cult film freak: RUSHED WRITEUP CLASHING MELANIE CHARTOFF FROM 'FRIDAYS'

Melanie Chartoff in the opening of the sketch comedy FRIDAYS from 1980 to 1982

The late night sketch-comedy FRIDAYS began when SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE was transitioning from the original cast, and while not every skit is drop dead hilarious, and both were an Americanized MONTY PYTHON with far-out silliness pushed to deliberately insane, conceptual limits, it was a pretty cool show...

While SNL had become a kind of faded classic rock ashtray, FRIDAYS felt like one of those new wave/punk rock music store buttons with random shapes swimming in hip colors and busy, hyperactive design...

Melanie Chartoff as the newscaster for FRIDAYS with William Shatner

Featuring Melanie Chartoff, the straight-woman liken to Jane Curtain yet extremely hot, and she could also play offbeat... wild-haired like Gilda Radner... not only terrific with improv but the primary newscaster, making the satirical stories all too real: a comedic performer and character-actress both...

But what made FRIDAYS really shine, other than Andy Kaufman's infamously fake-yet-seemingly-convincing fight with future SEINFELD star Michael Richards, were those awesome live bands...

Mick Jones and Paul Simonon from THE CLASH playing Guns of Brixton

From THE CLASH to THE CARS to THE BOOMTOWN RATS to KISS... and with unconstrained performances that sounded clearer, looser, more open than SNL... the bands were even more important than sporadic celebrity hosts...

Making FRIDAYS a rare glimpse into that relatively-neglected limbo era when the 1970's had morphed into the 1980's before losing its sparse, exploitative edge and gaining a bright neon-arcade aesthetic... when The Clash fit best.