KCBS’ ‘FRIDAY’ ENDS WEEK WITH LAUGH

It’s a less-than-manic Monday in Santa Barbara, and TV host Howard Stevens is desperately seeking Julia Child. On Tuesday he’ll find her on the fisherman’s wharf, where there will be much recipe exchanging--the niceties of delicately broiled seafood for Stevens’ own Bagel Benedict. The search for Santa Barbara’s elusive great chef is this week’s theme on KCBS-TV’s Emmy-winning entertainment show “Friday at Sunset.”

Imagine David Letterman or the “Saturday Night Live” cast staging a revolutionary takeover of “2 on the Town” and you’re starting to get the picture on “Friday,” which airs on Channel 2 at 7:30 p.m. on--well, you figure it out. It’s a fresh, unpredictable look at current L.A. places and people, executed with Letterman-esque absurdity and style.

This week, in a rare jaunt outside Los Angeles, host Stevens is profiling bed-and-breakfast stops in Santa Barbara, the real theme behind the show’s framework-quest for chef Julia. “Friday’s” skeleton crew of four (who also work on “2 on the Town”) are eager to meet their guest star: “She’s wonderful,” someone says. Replies another, “We’ll break her.”

“Friday at Sunset,” which won a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award last weekend as best entertainment series, has come a long way since its shaky-but-promising debut last September. Chief producer/writer Richard L. Schmidt (this day sporting a bright Hawaiian short-sleeve) feels the show has finally found the right balance between information and comedy.

“KCBS has given us total freedom,” he said. “It’s as if they said, ‘Whatever you want to do, guys, it’s yours--go back into the garage and make television.’

“The worst part was getting started; we had no time--we were literally putting auditions on the air. Now we know what the show is, and we know it works. You can give the information and wrap it in an entertaining package.”

Holding “Friday” together is the 34-year-old Stevens, whose 10 years as an L.A. stand-up comic have taught him to think--and make people laugh--on his feet. (Stevens also wrote and appeared on the syndicated series “Make Me Laugh” and has a recurring role on ABC’s “Who’s the Boss?”)

His celebrity impersonations (heard on Rick Dees’ morning show) add spice to his conversation: He may begin in thick Hitchcock-ese, then reach Groucho by way of Sinatra and Peter Lorre.

“I shot an audition tape for KCBS, a man-on-the-street kind of thing on Hollywood Boulevard,” Stevens recalled between camera set-ups. “I found a star for someone named Annette Kellerman and started asking everybody how Annette Kellerman affected their lives. It’s amazing what walks by on Hollywood Boulevard.

“Nobody knew who she was until I stopped a portly guy wearing a hat and vest and sport jacket and said, ‘Sir, what did Annette Kellerman mean to you?’ He said, ‘I did a FILM with Annette, she wore a one-piece bathing suit. . . .’ He pulled out his wallet, whipped out his film credits and started doing a Senate filibuster.

“I’m dying, laughing hysterically, and in the meantime a bus pulls up, and a woman gets out with no teeth, rouge on her cheeks and an orange Mohawk. I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. T.’ I’m talking to her while Mack Cha-andler is reading his credits. That was the criteria KCBS hired me on.”

Although “Friday’s” chief target audience is the 18-to-35-year-old crowd, Stevens finds its appeal runs much broader. “Demographics show we have those ages, but we also have 12-to-18-year-olds because of the way the show’s done visually. And I meet older people . . . last week an 80-year-old woman said to me, ‘I love your show--it makes me feel young. I enjoy knowing what the young people are doing.’

“There’s a lot of stuff to do in L.A. and not a lot of people telling you what to do. This not only tells you but lets you see it. I try to do it with a sense of humor, and make it entertainment. I think good comedy comes off real situations; you can look at anything and make it funny.”

Adds Schmidt, “Some people think it’s a smart-aleck show. In the beginning we probably angered people who turned on their TVs on Friday night expecting to see ‘2 on the Town.’ I think that’s why we got letters saying, ‘Is everybody there on drugs?’ ”

Contrary to appearances, yes, there is a structure to “Friday at Sunset.” Well, sort of. “We start with good information, then try to think up funny things to say on the shoot,” Schmidt explains. “I think it was (KCBS general manager) Frank Gardner who said, ‘Don’t let the entertainment tail wag the information dog.’ Yeah, it was Gardner.”

“So if you’re ever on ‘Jeopardy!’ and that quote comes on,” Stevens adds, “it wasn’t William Shakespeare, and it wasn’t Ben Franklin.”

Alas, Julia Child isn’t making her cameo until the next day’s shooting, so today it’s burgers and french fries on the long-overdue lunch break. Now the crew’s real game of one-upmanship (or, more accurately, stimulated creativity) can begin.

Who, asks the desperate interviewer, is the guiding force behind “Friday”? “John Beresford Tipton,” Stevens deadpans in a typically “in” reference to the “Millionaire” series of the 1950s.

An elderly woman walks by with a Japanese umbrella twice her size. “Imagine the size of the cocktail that thing came out of,” Schmidt remarks.

What conquests lie ahead for the show? “Dinner,” Stevens replies as salad dressing spills on his hitherto white shorts.

“Stunt double for Howard,” Schmidt calls, eyeing the damage. With mock seriousness he continues: “I really believe if we could keep baseball, basketball, ‘Eye on L.A.’ and ‘MASH’ off television, we could be a hit.”

An idea strikes him. “Actually, ‘MASH’ would be a good name for the show.”

“No, ‘Mesh-uggeneh,’ ” corrects Stevens, offering the Yiddish word for crazy. “We’ll just change the logo on the vans to ‘Meshuggeneh on the Town.’ ”

He spies his interviewer and grins. “It’ll be great to read what you write. It’ll probably explain to us just what we actually do.”

Don’t count on it. Besides, surprises on “Friday at Sunset” are half the fun.