# America's Funniest Home Videos - they are NOT funny! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719 "2009-12-02T17:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/41 "2009-12-03T08:55:14Z")
Is the show actually still on? I thought it had long ago been replaced by youtube and this was just an anniversarial best of. Certainly the clips in the trailer looked really old. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/42 "2009-12-03T09:28:29Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > That kind of stuff was funny 20 years ago when this concept was new. But you’re right, seeing some guy get hit in the crouch, or a dog biting someone in the ass, or a kid falling out of a tree gets old really quick. Yeah, I thought in the early days it served a purpose of a sort. There was one video that won the prize for the week, and won or came close to winning the prize for a year. A guy playing softball jumped to make a catch, missed, went over the fence, his pants got caught on the fence, he went down to the ground and his pants stayed where they were. Now, there was a time when he just would have been humiliated and that would have been the end of it. But thanks to AFHV, he was able to make $10,000 worth of lemonade out of it. But that was then, and it soon became clear that there were only so many home videos that were truly funny and truly original or unique in their humor. It was a shallow pool to begin with, and now it’s dried up. And yes, it’s painfully obvious how many of them are staged. > [@](#): > > And this series along with Full House has the notoriety of ruining Bob Saget’s career. He had actually a pretty edgy comedian before getting involved with those shows. But then they made him say all those corny jokes in the stupid voices. Who’s “they”, though? I could be wrong, but I thought he was one of the co-creators. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/43 "2009-12-03T10:34:57Z")
The British version (“You’ve Been Framed”) finally realized that whenever the host was doing the stupid links and the studio audience is laughing hysterically, the home audience was shouting at the television “SHUT UP AND SHOW MORE CLIPS!”. So they cut all that out. Now we get some brief CGI links (videotapes on conveyor belts, that sort of thing) with voiceovers from a genuinely funny comedian (Harry Hill) who doesn’t spoil the clips and often makes rude comments about the people in them. The editing is tight so the pace of the humour is faster, and there are long quick-cut montages set to music. Much, much funnier. Plus they keep the “amusing but probably actually quite serious injury” clips to a minimum - it’s more people falling over on the dancefloor and that sort of thing. No visible host, no audience, oh and no prizes - everyone gets £250 for their clip. YBF also seems to use American and Australian clips in addition to British ones; I assume AFHV dips from the same pool. ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/44 "2009-12-03T13:29:35Z")
We watch it because my 5-year old loves it so it’s something we can watch together that’s not cartoons. However now even he is wondering why people falling off a trampoline 234 different ways is funny. The worst videos are when you hear someone in the video say “Did you get that on tape? That’s going to win me $100,000!”. Which instantly means it’s NOT. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/45 "2009-12-03T15:26:39Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Who’s “they”, though? I could be wrong, but I thought he was one of the co-creators. Was he? I know there’s an unaired pilot that’s the same except that he’s not in it–there’s a different actor playing Danny so it seems like he was cast at the last minute, which I wouldn’t think would happen if he were a creator. IMDb doesn’t say anything about him being a creator either. Hm. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/46 "2009-12-03T18:57:46Z")
i meant co-creator of AFHV. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/47 "2009-12-03T19:08:55Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > i meant co-creator of AFHV. Do you have a cite for that, because I checked his IMDB credits and they don’t list him as either a creator, producer or writer of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/48 "2009-12-03T19:12:16Z")
No, I don’t have a cite, because I’m the one who was asking the question. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/49 "2009-12-03T19:16:55Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > No, I don’t have a cite, because I’m the one who was asking the question. Well, in that case, no it doesn’t look like he was co-creator of either show. And IIRC he makes a point in his stand-up routine of saying that he did not write the jokes for them either. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719/50 "2009-12-03T20:44:35Z")
Weird Al’s take: Talkin’ 'bout sick shows Of America’s Funniest Home Videos I can’t believe my eyes When I see the kind of stuff that wins first prize Somebody’s poor old mom Falls down off the roof, lands right on the lawn Face first on a rake I hear they’ve got it on the seventeenth take That’s funny as a kick in the crotch And that kind of show, uh, I can’t watch – “I Can’t Watch This”, parody of MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-funniest-home-videos-they-are-not-funny/519719.md?page=2)