Late Friday

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please help convert them to full citations. Several templates and tools are available for formatting help, such as reFill (documentation) and the Citation bot (documentation). (October 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed. (October 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Late Friday was a stand-up comedy series executive produced by Matt Kunitz and Lisa Leingang that aired Friday nights on NBC from 1:35am to 2:35am from January 5, 2001, to June 6, 2002. The show took over the timeslot from Friday Night, formerly titled Friday Night Videos. Featuring a revolving door of guest hosts, the Late Friday was a showcase for emerging standup comedians, alternative comedians, and sketch comedians. On May 13, 2002, NBC announced they had canceled the show to air Last Call With Carson Daly, which was previously airing Monday-Thursday, on Fridays, as well.

Overview

The show was developed internally at NBC by Lisa Leingang, the network's Vice President of Comedy Development at NBC since 1998. Leingang had previosuly served as an HBO and MTV executive. Matt Kunitz, who had previously been a producer on MTV's The Real World served as executive producer via his company Pulse Creative. The show is based on the Largo Theater's "Mondays at Largo" showcase show where comedians would try new material, and many of the acts appearing on Late Friday were regulars at Largo. Largo owner/booker Mark Flanagan and the theater's staff received a "special thanks" in the end credits of every episode.

After the events of September 11, 2001, the show aired reruns for two weeks like most late night comedy shows, returning to air with a new episode on September 28th. In October of 2001, executive producer Lisa Leingang became an executive producer and showrunner on the rebooted version of NBC's Mon-Thurs 1:35am show, Later, with MTV VJ Carson Daly set to host. In the winter of 2002, during the show's third season, the show was pre-empted for a month due to NBC's coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics. In the summer of 2002, NBC expanded Daly's show to Friday nights and canceled Late Friday.

Each episode featured a well-known stand-up comedian who performed an opening set then served as a host to introduce five up-and-coming comedians. Each comedian's set ran about five minutes. Early episodes taped at The Knitting Factory in Hollywood, California. before it moved to Studio 9 at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Two episodes were taped at a time on Wednesday nights.

Many performers showcased early in their careers on Late Friday went on to fame and success as comedians and comedic actors, including Maria Bamford, Louis C.K., Jamie Kennedy, Al Madrigal, Marc Maron, Demetri Martin, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Retta, Craig Robinson, Nick Swardson, and future Saturday Night Live stars Fred Armisen, Finesse Mitchell, Jeff Richards, and Amy Poehler (who performed on the show with her sketch group Upright Citizens Brigade), and future Mad TV stars Frank Caliendo and Bobby Lee. During one of his two appearances, Armisen debuted his Latin nightclub drummer character Fericito, which would go on to become a recurring Saturday Night Live character.

Series overview

Episodes

Reception

The show's premiere episode was panned by The New York Post, who criticized the performances and material of that episode's batch of comedians.

See also

• Friday Night Videos

References

External links

• Late Friday at IMDb