In 1980, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” had been on the air for five years, its original cast had left, and it was about to embark on what is universally considered its worst season ever. That’s when ABC saw an opportunity to launch its own late-night sketch show, but instead of competing directly against SNL, they put it on one night earlier and called it “Fridays.” The show lasted 3 years with an ensemble cast of ten, but only two of them went on to become stars — Michael Richards and Larry David.
Here they are in a sketch about a couple (David and Melanie Chartoff) showing their new apartment to friends (Richards and Maryedith Burrell), who are surprised to discover that the place has a unique feature — a studio audience. Very meta…