America's Funniest Home Videos, also called America's Funniest Videos (abbreviated as AFV), is an American video clip television series on ABC, based on the Japanese variety show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan (1986–1992). The show features humorous homemade videos that are submitted by viewers. The most common videos feature unintentional physical comedy, pets or children and some staged pranks.
Originally airing as a special in 1989, it later debuted as a regular weekly series in 1990. The show was hosted by comedian Bob Saget for the 1989 special and the first eight seasons of the series incarnation. After Saget's retirement from hosting in 1997, John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes later took over as co-host for its ninth and tenth seasons. After two years of being shown as occasional specials, hosted by various actors and comedians such as D. L. Hughley, Richard Kind, Stuart Scott, Steve Carell, Mike Kasem and Kerri Kasem, ABC brought the series back on Friday nights in 2001 with Tom Bergeron, who hosted the show for fifteen seasons. Season 19 champion and co-host of Dancing with the Stars, Alfonso Ribeiro took over as host in 2015 after Bergeron's retirement. On October 29, 2018, ABC renewed AFV for two more seasons, bringing to its 30th (which premiered on Sunday, September 29, 2019) and 31st (which premiered on Sunday, October 18, 2020) seasons. During the COVID-19 pandemic, host segments of episodes were filmed outside of the studio. These episodes featured quarantined individuals dealing with the lockdown and social distancing, and were called AFV@Home. The last episodes of the thirtieth season featured Ribeiro in an empty studio communicating via the large monitor with virtual audience members, which would be the format used in the 31st season. On May 13, 2021, ABC renewed AFV for a 32nd season which premiered on October 3 of the same year.
On May 13, 2022, ABC renewed AFV for a 33rd season which premiered on October 2 of the same year. For this season, a portion of the live audience would return and the weekly prize money would be doubled.
On May 16, 2023, ABC renewed AFV for a 34th season which premiered on October 1 of the same year.
Premise
AFV is based on the Tokyo Broadcasting System program 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; ABC, which owns half the program, pays a royalty fee to the Tokyo Broadcasting System for the use of the format (although the original parent show left the air in 1992). Contestants can submit their videos by uploading them on the show's official website, AFV.com, on the AFV applications for Android or iOS or on the AFV Official Facebook fan page, or by sending them via mail to a Hollywood, California post-office box address. 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 and incidents caught on camera; while others include clever marriage proposals, people and animals displaying interesting talents (such as pets that sound like they speak certain words or phrases, or genius toddlers with the ability to name all past U.S. presidents), and practical jokes. As of 1989, the show's production process featured a group of screeners viewing the submitted tapes and grading them on a 1–10 scale based on how humorous they were. The videos graded the highest were sent to the show's producers, and then to Di Bona and another producer for final approval. Videos that feature staged accidents, people being seriously injured, the abuse of animals, or otherwise do not meet ABC network standards and practices are generally not accepted for broadcast.