
On Thursdays, we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine and the machine is bleeding to death.
— Channel Description
Almost Friday TV
is an American YouTube channel and a spin-off of the Friday Beers company Instagram account
that specializes in long-form sketch comedy that blend various elements of multiple genres, and are delivered with consistently high production values thanks to a partnership with Range Media Partners
.
Regular cast members include Will Angus, Liam Cullagh, Chester "Chet" Collins, Billy Langdon, and Eilise Patton.
Tropes used or discussed on this channel:
- An Aesop: "Professor has MENTAL BREAKDOWN and accuses class of cheating
" has "The truth is earned. It's not gifted to you." - all lowercase letters: Videos such as "do you know who my dad is?
", "fringe guy.
", and "when you don't know the name of the song
" employ this trope. - Ambiguous Situation:
- In "why am i getting these targeted ads?
", is Phil's repeated realization of the fact that he's a sexbot who's had his entire life made up and modified for the pleasure of his best friend a situation that only continues to occur because of a programming fault and/or Spotting the Thread? Or is it because Mike implanted that reaction into him just like he did the memories of Phil's uncle, and continues to repeat situation this over and over again because it's part of his kink? - The ending of "How It Feels Scrolling Through Netflix Top 10
." Is Charlie having a a flashback to killing his agent as he bludgeons Jack to death with the Paradox Prism because he's actually remembering how it felt to commit the act in that moment, because he's remembering watching the dramatized version of it in the documentary Jack starred in, or because the Paradox Prism is real and it's actually managed to create a sort of Stable Time Loop wherein Charlie murdering Jack results in a past version of him murdering his agent in turn?
- In "why am i getting these targeted ads?
- Awkwardly Gay Dream: "who made me have that gay dream?
" kicks off after Will experiences one and tries to figure out who implanted the dream in his subconscious. - Bait-and-Switch: Greg, the hapless extra from "NOT IN FRONT OF THE INTERN
", ruins take after take of the porn shoot he's part of by gazing at the performers at the start of a few takes, leading the audience to assume that he's incredibly horny... only for Greg, in the middle of his private meltdown, to reveal that he's never had sex and doesn't know what it is, completely re-framing his observations. - Be Careful What You Wish For: After Will and Liam bait Billy into staying for the house party in ""One beer, then I'm going home."
", Billy gets so drunk that he ends up shitting his pants, fake drowning in the house pool, and buying himself Postmates using Liam's account. - Black Comedy Rape:
- According to Joe from "How It Feels watching local commercials
", Reuben Brewster shot then raped his mother, raped then shot his brother, then beat and hanged his father... before raping him. - Most of the comedy of "who made me have that gay dream?
" comes from Will's increasing distress over a series of increasingly specific and extremely weird dreams where Liam is having degrading sex with him. The clear horror he feels over this is very real, and when it's eventually revealed that Liam's been doing this to all of the guys in the group in order to apparently slowly brainwash them into becoming his willing sex slaves it quickly becomes much, much worse, but it's hard to focus on the violation of it when Will is desperately screeching over the indignity of never getting to reach climax in any of them.Will: You came every time. I NEVER GOT MY NUT!
- According to Joe from "How It Feels watching local commercials
- Bland-Name Product: Busters, the porn site from "NOT IN FRONT OF THE INTERN
", is an obvious nod to Brazzers, down to the logo design. - Brick Joke:
- "why am i getting these targeted ads?
": The video begins with Mike pulling up Numa Numa on YouTube before he's hit with an unskippable ad. The video finally loads in time for the climax, at first providing Soundtrack Dissonance before transitioning into a moody non-diegetic piano cover of the song. - "Every Airbnb Commercial
: Rebecca reveals that Tim refused to try a sushi sandwich because he is a picky eater, further elaborating that they "forced [him]" to eat it. Near the end, after Rebecca and Crispin have disappeared, he tries finding something to eat and is only able to make a sushi sandwich, which he's stated to "fucking hate".
- "why am i getting these targeted ads?
- Brown Note: Played for Laughs in "Entitled Princess TERRORIZES Police During DUI Stop
": To summon Laney from the woods, The Creator begins playing the harmonica solo from "Run-Around", which causes the cops to begin screaming in pain and produces a high-pitched whine on the soundtrack. - The Cameo: Kirk Fox appears as Frank, the man who invented Van Life YouTube, in the video of the same name.

- Captured on Purpose: Reuben Brewster from "How It Feels watching local commercials
" confesses that getting arrested was part of his master plan. - The Cartel: "The Man who invented Van Life Youtube
" introduces a system which functions somewhat similarly to this. Apparently, every YouTuber who's a part of the Van Life subculture sends 20% of their revenue to a man called Frank as a "tax". If he doesn't...Frank: ...we just cut your head off. And I hang it on my rearview mirror. - Catastrophic Countdown: Whatever Reuben Brewster's
plan to rid the world of pests is, there's only an hour before it starts and nobody looks prepared to deal with it. - Chocolate Baby: Ken and Claire from "not in front of the babysitter
" have a Chinese son named Timmy. When Ken confronts Claire on this, Claire explains it by pointing out that her uncle is Chinese. Towards the end of the video, when Ken confesses that he isn't Timmy's real father, Timmy reveals that he already knows. - Coming-Out Story: Subverted in "HOW TO Break Bad News
", where Liam's character attempts to tell his father and sister that he's gay… before a detective and a police officer arrive at the family's home to reveal that their mother has been beaten to death with an old boot. It circles back around towards the end of the skit when the detective reveals that the son is gay and the rest of the family reveals that they already knew — including the mother, who brought it up while pleading for her life. - Cosmic Horror Reveal: The tail end of Every Airbnb Commercial
reveals that Crespin, the Airbnb host, lives in a Pocket Dimension and has the ability to "take over [a person's] body and make it my own". - Dance Party Ending: "who made me have that gay dream?
" ends with one set to "Run This Town" by Jay-Z. It's strongly implied to be another one of Will's gay dreams, influenced by Liam. - The Dreaded: "How It Feels watching local commercials
" tells the tale of one Reuben Brewster — son of Mary Brewster and (former) employee of Brewster Pest Control — through the testimony of his victims scattered throughout his small hometown. Reuben, for context, has gone on to wage a one-man reign of terror on his hometown, as well as take over several other small towns in his quest to rid his community (and the world) of "pests"."I called Brewster Pest Control and they sent Reuben Brewster. God left my home the second he he entered." - Disproportionate Retribution:
- "when you think of the perfect comeback later in the shower
": Elise responds to Liam calling her "Miss Mental Health Days" by throwing a pot of hot coffee in his face, which burns his face down to the bone and gets her arrested by security. - "Every Airbnb Commercial
": Tim is a picky eater, averse to excitement, and won't allow his girlfriend to attend art school like she's always dreamed of, making the repeated excuse that they can't afford it. Said girlfriend ends up seduced by and sleeping with an Eldritch Abomination, who then kills him and forces its soul into his body.
- "when you think of the perfect comeback later in the shower
- Double Standard: Rape, Female on Male: Exploited in "Every Episode Recap Ever
", which has Detective Alex Edge sexually assaulted by Da Chief. While everyone else (save Elise's detective) plays it off, Edge is clearly traumatized from the experience and barely able to function, with him unable to perform in bed and being thoroughly uninterested in catching his target, eventually reduced to drowning his sorrows in the bar. Even after he files an HR report, his superiors dismiss it with a "boo-hoo".Alex Edge: They don't care about our police. The double-standards of workplace sexual misconduct pervade every sector of the police force. - Downer Ending:
- "why am i getting these targeted ads?
": Phil is reset to factory settings and the ending implies that Phil and Mike will go through the situation depicted in this video over and over again. - "fringe guy.
" ends with the titular guy pulling a gun from his desk, with the clear implication that he's going to follow through with committing suicide.
- "why am i getting these targeted ads?
- Driven to Suicide: "Girl Friend Groups vs Guy Friend Groups
" — Both Liam and Eilise end up shooting themselves in the head after their true feeling about the absent member of their respective friend groups are revealed. - Eldritch Abomination: "Entitled Princess TERRORIZES Police During DUI Stop
" has Laney. First presented as an intoxicated, belligerent woman who has crashed her car into a tree, it's later revealed that Laney died in a drunk driving wreck three years prior and then resurrected through unknown means. The resurrection gave her a slew of abilities, including levitation, super-strength, and teleportation among others — all of which are Played for Horror. - Foreshadowing:
- "why am i getting these targeted ads?
": Even though Phil is around the same age as Mike (late 20-something), he's unfamiliar with "Numa Numa
". With Phil being a Ridiculously Human Robot, it's safe to assume he isn't familiar with any media from before his activation. - ""One beer, then I'm going home."
": Will sarcastically asks Billy if he plans to curl up in bed at 10 PM to watch The Masked Singer. It ultimately turns out that Billy's behavior throughout the night was one long Batman Gambit to achieve that goal. - "NOT IN FRONT OF THE INTERN
": It seems odd that Greg, an extra on a porn shoot serving as the oblivious guy who doesn't notice the sex happening right behind him, would have his own private trailer to melt down in. It's not his trailer; it's the male lead's. - "Entitled Princess TERRORIZES Police During DUI Stop
"- Laney, the drunk woman from takes some time to briefly flirt with Officer Landon as he gives her a breathalyzer test. She later tempts Landon with visions of a life together, including a marriage and potential children, and successfully wins him over to her side.
- One of the Creator's men ask if either of the officers have validated Laney in any way. Roughly a minute later, Officer Landon does so, giving Laney enough energy to unleash a psychic wave that kills everyone present, save her.
- "why am i getting these targeted ads?
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: As noted in the comment section of "Entitled Princess TERRORIZES Police During DUI Stop
":I love that [Officer Landon's] bodycam overlay stays on at 4:13 meaning that [the images of a happy life that Laney presents him weren't] a halucination [sic] and those images are actually fully flashing in front of him - Friendship as Courtship: Deconstructed in "Escaping the Friendzone
", where Elise points out that a friendship started with the express goal of entering a romantic relationship at some point isn't a real friendship, as Will won't be able to ever be himself around his crush, Lauren. Unfortunately, Will completely misses the point and openly admits that he only became friends with Lauren so he could have sex with her, scaring Lauren off and leading Elise to disavow her pupil. - Fun with Homophones: In "why am i getting these targeted ads?
", Phil's real name turns out to be FILL — the Functionally Intelligent Learning Lover. - Gasshole: Ben, Billy's character from "SOMEONE'S IN HERE
", drops a deuce which smells so bad that Will's character descends into a screaming fit and concludes that he's trapped in his own nightmare and needs to wake up. - Genre Roulette: The short "How It Feels Scrolling Through Netflix Top 10
," goes from relatable comedy, to commentary, to drama, to murder-mystery, to horror, before finally landing square in either sci-fi or psychological thriller depending on viewer interpretation. All over the course of nine minutes. - Happier Home Movie: A variant; "How It Feels watching local commercials
" concludes with a commercial from before Reuben left the Brewster pest control company. - Here We Go Again!: The ending of "Entitled Princess TERRORIZES Police During DUI Stop
": After Laney unleashes a psychic blast which kills everyone in the immediate vicinity, she hijacks a police car and begins playing "Run-Around", obviously planning to start the cycle again. - Homage:
- "there's a Netflix password sharing bubble.
" is one to Margin Call, specifically the hunt for Eric Dale. - "NOT IN FRONT OF THE INTERN
" serves as one to Rick Dalton's cowboy film shoot, complete with a trailer meltdown.
- "there's a Netflix password sharing bubble.
- Hypocrite: Dr. Richard Henley, the teacher from "Professor has MENTAL BREAKDOWN and accuses class of cheating
", admonishes his class for (allegedly) knowing the answers to his end-of-year exam beforehand yet has no problem exploiting his class's precognitive abilities and access to objective truth in order to enrich himself. Said class eventually confronts him by throwing his own words in his face. - Imagine Spot: Parodied and Exaggerated "when you think of the perfect comeback later in the shower
", which initially consists of Billy imagining a perfect comeback to Liam's dig at his age in the shower, then transitions into that imaginary construct of Liam imagining how he would diss Elise, then transitions into Liam's construct of Elise and so on, until we're several layers deep before snapping back to reality. - Kissing Cousins: Ray Buckley from "The Disturbing Case of Jessica Abner
" has a girlfriend named Anna Buckley. To confirm their connection, Anna reveals that "[her] mommy used to suck [his] daddy's big cock in high school" in her interview with the documentarians. - List-of-Experiences Speech: One from Todd, the CEO in "there's a Netflix password sharing bubble.
":Todd: We were the first family on my block to use Netflix. Back then, if we wanted to watch a movie, we had to wait five days for the US Postal Service to deliver us a DVD. Now, my Smart Fridge plays Emily in Paris on repeat 24/7. - Meaningful Background Event: As Tim and Natalie, the couple from "Every Airbnb Commercial
", discuss leaving Crespin's Airbnb, Crespin can be seen outside the window, just out of focus and looming over Tim's right shoulder. - Mind Screw: "How It Feels Scrolling Through Netflix Top 10" ends in the character Charlie Von Pierce brutally bludgeoning actor-as-character Jack Martin to death with the Paradox Prism, putting a final end to both Jack's complete and total takeover of his former career and life as a spy actor and the hostage situation and faked death he inflicted upon him. However, the flashbacks to Charlie's supposed murder of his agent while this is occurring, down to repeated lines and the same blood splatter throw into question whether or not these are in-universe flashbacks on Charlie's part to him murdering his agent, him remembering watching Jack's role in the documentary on the subject, or an actual Stable Time Loop created by the Paradox Prism prop from the Agent London movies turning out to be real.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: A desperate soon-to-be father meets with the titular fringe guy
on the side of the road, begging for help to get his in-labor wife to the hospital, as his car has run out of gas… only for the fringe guy to open his mouth and attempt to make a grandiose speech about his predicament. Immediately put off, the man refuses the help as politely as he can. - Ominous Visual Glitch: Image stuttering and camera tearing precedes Reuben Brewster's hijacking of the news broadcast in "How It Feels watching local commercials
". - Playing Drunk: How Billy ultimately escapes the party in ""One beer, then I'm going home."
", drinking O'Doul's non-alcoholic beer the whole night and replacing the label with Pacifico Clara. - Power Perversion Potential: In "who made me have that gay dream?
," Liam apparently uses his ability to enter and manipulate people's dreams and thoughts for the sole purpose of making his friends have incredibly specific gay dreams about him, apparently with the end goal of making a host of willing gay sex slaves. - Properly Paranoid: In "who made me have that gay dream?
," Will is convinced that someone in the friend group is the reason behind why he keeps having strange and incredibly specific gay dreams about Liam, to the point of threatening Billy, Chet, and Liam with a gun in an effort to make one of them confess. He's right. - Pun: Crespin, the Airbnb host in "Every Airbnb Commercial
" turns out to be a spirit that possesses the bodies of its victims, making it a literal host. - Replacement Goldfish: A variant in "why am i getting these targeted ads?
". It turns out that every time that Phil realizes his existence as a extremely realistic sexbot programmed with false memories to make it more fun for Mike when he fucks him, he either winds up getting hard reset so they can do it all over again or getting outright replaced by another bot, judging by the bodies he winds up finding piled in the closet during The Reveal. - Rewatch Bonus: "who made me have that gay dream?
": Most of Will's gay dreams involve Liam in some capacity, setting him up as the one who implanted said dreams in Will's subconscious. - Running Gag: The narrators of "A Tortured Mind", Parts One
and Two
often uses the Pompeii disaster as a metaphor, regardless of whether or not it's actually applicable to the situation. - Serious Business:
- "i'm leaving the group chat.
" ends with Liam being executed, Irishman style, after deciding to leave the MUFF MOB group chat. It's heavily implied that this is a result of Billy's father sending the chat a video of a woman "shoving a trout up her pussy". - "The Disturbing Case of Jessica Abner [True Crime Documentary]"
quickly derails into a discussion about the rules, regulations, and playstyles of Pinecone Racing, a sport consisting of hitting pinecones with a broom through the length of the town that's important enough to have the town's entire police force watch over the proceedings. In the end, it's more of a revelation that Carson Moore cheated to win his race by passing through non-playable land than the fact that he murdered Jessica.Documentarian: What is Pinecone Racing?
Lem Bennett: What? Wha— "What is Pi—" Where the fuck are you from?
- "i'm leaving the group chat.
- Sexbot: What Phil turns out to be by the end of "why am i getting these targeted ads?
, a revelation played just as much for horror as it is for dark comedy. - Spotting the Thread: In "who made me have that gay dream?
", Liam states that everyone has gay dreams and Will shouldn't worry about imagining Liam "filling up your cheeks with my cum like you're some sort of chipmunk". Will notes that he never mentioned that last part, with Chet and Billy confessing to having dreams involving the exact scenario soon after. - Stable Time Loop: What may or may not be occurring courtesy of the Paradox Prism in "How It Feels Scrolling Through Netflix Top 10" as character Charlie Von Pierce bludgeons actor-as-character Jack to death with it at the end of the short.
- Strangled by the Red String: Played for Laughs and Drama — Part of the plot of ""Entitled Princess TERRORIZES Police During DUI Stop
" has Officer Landon fall for Laney, the drunk woman involved in a DUI stop, but only because she's psychically tempted him into an emotionally fulfilling existence with him as her husband. Lampshaded to hell and back towards the climax:Sheriff Landon: I love her.
Deputy Schwartz: What?
Sheriff Landon: I love her.
Deputy Schwartz: What do you mean?!
Sheriff Landon: I, fuck, I fell in love with her.
Deputy Schwartz: HOW?!
Sheriff Landon: I don't know.
Deputy Schwartz: DUDE! - Suicide as Comedy:
- "Girl Friend Groups vs. Guy Friend Groups
" ends with both Liam and Eilise shooting themselves in front of the rest of their respective groups, leaving the rest to react in stunned horror. The comedy of it comes when both groups use the convenient opportunity of their dead friend's corpse in front of them to bitch at/compliment them as a new activity, refusing to acknowledge what's just happened past that at all. - The short "Few more weeks won't kill me
" consists of Billy attempting to schedule his suicide around his work, not wanting to inconvenience his coworkers any after he dies. Funny, but verging on outright depressing. Will, completely oblivious to what's actually happening, asking about his PTO when Billy marks off over a month's worth of days he isn't coming in, only to be met with Billy firmly saying that he has enough? Hilarious.Billy, when Will tells him they have meetings on Tuesday they need him for, shakily: What's a couple more weeks?
- "Girl Friend Groups vs. Guy Friend Groups
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: A rare person-to-person variant in "why am i getting these targeted ads?
": Phil starts to declare his intent to leave Mike's apartment, but Mike completes the statement. The pair have run through the same exact scenario of Phil discovering that he is a
Sexbot and threatening to leave so many times that Mike knows exactly what he is going to say already. Either that, or Mike programmed the dialogue into him just like he did the memories of his uncle. - Visual Pun: At one point in "fringe guy", the titular protagonist shuts himself inside his apartment's fridge.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: "there's a Netflix password sharing bubble.
": Upon being confronted with the realization that Todd isn't even using his own Netflix account, even though said account has racked up a truly massive bill via password sharing, one of the board members vomits into his hands and runs out of the room. - Wham Line:
- "there's a Netflix password sharing bubble.
"- One board member hits Todd, the CEO whose Netflix account has been shared among everyone in the office, with this stunning revelation:Female Board Member: Sir, we ran the number and, um, in the United States alone, your password was shared over 1.3 million times.
- Instead of shutting his account down to avoid footing the enormous bill he's racked up, Todd (the CEO) tells his secretary to call Phil Brexin, an intern who last worked at the company two years ago. Todd's silence leads the board to come to a stunning conclusion:Female Board Member: Dear God. It's not even...
Male Board Member: It's not his fuckin' account.
- One board member hits Todd, the CEO whose Netflix account has been shared among everyone in the office, with this stunning revelation:
- "Entitled Princess TERRORIZES Police During DUI Stop
"- While Laney (the "Entitled Princess" the video refers to) has already displayed some odd behavior, this line from Deputy Schwartz portends the full-blown Genre Shift:
"This chick's supposed to be dead. [...] The system says she died three years ago in a drunk driving accident."
- "there's a Netflix password sharing bubble.
- Wild Take: "When she's got a GYAT
" brings this trope into the real word, then descends into chaos as the boys deal with the realistic physical consequences of the Wild Take. - Wrong Genre Savvy: After Tim from "Every Airbnb Commercial
" finds Crispin's wallet in the bathroom which reveals his actual identity to be Glenn Halloway, Tim starts to suspect that the host is "a fugitive or something". His suspicions are only compounded when he, his girlfriend, and Crispin encounters a blind man who recognizes Crispin as Glenn and begs for forgiveness, stating that he "did everything you asked", setting up a twist a-la Superhost where Crispin turns out to be a serial killer. Then Crispin lures Tim's girlfriend, Natalie, into a Pocket Dimension, and reveals that he is an Eldritch Abomination who is puppeteering the corpse of Glenn Halloway, veering the skit firmly into Cosmic Horror territory.
