User Reviews

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 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 *****.

This was one of the most consistently funny shows I've ever seen. Even SCTV in the early years would occasionally meander off somewhere that made you want to get up and get a soda.

"Almost Live" was kinda like Conan O' Brien's show on those rare nights when he's really on, just off-the-wall observational humor and completely silly stuff like "High-Fivin' White Guys", which was hilarious.

I really wish this would come out on DVD instead of craptastic tripe like "Scary Movie" and oh-boy-more-reality shows.

Almost Live was one of my favorite shows, ever! Local TV stations rarely makes their own product anymore, outside of newscasts, but KING TV in Seattle ran this local comedy show for 15 years up until 1999. I would count down the hours to see the next episode every Saturday night! Billy Kwan, The High Fivin' White Guys, Speed Walker, Sluggy, Cops in Ballard/Issaquah/Renton/Mercer Island, The John Report, The Worst Girlfriend in the World, Pat Cashman in D.J. Priest/D.J. Cop/D.J. Dentist, Roscoe's Carpet Emporium (Going out of Business since 1958!), The Ineffectual Middle-Management Suck-ups, Uncle Fran's Musical Forest, Ballard Driving School, The Street Walking Lawyers of Aurora Ave, & Jet Guy!!! This show was a great example of how creativity and localisms cam make a show work without having a big budget, or being based in LA or NYC.

When the not ready for prime time players left Saturday Night Live. They appeared in Seattle. I watched this show when it was reruns on comedy central and now I'm waiting for latest episodes. My only complaint is that the half-hour is way too short and not enough time. You're just getting started but enjoy it especially since it sells Seattle better than Frasier. One sketch quickly described a Seattle summer: an afternoon where you cancel your plans. Then it rains again. One classic sketch in Gilda Radner style Tracey Conway as tortured, stalking country singer, Sandi Todd with hits like "Rabbit stew is really, really good for you" and "Voices in my head, tell me what to do" and "I've seen Fatal Attraction 938 times." Another classic is the Mercer Island patrol or the Beverly Hills of Seattle. A cop arrests somebody for drinking tap water. Call your NBC affiliates and demand this show. It certainly is better than most primetime shows anyway. Do not miss it. It's worth taping at 3:30 on a Sunday morning.

It is a genuine shame that this show was canceled. Since that was over ten years ago, I am mostly over it. Mostly. Fresh and original, Almost Live was loaded with talent. Tracey Conway, Nancy Guppy, Pat Cashman, Bill Nye, John Keister, Steve Wilson, Bob Stainton and Bob Nelson were the main players that I remember. At least Joel McHale made it (Community, etc) and most people deservedly know Bill Nye (The Science Guy) by now. Pat Cashman reminded me very much of Phil Hartman and I felt could have done just as well given a national stage.

Yes, much of the entertainment is localized, but this isn't a bad thing. You may miss on a couple of the jokes, but it's simple enough to get and you'll likely relate it to your own area. Most of the cast would have been a good augmentation to the SNL cast and many of the sketches were far funnier than SNL was cranking out during that period. Pound for pound, AL offered us much more rib-shaking funny material. Billy Quan is one example that just cracked me up. YouTube is a good source for this.

If you reside in the Pugetopolis, You can catch the reruns (two of them) on the local NBC affiliate (King-5) after SNL. I just add the extra hour to my DVR and watch it after I have skipped all the commercials from SNL.

I always have a knack for sketch comedy because there is unlimited freedom to what kind of comedy stories to create. However for me what really make a good sketch comedy show is in both good casting and that it's heart is in the right place. This show is one of my favorite because it has both.

Yeah I'm a resident of Seattle, Washington so it's easy to see why this show has a place in my heart. This show was one a show from my hometown shows I've seen and I still find it real funny. Yes it's true this show didn't have a high budget like "SNL" but to me that was part of the charm of the show. It's also true that they never had any celebrity guests but that's a good thing personally I felt they were really just a gimmick/promotion device by nature, this show didn't need stars to keep it going. It's like with a lot of those amateur films you'd see from the film company "Dead Gentlmen", they operated on a low budget but you can tell they put a great deal of effort and energy into what they done which is part of why those films are entertaining, it's likewise for this show. They used their budget and they used it wises knowing what they were doing and what they wanted. All of Washington state was practically their studio, I really love how they used the locations for most of their skits in a way this show could also be a travel program for anyone that wants to vacation in Washington State. They had scripting and content that was above average but most importantly funny. But they also had a very good cast whom weren't all popular (or at least for two had good starts)and they didn't look like pretty boys and girls but actually like everyday people and that gave the show a sense of relatability. Most importantly all of them were capable and experienced comedians, there are three that are my favorites.

Pat Cashman you may remember him as the spokesman for "Taco Time" commercials but for me I've known him in this show, he was the glue of this show to me. He almost reminded me of my favorite comedian "Phil Hartman" like him he had a great comical voice and is able to play roles in disguise well, I'll explain a few of them latter.

Joel McHale before he played my favorite character in one of my favorite TV show's "Community" this was where I first knew him. He always had a certain smooth smart alec sensibility or even just the sweet regular guy charm. But with both those characteristic have proved him to have almost unlimited charisma.

Bill Nye I actually saw his show "Bill Nye the Science Guy" if it wasn't for that show I wouldn't of saw this one. But he's great he just has a lot of energy, colorful, and just made science actually fun, I actually learn a lot of science from him than in a regular school if you can believe that.

There are lots of skits that are great, most the comedians I named were in but there's not much room so I'll just pronounce a few personal favs of mine.

Uncle Fran's Musical Forest: These I found blackly hilarious because it's a dark parody on simple live kids shows turned upside down. Uncle Fran is sort of a manic depressive that always sings inappropriate songs and beats up the raccoon puppet with his guitar.

Nature Walk with Chuck: This is another colorful character. He's crude, rude, but worst of all doesn't know jack squat about or even give a crap about nature. And he's assisted by the unlucky boy scout Jimmy that either gets injured or dies.

COPS: This predates the TV show "Reno 911" it's just funny and bizarre, as we see the cops in different location in Washington State, it's colorful as each of these locations just seem to have different laws and crimes.

Mind your Manners with Billy Quan: It's a parody on a lot of bad kung fu movies. From it's dubbing of both Billy Quan(voiced by Pat Cashman) and the idiot bad guy (voiced by John Keister). The plot is always the same where the idiot bad guy is always ruining Billy Quan's life in some way and they resort to combat. And the combat sequences are just fraking hilarious because it slapstick at it's best, each of these characters has a ridiculous amount of bizarre power moves almost as much as a shonan anime character. The most famous is the heat seeking flying kick.

Unsuccessful Playwright: This is one with Pat Cashman which is a mock biography on a playwright that had not just had no success but no one showed to see one play. This to me is an example of verbal humor at his best, has it ever occurred to the playwright that it could be because of titles.

Carpet Commercial: This one is my favorite from Pat Cashman because this one to me another example of verbal humor at it's best. I just love his delivery and his build up to intensity as he is saying all the different way of shut down.

It's a shame the show didn't have the same life span as "SNL", I wouldn't mind if somehow this came back on again with a new generation like "Seattle Improv" or even the amateur independent film company "Dead Gentlemen" have some or all of them as cast members. The old cast members show up on occasion or specials. But this would probably never happen, it's just a thought.

Almost Live is live and alive.

Rating: 4 stars

I really love this show. It was way before my time so I never truly got to know it in its prime, and seeing it today makes me so happy! I already love the 1980s and 90s, and here in Almost Live Seattle looks better than ever. Words cannot express how badly I want to go back and experience this time I never knew. This show is as close as I can get, and I will settle for that..... :)

Also Speedwalker and Billy Quan were the best. Whether or not you have or will ever see Almost Live, these 2 skits are a MUST-SEE. Search them up on Youtube. You don't even have to be from Seattle to get a laugh from them. My very favorite is "Yard Sale of Fury" XD

I sadly was born around the time almost live was getting close to on it's way out (1995). As a youth that grew up in 90s and 2000s culture in Seattle. Growing up watching Bill Nye the Science Guy as a kid. This show is something I always watch now in 2019 to remember the good ol' days in Seattle. A blast of nestalg The worst part about it all is that most of the show is hidden in the Records of King5. I will rejoice the day (if it ever comes) that all of the episodes will be released... Cool to see that some of the stereotypes and jokes still are relevant today. This is classic TV at it's finest and something I love to show people that haven't seen it.

I first saw this in the late '80s when one of the San Francisco stations began running it. I then moved to Portland OR in 1990 and watched it there for 2 years. This show, along with SCTV, were the high-water marks of late night comedy shows, after SNL became oh so predictable. (To be fair, SNL has made a couple of comebacks over the many decades it has aired, and is once again quite fully. Still, what I wouldn't give to have this or SCTV back....)

So anyway, this show was very relate-able to dazzling urbanites from San Francisco, and residents of a much smaller city like Portland. Anyone with a slightly warped sense of humor will enjoy this show, if you can just find it anywhere! Whoever holds the rights to this, see if Rhino or Shout Factory or Netflix or Amazon would like to add it to their lineups, please!!

I watched this show regularly as a youth throughout the 1990's. It aired at 1135pm following the 11 o'clock local news and preceded SNL on Saturday nights in Washington State (initially, at least).

In regard to the only negative review comment, I couldn't disagree more, the Northwest inclusivity of some sketches didn't represent the entire show at all.

Also, an earlier comment mentioned the Lame List skit featuring the band Soundgarden, it featured members of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Mudhoney - all were popular local Seattle area bands who greatly contributed to the early and mid 1990's grunge rock genre and they often associated with each other. The same musicians (as well as others, including then Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl) contributed to the Rock and Roll fantasy camp skit.

Like any and all sketch comedy programs, not all skits hit the mark or were beloved by all, but likely some viewers found humor in every skit. I had the privilege to be an audience member in one of their final seasons (as there was a 16 years old age minimum). It was a shame when King 5 (local NBC affiliate in the greater Seattle area) decided not to renew Almost Live for future seasons. There was a short lived program some years later on the CBS affiliate station (KIRO 7) that featured Almost Live host John Keister as well as fellow cast/writers Bob Nelson and Pat Cashman called The John Report with Bob, but it failed to capture the same feel and success as Almost Live did with the cast chemistry and quality of writing. This was likely due to missing the combination and variety of cast and writers that Almost Live enjoyed for more than a decade.

Almost Live is worth watching for anyone who enjoys and appreciates sketch comedy, those who cannot enjoy comedy if it contains any region specific skits may want to avoid humor in general because they will always find something to criticize and spoil it for themselves and then attempt to spoil it for anyone who will listen.

I had no idea this show existed until moving to Seattle a couple of years ago. I stumbled upon it after SNL one night. Every once in a while I'll sit through a bit of it. I can never make it through all of it though.

While the show does deserve credit for its effort and consideration for the era in which it took place, the humor is so excessively "backyard" and so "inside joke" that it's hard to take seriously (and yes, I do understand and get the regional jokes). That isn't to say that any comedy that's quality comedy has to be global comedy, but the short-sighted and monotone degree to which this show gropes these regional jokes totally kills the validity that any of the decent writing in the show has.

Sure, SNL may slip in a joke here that's NY-centric, but the fact of the matter is that everyone does essentially and generally know NY *because it is New York city* (or LA for that matter). Their writers aren't dumb to this fact. They know this and understand this, just as they understand that a butt-and-fart joke now and then is appreciated and enjoyed because we all have a butt, and we all fart, and it's funny, and we've all laughed at them before and as much as we'd like to kid ourselves we will laugh at them again.

Anyway...

The point is that with Conan Obrian, or SNL, or Leno, or what have you, the general approach is based on appealing to a global audience - inclusion - and then slipping something in here or there that's locally-geared every now and then. With "Almost Live!" the opposite occurs: exclusion first, and then global content second. In the end all you're left with a crippled show with seemingly clueless writing that doesn't invite an audience. Maybe "Almost Live!" intentionally went out of their way to be separatists like that, but honestly, who willfully digs their own grave? Wow. Good job.

So, in short, the show sucks and comes off as a small-town attempt at what the big kids are doing. The "oh, well, *you* might not get it because you aren't from here, but believe us Mr. Outsider, it's funny" argument is feeble (I've had it with folks before), because when one does understand the incessant local jokes (which don't take a genius to get), they aren't that funny and are often lamely executed. And when that isn't killing the experience, the super low-budget production is. It's no surprise the show didn't make it.

As a native Washingtonian who grew up to Almost Live! the thing that worked best for me was that the show was basically one big inside joke for those of us who knew the area. Sadly, this is why the show really wasn't all that funny in syndication. When I met out of state residents at college, I would insist that they watch the show in order to understand the area. That way, they could learn that Scandinavians live in Ballard, yuppies live on the East Side, and rednecks live in the South End. These are vital things to know!!! It's no small coincidence that Almost Live ended up coming out with a guide to the northwest video.

It was always great to watch this show before SNL, and take pride in the fact that a bunch of local talent consistantly creamed the pathetic attempts at comedy produced by the national "talent" in New York. I just wish KING TV wouldn't have decided to pull the plug on the show (it was making money, but they wanted to make MORE money), and that stars like John Keister and Pat Cashman would have been able to springboard into the national scene to share their talent with the rest of the country.

Almost Live is a sketch comedy series based in Seattle during the 1990s - after Microsoft made it big and before Amazon emerged from a Bellevue garage. Seattle still had its laid-back northwest charm, its peculiar communities, its grunge rock, its norwegian influence, its beautiful scenery, and its lack of pretentiousness.

Almost Live mercilessly mocked itself, Microsoft, Boeing, Kent, state and local government, grunge music, office commuters, rich nerds, etc. TV series Cops, Miami Vice, Bob Ross, West Side Story, etc., all were redone with Seattle humor.

This era ended with the World Trade Organization riots, and was replaced with the Progressive era of homelessness, ranched RVs, crime, eviscerated police, rampant drug use, and tent communities. Almost Live ended with that. The cast has moved on and gotten old.

The old shows remain as a nostalgic window on what it used to be.

It's so sad they aren't re-run anymore, no DVDs were ever released for it, and there isn't a way to see it anymore.

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 used to watch this show on a regular basis when it was airing as re-runs on Comedy Central. I loved it! I wish it would make a come-back!

Some of my favorite skits include "Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan" or "The High-Fiving White Guys" or the adventures of the "Speed Walker" who was a superhero who, well, he speed walked around Seattle fighting crime. Just looney. Of course, who could forget the skit about a hunting season for street mimes? "Wait! You can't shoot him, he's behind an invisible wall. It would be unsportsman-like" or something to that effect.

I agree with other posters here who say this show was better than the crap they were doing on SNL at the time. I miss it.

I have grown up in the Seattle area, and my daddy weaned me on "Almost Live." Consistently funny, great timing, and some truly inspired skits make for great Saturday evening viewing. I have been known to leave parties to come home and watch it, then go back. The local NBC affiliate that shows it, KING 5, airs "AL!" at 11:35pm, then "Saturday Night Live" at 12:05am. In my almost 15 years of watching "Almost Live", I have never seen it resort to the 'dick and fart jokes' that I saw on SNL time and time again. There are so many things in the Seattle area to make fun of (Kent, Lynnwood, Ballard, the entire east side of Lake Washington), there's no reason to fall into toilet humor as the more recent years of SNL did. I guarantee that any way you can get ahold of an episode of "Almost Live", it will be worth it, a million times worth it.

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 ?

I remember being a small kid and seeing all of Billy Quan's antics, and I was in San Mateo, California. So this show obviously was going strong there. It was part of the great series of shows we would watch on FOX. Including Get A Life with Chris Elliott, and the Simpsons. For years I thought Billy Quan was on the cult show Night Flight, airing on TV in the same year, but I guess I was confused. ALMOST LIVE ROCKED!! I remember it now!! I remember my sister and me used to imitate the Billy Quan routines in our own tape recording with sound effects and imitating the dubbed voices. OH THE MEMORIES!!

I have got to get this series on DVD!

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.

That I so did not know. Maybe people caught in on a satalite dish, or something.

Anyway, "Almost Live" was some local ersatz "Saturday Night Live" that seemed to air for a few years(and is way older than I thought. I remember it airing in about 1992), but I believe has now been given the ax. It starred a bunch of local actors. I think Bill Nye was the only one to go on to do anything national(was"Bill Nye the Science Guy" national? I have no idea. It was at least all wildly popular with young folks here for awhile, though.) The others pop up in local projects every now and then. As an ensemble in "Almost Live," they were alright, I suppose. The skits were sort of corny, but I actually remember one called something in the ranks of "Give Away the Whole D*&^ Movie in the Trailer," and then a bunch of silly examples of movie trailers doing just that. Considering I have certainly noticed that in enough movie trailers, it was actually sort of funny. The rest of the skits were not as memorable.

It a nutshell, I guess watching "Almost Live" is like watching a low-budget "Saturday Night Live" sans the musical guests.