Synopsis
Executive produced by Vin Di Bona, with co-executive producers Todd Thicke and Michele Nasraway, it is currently the longest-running prime time entertainment program on ABC. It is based on the Tokyo Broadcasting System show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan, which featured a segment in which viewers were invited to send in video clips from their home movies; Vin Di Bona Productions pays a royalty fee to the Tokyo Broadcasting System for the use of the format. Contestants can either send their videos in via mail on DVD or VHS, or, since 2008, upload them onto ABC's official website.
Due to its very low cost, the format has since been reproduced around the world, and AFV-inspired TV specials and series continue to emerge periodically in the United States. American television series inspired by AFV's format that are not related to the series itself include The Planet's Funniest Animals, The World's Funniest!, The World's Funniest Moments, Funniest Pets & People and It Only Hurts When I Laugh; however, most of the series inspired by AFV (with the minor exception of The Planet's Funniest Animals) have not matched the success of America's Funniest Home Videos and have not lasted as long. Several local television stations, even those not affiliated with ABC, also developed special funny home video segments in their newscasts during the early 1990s, inspired by the series.
The majority of the video clips are short (5–30 seconds) and are mostly related to the host's monologues. Videos usually feature people and animals getting into humorous accidents caught on camera. A group of screeners view the submitted tapes, giving them a grade (on a scale of 1–10) based on that particular tape's humor. The videos deemed funniest by the screeners then go on to the show's producers, then is turned over to Di Bona and another producer for final approval. Home video material that involves staged accidents, or/and adults, children or babies getting seriously injured or the abuse of animals are generally not accepted, and will not appear on the show.
Every week, three videos are chosen by the producers and voted on by the studio audience. The winner wins US$10,000, and is in the running for the $100,000 prize at the end of a seven or ten show run, while the runner-up receives $3,000, and the third place video receives $2,000. Very early in the show's run, the second and third prizes were a new TV and VCR and a new camcorder, respectively. On the initial hour-long special, the grand prize was $5,000 with second and third places winning a new camcorder; the producer picked the winner, with no audience voting. Periodically beginning with the Tom Bergeron run of the series, the $100,000 winner at each season's final $100,000 contest will also win a free vacation package, supplied by either Adventures by Disney or Disney Vacation Club, in addition to the monetary prize.
The show produced a spin-off titled America's Funniest People, which began in 1990 and lasted until 1994. Another short-lived spinoff was created in 1996 with World’s Funniest Videos, which was cancelled after its first season. Show creator Vin Di Bona also created two series featuring home videos that are largely culled from those seen on AFHV and America's Funniest People: the first-run syndication series That's Funny, which ran from 2004 to 2006, and the Fox Family Channel series Show Me The Funny, which ran from 1998 to 2000. Many of the clips have been used internationally in various comedy compilation programs, with changes such as dubbing and subtitling. The title of the show is usually changed and the studio segments are omitted.
According to the closing credits of each episode, most of the videos have been edited for length due to time constraints. In addition according to the contest plugs, family members (both immediate or relatives) of employees of Vin Di Bona Productions, ABC, Inc., its corporate parent The Walt Disney Company and their related subsidiaries are ineligible for the show's contests and prizes.
On October 3, 2010, beginning with the 21st season premiere, America's Funniest Home Videos began broadcasting in high definition. Many of the videos, which are largely shot using standard definition camcorders, are now stretched horizontally to fit 16:9 screens, instead of using pillarboxing.
Audience members are asked to dress "business casual or nicer".
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