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Randy Hodgins and Steve McLellan’s lifelong love of comedy was kindled when they met more than 40 years ago in graduate school in Seattle. While managing family and professional work responsibilities, they hosted a one hour comedy radio program on Saturday mornings for 10 years on a small radio station in Olympia, WA and also co-authored two books on northwest popular culture – Seattle on Film (1995) and Wet and Wired (2000). Stuck at home during the early days of the pandemic with hundreds of comedy albums, cassettes and CD’s gathering dust on their shelves, they launched Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy in May 2020, a weekly mini-program featuring a different comedy icon, with biographical bits and a nice slice of the comedy that made them famous. From standup stars, to stellar sketch teams, to novelty music maestros -- they are all part of our Legends.
Episodes
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
Pacific Northwest comedy fans will know this Legend, and others will be happy for the introduction. Almost Live! is a relic from an age when a local tv station could afford to produce its own comedy show, often besting the network offerings in terms of laughs per minute. Originating on Seattle's KING TV in the 1980s, Almost Live! originated as a talk show with comedy bits, but soon morphed into a half hour sketch show aired just before Saturday Night Live. The cast and the writing were superb, and the local flavor given to the sketches led to "water cooler" recaps throughout the next week. Eventually the show fell victim to budget cuts imposed by new out-of-state station owners, but it's a measure of Almost Live's impact that several partial reboots have been tried (with some success), there's a big YouTube library of shows and sketches, and a fun podcast tracks down the cast today. As always find extra clips in the comments, thanks for sharing our shows, and if you are driving in Ballard, keep your speed to 7 MPH.
Want more Almost Live!
Part of Almost Live's charm is they could get all manner of local celebrities to get in on the fun. The Lame List featured top Seattle metal musicians proclaiming their opinion on current events. https://youtu.be/hGpBnB-jYa8?si=O9jxm7xo06IR4dPF
John Keister presided over Almost Live and his monologues and news parodies dipped deep in the well of Northwest Lore -- as in the case when WSU became a dry campus. https://youtu.be/NkaYaxRF2Dc?si=gLnbvxpS6DHvBhtF
Almost Live managed a tone of affectionate irreverence about all things Seattle -- especially the neighborhoods. Case in point -- The Ballard Driving Academy. https://youtu.be/nyz6mkvlEgA?si=8-_BQgHu8hDVU8v8
Like any good sketch troupe, Almost Live! cast members had their niches, and Pat Cashman excelled as a master of characters -- especially those commercial pitchman. Match that talent with the fact that an exotic rug store in Seattle's Pioneer Square was always "going out of business" and you get comedy gold. https://youtu.be/erCFOteg_t4?si=W2_HrYZQIEmrLxa9
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