America’s Funniest Home Videos? I Don’t Think So…

family, happiness, humor, lessons learned, United States 1 Minute

We had just finished watching ABC World News and America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFV) came on the air right after.

Now I’ll admit I’ve watched this show a good bit over the years, but it struck me tonight that at the heart of many of the videos is somebody getting hurt.

Almost every show has the obligatory ball striking a man in the groin or somebody jumping up and then crashing down, hard.

I always get nervous when one of the scenes is near a pool, since I think how dangerous a slip can be when near the edge of a concrete pool.

But the audience will laugh right through all of these clips, and for some reason I find that kind of sad, and disturbing. Is this what we take for humor these days?

While The Three Stooges relied on lots of physical humor, I am guessing most of that was planned out, and they weren’t really hurting each other.

But on AFV, while some of the stunts seem planned, many times they aren’t, and the pain feels real. And the more painful it looks, the more the audience seems to enjoy it.

I wish the show would just focus on clips of babies when they first try something sour, or grandpa’s dentures coming out while he is trying to blow out his birthday cake.

That stuff is funny, and nobody gets hurt…

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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52 thoughts on “America’s Funniest Home Videos? I Don’t Think So…”

  1. Ahh, now you went and got all serious on us. Boring! …. but in all serious, I’ve thought about that too. Definitely a saving grace that a lot of the people who get hit send in the clips themselves, so presumably they’re able to laugh at themselves by the time their antics get on TV. Pain aside, that show is pretty funny.

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    1. well I did laugh at your latest story about the guy on his way to go fishing…

      and trust me, I’m laughing at many of the clips myself. I just wish they would stop showing them, because I know I will continue to laugh at such videos…

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  2. If they would show people actually getting killed doing dumb things, then it would be a more realistic TV program. I don’t like all that fake, fantasy stuff, with nobody dying, so I don’t watch AFN. (Except when it’s on, and someone else is watching it, and I get drawn to it like a magnet.)

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    1. can you imagine the ratings they would get if somebody dies every episode? Wasn’t that part of the premise behind the movie Death Race?

      And yes, AFV is one of those shows that if it is playing on the TV, and you are in the room, you are probably going to watch it…

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  3. I agree. We don’t have paid TV channels so sometimes we watch AFV or Fail Army and the ones where people look like they are getting truly injured are not funny to me. I do like the ones where people do actual funny stuff, especially the animal ones.

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  4. I hope most people are laughing at the stupidity displayed in the AFV videos rather than any actual pain being inflicted. That would be sick. Maybe there is a fine line between the two. A funny Stooges skit I recall was when Curly had a tooth that needed to be removed. After failing with other methods they decided to blast and put a stick of dynamite in his mouth. I thought that was hilarious. I also admit to getting a kick out of Wile E. Coyote getting anvils dropped on his head. Oops! I think I’ve admitted too much. 😄

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    1. I enjoyed the Three Stooges and the Road Runner shows as well, but we all knew that those shows weren’t real. AFV is real people. And yes, there’s no doubt that many of the videos show people acting stupid, but sometimes that stupidity looks like it causes a lot of pain. And there is a fine line between laughing at stupidity vs laughing at someone’s misery…

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      1. If people are laughing because someone is in pain, then shame on them. I’d rather see harmless stuff like a pie in the face or better yet when people laugh at themselves like Candid Camera type shows.

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    1. I was not familiar with those two boosk you mentioned, but I looked them up and they are both by Stephen King. It does sound like they are trying to create an environment where people are getting pleasure out of another person’s misery, and like you say that’s a little close to AFV…

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  6. America’s Funniest Home Videos is still on the air, or was that a rerun? I don’t watch much television, but that surprises me if it is. I haven’t seen an episode in at least fifteen years.

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      1. As usual, I’m going through life, oblivious to half of the things going on around me. I wish I were more aware sometimes, but the flip side is that ignorance comes in handy sometimes.

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  7. I totally agree with you, Jim. The younger ones still seem to find it very funny watching someone else get hurt. Maybe getting hurt is now too much of a painful reality for us older ones.

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    1. there could be an age differential. I also think there are a lot of kids who might be willing to hurt themselves a little bit doing something stupid if it meant getting a lot of views on social media.

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      1. Yeah, I think you’re right on both counts. Young kids think they’re invincible and often they do bounce back. Whereas there’s not much bounce for us older ones and we’ve learned the hard way that we’re not invincible. (Sorry to talk about us both being older. I know you’re quite a bit younger than I am, but, as my Hub says, we’re all in the same boat. 😂)

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      2. I am certainly in the category of “older ones”, and you’re right, we don’t bounce back so easily. but most of us have learned to accept that at this point… 🙂

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  9. i always enjoyed cute kids and animals doing or saying funny things, but they just do this quite naturally, without getting hurt. at the same time, i always wondered why someone continued to film someone who got hurt rather than stopping to help them.

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  13. People getting hurts isn’t funny and some of those videos can make you cringe.
    But who doesn’t love a good cat video?

    We used to watch it when the kids were little. It was relatively clean humor.
    Now I only watch it if I’m clicking through the channels and it happens to be on.
    It still literally makes me LOL. And who doesn’t need a little of that once in a while?

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  14. I agree with your point Jim. There are times when people get carried away, and safety takes a backseat. Years ago, the ice bucket challenge looked innocent and proved to be a great fundraiser. Then, accidents began to happen here and there.

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  17. Oh yeah, some physical mishaps really are cringe inducing more than laugh worthy. Which is why I appreciate YouTubers who pick only the funny mishaps, like someone’s pants getting caught on the fence or something.

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