| America's Funniest People | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Vin Di Bona |
| Presented by |
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| Narrated by | Ernie Anderson |
| Theme music composer | Dan Slider |
| Opening theme |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 89 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | May 13, 1990 (1990-05-13) – June 5, 1994 (1994-06-05) |
| Related | |
| America's Funniest Home Videos | |
America's Funniest People is an Americanreality show onABC that debuted on May 13, 1990 as a 30 minute television specialAmerica's Funniest... Part II, aired after the popularAmerica's Funniest Home Videos. Thegreen-lit series, then namedAmerica's Funniest People for the fall season, aired as a weekly half-hour prime time series from September 9, 1990, to June 5, 1994. It was hosted byDave Coulier andArleen Sorkin from 1990 to 1992.Tawny Kitaen replaced Sorkin in 1992. The announcer wasErnie Anderson. Dan Slider composed the theme song, which was performed by Peter Hix.
The format was similar toAmerica's Funniest Home Videos, with the main difference that whileAmerica's Funniest Home Videos spent the majority of its time with accidental follies captured on tape,America's Funniest People focused on people intentionally trying to be funny, doing things such as telling jokes, doing impressions, singing, dancing, performing scripted material, attempting wacky stunts, pulling pranks, etc.
LikeAmerica's Funniest Home Videos,America's Funniest People featured a contest for funniest video, with the first prize winner receiving $10,000 and the 2nd and 3rd prize winners receiving $3,000 and $2,000 respectively. However, unlikeFunniest Home Videos, which relied on studio audience voting to determine the winner,Funniest People selected its winners via telephone vote for its first five episodes,[1] with the winners announced at the beginning of the next show; the show switched to having the studio audience select the winner afterwards, like its parent show. Also, unlike its parent show, there was no $100,000 grand prize finale.
Originally known as "Tiny theJackalope", or simply "The Jackalope", Jackalope sketches involved a creature attacking people by playing mean tricks on them (usually as punishment for people who had been mean themselves). Typically, the main target was a muscular man who absolutely despises the creature. The character's catchphrase was, "Fast as fast can be, you'll never catch me!" Host Dave Coulier did the voices for all characters in the Jackalope skits, which were played at a faster pace than other clips. The Jackalope was later renamed "Jack Ching Bada-Bing" in a "Name the Jackalope" contest.
A series of shorts that center around bumbling, clumsy carpenters, Joe-Bob and Randy-Bob, who use haywire methods to remodel houses. The shorts are a parody of the PBS SeriesThis Old House.
The Alien Shorts feature claymation miniature aliens who attempt to take over planet earth, but are constantly defeated by humankind's daily routines and habits.
A recurring bit scripted as advertisement for the fictional Whiz on Wheels company, who perform services improperly and too fast to be good, causing more damage than they fix. They claim to be faster and cheaper than competing companies.
Dennis and Jason first produced anIndiana Jones spoof forAmerica's Funniest Home Videos called "Pasadena Jones and the Satire of Doom". They then moved over toAmerica's Funniest People for its initial season and produced a dozen videos which aired every other week. Although there were several videos with original characters, there were also spoofs ofRambo,James Bond, andDirty Harry.
In theDirty Harry spoof, Harry was downgraded to avideo store detective. After chasing a suspect all overSan Francisco, Harry finally cornered him in an alley. He reaches into his jacket, and slowly pulls out aVHS movie, asking the suspect "What I have here is a VHS video cassette, the most popular format in the world, and the question is, punk... did you rewind it?"
For the show's 1993-1994 season, a new game show segment called "Dunk Your Parents" was added, hosted by Skip Trippendale (Coulier), in which a kid contestant could drop one of their parents into a pool of water, similar to adunk tank. The kid chose the parent that they wanted to dunk. That parent then sat on a chair over the water. The parent was then asked a trivia question, usually involving a list — for example, "Name the seven dwarfs inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs". If the parent answered the question correctly, the other parent had to take their place. If not, that parent remained in the chair. The climax of the segment was when the child pushed a button to release the seat out from underneath the parent, dropping them into the water below.
On some occasions, instead of a question, the parent would have to complete aBeat the Clock-esque stunt (but these were often nearly impossible to complete).
When the show changed format and becameThe New America's Funniest People for the 1993-94 season, a new segment was added called the Prank Patrol. 5 kids would run around various parks and locations nearLos Angeles, performing pranks on unsuspecting visitors. The Prank Patrol consisted of Brady Bluhm, Elena Epps, Raushan Hammond,Lindsay Ridgeway, and Lance Robinson. Pranks consisted of exploding ice cream cones, a man in a gorilla suit, a squirting drinking fountain, a remote control bat, an exploding trash can, and a hand in a jar of candy. Sean Daly was also in this episode
A recurring segment centering on bizarre sporting events such as Rocky Mountain Rock Fishing, Pizza Diving, Meatball Miniature Golf, Brazilian Bicep Bowling, etc. Actor/comedianDan Sachoff had hosted this segment in later seasons.
A recurring segment centering on the comedy duo Schwartz and Chung where Caleb Chung (inventor of theFurby) would teach viewers a simple sight gag and then show it to his mom, played by Gary Schwartz (known for voicing Demoman and Heavy in the video gameTeam Fortress 2). The segment was first introduced byFull House actressJodie Sweetin.[2][3] The reactions were mad, homemade special effects. The duo appeared 11 times in the run of the show.
The 30 minute pilot for the series was produced in May 1990. It was called (and the special and series originally promoted as)[4]America's Funniest... Part II, as it was shown immediately afterAmerica's Funniest Home Videos. The host of the show, Dave Coulier, likeFunniest Home Videos hostBob Saget, was also one of the stars of the popular sitcomFull House which was airing at the same time as the series. The original series logo from the pilot episode was a slight revamp of theAFHV logo. When the pilot proved successful, the series went into full production in the fall asAmerica's Funniest People. In future airings, the pilot's title card was retroactively changed to reflect the new permanent name and logo of the show, though a careful viewer would still noticeAmerica's Funniest... Part II branding behind the studio audience.
Full House'sMary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made guest appearances, as they also did onAmerica's Funniest Home Videos. The bulk of their visits toPeople took place once their collective popularity with kids and pre-teens took off. Their most notable appearance was in the fall of 1992, when they plugged their first single, "Brother for Sale", from the release ofMary-Kate and Ashley: Our First Video.
It was produced byVin Di Bona Productions, even though at the end of the show's closing credits, it credited the company as Gina Communications, Inc. The show was originally taped atThe Prospect Studios (then known as the ABC Television Center), on the same soundstage used forAmerica's Funniest Home Videos at the time. The show traveled toUniversal Studios Florida in 1992, taping five shows at the Animal Actors Stage.[5]
In 1992, Sorkin was dismissed byVin Di Bona. In response, Sorkin filed alawsuit against Di Bona, claiming that she was dismissed from the show due to her race, after ABC Chairman Dan Burke had suggested to Di Bona that Sorkin be replaced by an African-American or a person of another ethnic minority. Sorkin sought $450,000 for lost earnings, and an additional unspecified amount for harm to her professional reputation and emotional injury. Sorkin additionally claimed that after she denounced the move as unfair, Di Bona changed plans and hired new cohost Tawny Kitaen, who waswhite.[6]Randy Davison was invited to be on multiple episodes, doing impersonations ofEdith Bunker andPopeye asElvis.[7]
During the 1992-1993 season, the entire production moved toUniversal Studios Florida.[5][8] The start of the 1993-94 season modified the show's title toThe New America's Funniest People, with an updated logo, and production moving back to Los Angeles, originating fromHollywood Center Studios. This reflected the addition of new themed segments, some special guests, and the new practice of having a guest co-host (usually a star from another ABC series) join Coulier and Kitaen each week. However, these changes were not enough to improve the show's failing ratings, and it was cancelled at the end of that season. The network continued to air repeats until late-August.
During the latter half of the show's run, and for at most a year after it was canceled, short 30-second segments fromAmerica's Funniest People ran in commercial breaks during ABC's Saturday morning lineup. These would usually consist of excerpts from longer segments, usually featuring young kids telling jokes or engaging in stunts.
The show's premise would later integrate toAFV.
Repeat episodes ofAmerica's Funniest People aired onTBS from 1998 to 2003.
In the spring of 2024, it was announced that ABC would reviveAmerica's Funniest People.[9] Eight episodes were planned.[10] On June 15, 2025, "America's Funniest People" aired as an episode ofAmerica's Funniest Home Videos. The special, featuring performances in the studio as well as videos, is co-hosted byAlyson Hannigan and regularAmerica's Funniest Home Videos hostAlfonso Ribeiro.[11]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | Hosts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | ||||
| Pilot | May 13, 1990 (1990-05-13) | Dave Coulier andArleen Sorkin | |||
| 1 | 25 | September 8, 1990 (1990-09-08) | May 19, 1991 (1991-05-19) | Dave Coulier and Arleen Sorkin | |
| 2 | 23 | September 22, 1991 (1991-09-22) | May 15, 1992 (1992-05-15) | Dave Coulier and Arleen Sorkin | |
| 3 | 18 | September 20, 1992 (1992-09-20) | March 28, 1993 (1993-03-28) | Dave Coulier andTawny Kitaen | |
| 4 | 23 | September 18, 1993 (1993-09-18) | June 5, 1994 (1994-06-05) | Dave Coulier and Tawny Kitaen | |
| Special | June 15, 2025 (2025-06-15) | Alfonso Ribeiro andAlyson Hannigan | |||
... with the first in a series of 'Cool Ways to Scare Your Mom'.
