an egg in a small model elevator - but he came to the same conclusion.

This is actually much more deserving of being on DVD than SCTV, in my opinion.

I grew up in Seattle and this show chronicled the rise of Seattle from a sleepy little nowhere town to the height of grunge and back down. However, I would imagine it would be a little hard to get if you aren't from Seattle (though, I think they edited out stuff that was totally Seattle-based on the Comedy Central version)... but if you are from Seattle (or rather Kent) like I am... this is an absolute classic. I give this show ***** out of *****.