lauren and patty are surrounded by colorful supporting characters. their friends marshall blechtman (john femia) and johnny "slash" ulasewicz (merritt butrick) are a pair of lovable geeks. marshall is a motormouthed would-be comedian, while johnny is a soft-spoken new wave fan (not punk... "a totally different head... totally.") though seemingly off in his own reality most of the time, johnny slash states that he "[does not] do drugs and isn't a hippie" and on more than one occasion displays unexpected intuition and empathy, particularly regarding marshall and the girls. the two help to maintain a school radio station. several episodes indicate that marshall is attracted to lauren and johnny to patty.