dogeymon 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!

goleafs84 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.

katana_one 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.

RiotStar-2 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.