Hollywood Flashback: America’s Funniest Home Videos were the granddaddy of social media

Long before user-generated video clips dominated social media, they were generating laughs and prize money on America’s Funniest Home Videos, which launched 35 years ago.

The show’s creator, Vin Di Bona, was fascinated by Japanese home-recorded comedy programs, leading him to adapt one of them into the 1980s celebrity game show Animal Crack-Ups hosted by Alan Thicke.

In 1989, Di Bona discovered the Japanese variety show “Fun With Ken and Kato Chan,” in which two hosts joked about videos submitted by viewers. He put together an eight-minute pitch video with Japanese clips and hired Animal Crack-Ups writer Todd Thicke (Alan’s younger brother) for the pilot. Thicke tested the video on friends and recalls that actress Jane Seymour loved it but also expressed concern about anyone spilling anything.

“That was a really good note,” says Thicke, an executive producer until 2015. “We called it ‘recovery’ and always wanted to show that no one was really hurt.”