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FRIDAYS - Altered Statesman

Air Date/Released Friday, February 27, 1981
Station/Studio ABC / Moffitt-Lee Productions
Host/Star Billy Crystal

ABC's answer to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, the network launched this cutting-edge sketch and music show on, naturally, Friday evenings. A talented cast and crew, but it never caught on critically or popularly; it lasted for three seasons, 1980 - 1982.

In a sketch spoofing the sci-fi thriller ALTERED STATES, President Reagan tries sensory deprivation tank therapy to search his past consciousness for clues to building a greater America. Trying the experiment unsupervised, and with help from a hallucinogenic mushroom, he instead devolves into a prehistoric Richard Nixon apeman. After one of his tank sessions, Reagan returns to the Oval Office where Nancy and VP Bush are waiting for him...
Reagan: Boy Mommy, I really hallucinated up a storm in that tank today. At one point, I actually thought I became Curly of The Three Stooges. Hey Moe, I'm a victim of coicumstance... whoo, whoo, whoo, nyah, nyah, nyah!
[performs the hand wave routine on Bush, then the arm pump routine on Nancy]
Nancy: Get away, oyster-brain! [smack!]


Cast: John Roarke (Ronald Reagan), Melanie Chartoff (Nancy Reagan), Mark Blankfield (George H. W. Bush), Larry David (Richard Nixon), Bruce Mahler (Lab technician)
Other cast: Billy Crystal (Guest host), Randy Meisner & the Silverados (Musical guest), Jack Burns, Michael Richards, Brandis Kemp, Darrow Igus, Maryedith Burrell

Crew: Bill Lee, John Moffitt (Producers), Jack Burns (Co-Producer), Bob Bowker (Director), Steve Adams, Joe Shulkin, Rod Ash, Larry Charles, Mark Curtiss, Larry David, Bryan Gordon, Bruce Kirschbaum, Tom Kramer, Bruce Mahler, Elaine Pope
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