For those of you who were an adult during the Grady Era on Sanford and Son, was Grady and Fred funnier than all the other friends? What seperated Grady from all of Fred's other friends? He had to be unique in some way because it was just 2 years ago when i found out he had his own show.

Out of all the characters who portrayed Fred Sanford's friends, Whitman Mayo's Grady Wilson was the most consistantly funny...and the most consistantly easy to write for. All good comedians need either a straight man or a foil...Demond Wilson's Lamont was clearly intended to be Redd Foxx's straight man, but some of the other characters---Slappy White's Melvin and Donald Bexley's Bubba---clearly weren't up to the task of being an effective foil for Fred Sanford.

Enter Whitman Mayo.

Together, Fred and Grady continued a long tradition of comedy duos in which one was conniving (Fred) and one was gullible (Grady)...and it worked. Like Lucy and Ethel, Ralph and Norton, even the old Kingfish and Andy (from the old "Amos 'n' Andy" show, which shares a number of strong structural similarities with "Sanford and Son"), Fred and Grady together meant sure-fire comedic results (mix in La Wanda Page's Aunt Esther, Nathan Taylor's Rollo, and Gregory Sierra's Julio and you had a classic sitcom gumbo!!)

Similarily, like most second-bananas, Grady's popularity was such that when Redd Foxx took his celebrated sabbatical from S&S, Whitman Mayo filled in as a surrogate for Lamont, the producers going so far as to redo earlier episode that had originally involved Fred and Lamont, only now with Grady essaying Fred's role and position. Plus, Grady had developed his own repitiore of catchphrases and mannerisms that pretty much ensured his popularity with viewers worldwide ("Good goobedy-goo!")

So, to answer your question, Solomon, yeah, Fred and Grady had great chemistry together...:)