Grady Wilson (Whitman Mayo) is Fred's good-natured, simple minded best friend, who appears regularly on the show. Grady's catchphrase is "Good Googley Goo". He utters this when something good happens or he is in a pleasant mood. Grady is Fred's "sidekick" and often is involved in various get-rich-quick schemes concocted by Fred. In the episode "Hello Cousin Emma, Goodbye Cousin Emma", it is revealed that Grady grew up on the south side of Chicago and in his youth was a lady's man with the nickname "The Sheik of Drexel Avenue." Early in the series, a running gag was that Grady could never remember Lamont's name. Lamont would often correct him with a bogus name like Lucas or Lance. Later in the series, Grady's name-confusion gag was targeted at Esther. When Foxx refused to appear in several episodes due to a contract dispute, Grady became the central character, watching over the business and Lamont while Fred was "away" on vacation in St. Louis. Grady was actually named after actor Demond Wilson, whose full real name is "Grady Demond Wilson." (The character eventually was spun off into his own eponymous TV series in December 1975.)