"Fridays," the 1980-82 ABC late-night show that featured Michael Richards, Larry David, etc

Generally labeled a "ripoff" of SNL at the time -- as if SNL wasn't reviving a format that had died in the '50s, aside from its time slot -- it's probably most notorious for an Andy Kaufman stunt. But some swear by it as sporadically inspired... Perrin has a piece with sketch footage:

http://splitsider.com/2012/01/fridays-the-snl-ripoff-that-nearly-surpassed-the-original/

I rarely watched it myself, but their Reagan satire had more bite than SNL, which of course lost the last of its original cast just as Fridays began.

'Best of' DVD out this week... Perrin interview w/ writer-director of the show's shorts/ad parodies:

http://splitsider.com/2013/08/writerdirector-tom-kramer-talks-fridays-abcs-early-attempt-to-take-on-snl

omg at Larry's jewfro

check some of those clips in last year's link to see more of it (I think)