''Friday Night! with Ralph Benmergui'' was a Canadian television

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...

, which aired on CBC Television from 1992 to 1993.Greg Quill, "Friday Night! at first glance". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'', November 3, 1992. The show initially aired at 10 p.m., following ''

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'', but was moved to 11 p.m. in January 1993 and aired in the later time slot for the remainder of its run. The show debuted October 30, 1992, and was hosted by

Ralph Benmergui Raphael "Ralph" Benmergui (born 1955) is a Canadian television and radio personality, a writer, an ordained spiritual director, and a strategic advisor in political, environmental, and academic realms. Early life and education Born to a Sephard ...

, formerly of ''

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''. The house band, called simply "The House" and including musicians such as Matt Zimbel, Doug Wilde and

Taborah Johnson Taborah Johnson, also known as Tabby Johnson, is a Canadian singer and actress. She is the sister of actor Clark Johnson and rock and jazz singer Molly Johnson. She began her career in the Toronto production of '' Hair'' as a teenager. She was ...

, provided the music in the first season; they were replaced in the second season by Look People, led by

Jaymz Bee Jaymz Bee (born April 13, 1963) is a Canadians, Canadian musician, writer, emcee and radio personality based in Toronto, Ontario. Early life Jaymz was raised in North Bay, Ontario, North Bay, Ontario. He was a founder of the Al Waxman Fan Club at ...

.Tony Atherton, "For Benmergui show, the only way is up; Only thing the show has in common with last year's flop is the host". ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', October 8, 1993. It was one hour long and had an American late-night talk show format: an opening monologue by Benmergui followed by comedy sketches, guest interviews, and musical performances. The show's primary goal was to highlight and promote emerging Canadian talent, although established celebrities also sometimes appeared. Notable guests on the show included

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Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American ( Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these ...

, Barenaked Ladies and

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

. Although the show received strong ratings at first, with almost a million viewers for its premiere, it soon declined to less than half of its initial audience, representing only one-third of the audience that the CBC had in its timeslot the previous year. The critics were not impressed, either; one segment featured real TV scribes reviewing the program, mostly unfavourably, while it was still in progress. The first season aired its final episode on April 2, 1993, and was then followed by two "best of" specials featuring musical performances from prior episodes.Rita Zekas, "Ralph! keeps smiling through the brickbats". ''

'', March 21, 1993. During the off-season, the show responded to its critical and audience reception by overhauling its production team; production was ultimately taken over by comedian and

Yuk Yuk's Yuk Yuk's is a national comedy club chain in Canada, founded by former stand-up comedian Mark Breslin and established in 1976 by Breslin and long-time friend Joel Axler. The company is currently run by Breslin and his long-time partner and presi ...

founder

Mark Breslin Mark Breslin, is a Canadian entrepreneur, producer, stand-up comedian and actor best known for being the co-founder (along with Joel Axler) of Yuk Yuk's, the largest chain of comedy clubs in Canada. On December 29, 2017, he was appointed a Me ...

. Benmergui also refreshed his own personal style, adopting a hipper, more casual look instead of the loud patterned or shiny suits he had favoured in the first season, and the original house band were dropped and replaced by The Look People. The show also dropped Benmergui's opening monologue, instead using the opening slot to highlight a different stand-up comedian each week, and changed its format so that the show would centre on one feature interview each episode. The second season premiered in October 1993, but Breslin's changes failed to improve the program's critical reception or ratings. The final episode of ''Friday Night!'' aired on December 31, 1993, and the program's cancellation was announced in the first week of January 1994."Hated by critics, CBC's Friday Night show killed". ''

Victoria Times-Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the Sept. 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily C ...

'', January 6, 1994. Benmergui subsequently moved to CBC Newsworld, hosting the afternoon talk show ''

Benmergui Live ''Benmergui Live'' was a Canadian television talk show, which aired daily on CBC Newsworld in the 1990s."Benmergui finds niche, rising ratings as phone-in TV host". ''Ottawa Citizen'', December 1, 1995. Hosted by Ralph Benmergui, the series centre ...

''. The CBC subsequently developed another variety series, ''

Rita and Friends ''Rita and Friends'' is a Canadian television variety show, which aired on CBC Television from 1994 to 1997. The show was hosted by Canadian country/ folk singer Rita MacNeil. It won a Gemini Award in 1996 for 'Best Performance in a Variety Progra ...

'', which began airing in the fall of 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friday Night! With Ralph Benmergui 1990s Canadian variety television series CBC Television original programming 1992 Canadian television series debuts 1993 Canadian television series endings Television shows filmed in Toronto Canadian late-night television programming