The format was similar to ''
America's Funniest Home Videos '', with the main difference that while ''Funniest Home Videos'' spent the majority of its time with accidental follies captured on tape, ''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. The show also featured recurring segments, most infamously "The
Jackalope " vignettes featuring the voice of Coulier. The Jackalope was originally referred to as "Tiny the Jackalope", and later renamed "
Jack Ching Bada-Bing " in a "Name the Jackalope" contest.
Later in the show's run, a segment called "Dunk the Parent" was added, in which a kid contestant could drop one of their parents into a pool of water. The kid chose the parent (mom or dad) that he wanted to dunk, and they had to sit on a chair over the water (similar to a
Dunk Tank ). The parent was then asked a trivia question, usually involving a list (For example, "Name the seven dwarves in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'"). If he/she answered the question correctly, they stepped off the chair, and the other parent had to take his/her place; if not, he/she remained seated. The climax of the segment was when the child pulled a lever to release the seat out from underneath the parent, dropping them into the water below.
The show gained some popularity on the Internet due to a segment with an obese man with a tongue that can touch up to his eyes. The version that spread online was dubbed and subtitled in Chinese.
The pilot was called ''America's Funniest...Part II''.
The co-host of the show, Dave Coulier, like AFV host
Bob Saget , was also one of the stars of the popular sitcom ''
Full House '' which was airing at the same time as the series.
''Full House'''s
Mary-Kate And Ashley Olsen made guest appearances, as they also did on ''America's Funniest Home Videos''. The bulk of their visits to ''People'' took place once their collective popularity with kids and pre-teens took off (aside from the popularity their Michelle Tanner character already received), especially when they plugged their first single, ''
Brother For Sale '', from the release of ''Mary-Kate and Ashley: Our First Video''.
It was produced by
Vin Di Bona Productions and
ABC Productions . In
1992 , Sorkin was dismissed by
Vin Di Bona , and replaced with Kitaen. In response, Sorkin filed a
Lawsuit against Di Bona.
The start of the
1993 -
94 season saw the show's title modified to ''The New America's Funniest People''. This reflected the addition of new themed segments and the new practice of having a guest co-host join Coulier and Kitaen each week. The guest would be a star from another
ABC series. The show was cancelled in
1994 .
During the latter half of the show's run, and for at most, until a year after it was cancelled, short :30 second segments from ''America'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.
Repeats of the show were aired on
TBS from September 1998 to September 2003.
