SEATTLE — For 15 years, KING 5's Almost Live! gave the Northwest something to laugh about. Itself.
"There has to be a book about Almost Live," local author Bryan Johnston recalled pondering. "Has to be."
There wasn't. So Johnston wrote it. Almost Live!: The Show that Wouldn't Die explores the program's rise, its demise, and all those jokes about Renton and Ballard.
Johnston said, "When somebody makes fun of you and you go, 'Yep, you're right. You got it right on the nose,' that's funny."
The sketch comedy juggernaut actually started out as a Sunday talk show, hosted by Ross Shafer.
"Who does comedy on Sunday evening?" Johnston said. "Nobody."
After four years, Shafer moved on to Fox late night, and John Keister took over the host position.
Keister said, "It was just a disaster."
One season in, Keister shed the formalwear.
"All of a sudden they tapped into something," explained Johnston."
Keister cut loose and vowed to have fun in the host's chair. "I just said, 'Screw it. I'm just gonna do what I wanna do,'" he recalled.
The show embraced its sketch comedy core and moved to Saturday night.
"Miracle of miracles," Johnston said, "They were able to push back Saturday Night Live a half hour, which is unprecedented."
For the next decade, Almost Live! kept the Northwest laughing, and launched the careers of Bill Nye the Science Guy, TV and film star Joel McHale, and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Bob Nelson.
Nelson said, "It's because all of us got to do whatever we wanted and learn every aspect of the trade."
The cast's chemistry gave rise to office and relationship humor that became regional classics.
Cast members Joe and Nancy Guppy even got married while working on the show.
But it isn't all fun and games. Performer Tracey Conway suffered cardiac arrest after one show.
"She is clinically dead," Johnston said.
Conway joked, "One of the effects of having died is you have memory loss. I'm excited to hear about it."
An April Fools Day stunt, reporting that the Space Needle has toppled, nearly toppled the show.
"So many people called 911 it shut down the 911 system," Johnston said.
And the final snag came in 1999, when Almost Live! was canceled.
"If we ask management why it was canceled, you'd get one answer," Johnston said at a recent meet-and-greet with the cast. Then pointing to the assembled cast members he continued, "If you ask any of them you'll get a different answer."
But funny friends are not easily forgotten. Almost Live! remains very alive in the hearts of those who loved it.
"Yeah I miss it," Conway said. "I miss it a ton."
