Laff-A-Lympics (TV series)

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This article is about the television series. For the event, see Laff-A-Lympics.
Laff-A-Lympics
LAL title card.png
On-screen title card.
Network ABC
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Original release September 10, 1977 – October 28, 1978
Run time 30 minutes
Starring Julie Bennett
Joe Besser
Mel Blanc
Daws Butler
Henry Corden
Scatman Crothers
Bob Holt
Casey Kasem
Don Messick
Gary Owens
Laurel Page
Alan Reed
Marilyn Schreffler
John Stephenson
Vernee Watson
Frank Welker
Producer(s) Don Jurwich
Alex Lovy
Art Scott
Music composed by Hoyt Curtin
Writer(s) Neal Barbera
Haskell Barkin
Director(s) Charles A. Nichols
Ray Patterson
Carl Urbano

Laff-A-Lympics is an animated American television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for ABC's Saturday morning children's programming. It ran in 1977 to 1978, airing 24 episodes.

Debuting as a segment of Scooby's All Star Laff-A-Lympics, the series follows an Olympics-themed event full of popular characters from Hanna-Barbera's library at the time going around the world to compete in such events. The games were hosted by Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf. The three teams consist of the Yogi Yahooeys led by Yogi Bear, the Scooby Doobies led by Scooby-Doo and the Really Rottens led by Mumbly.

Production

Development

During production of the series, Melody, Alexander Cabot III, Alexandra Cabot and Sebastian from Josie and the Pussycats and Jeannie from Jeannie were originally going to be members of the Scooby Doobies, but were scrapped due to legal issues from Archie Comics and Columbia Pictures Television, respectively. Additionally, Dick Dastardly and Muttley from the Wacky Races cartoon were originally going to lead the Really Rottens, but were scarped due to the characters being co-owned by Heatter-Quigley Productions and replaced by the new character, Dread Baron and the already existing Mumbly respectively.

Although many of the Really Rottens were original characters, they were inspired by existing characters, Daisy Mayhem was based on Moonbeam McSwine from L'il Abner, who also had a pet pig, much like Daisy did. The Creepleys were based on the Gruesomes, originally from The Flintstones although they weren't altogether villainous like the Creepleys. The Dread Baron was based on the Red Baron and Dick Dastardly from the Wacky Races cartoon. Great Fondoo was based on Abner K. Dabra from the 1963 book, Yogi Bear and the Cranky Magician and Magic Rabbit's design was based on the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?.

Shortly after "The Swiss Alps and Tokyo, Japan" was finished in production, Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone, passed away and his role was taken over by Henry Corden, who did Fred's later guest appearances on the show.

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Episodes

Episode Number Air date
"The Swiss Alps and Tokyo, Japan" 1x01 September 10, 1977
"Acapulco and England" 1x02 September 17, 1977
"Florida and China" 1x03 September 24, 1977
"The Sahara Desert and Scotland" 1x04 October 1, 1977
"France and Australia" 1x05 October 8, 1977
"Athens, Greece and the Ozarks" 1x06 October 15, 1977
"Italy and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina" 1x07 October 22, 1977
"Egypt and Sherwood Forest" 1x08 October 29, 1977
"Spain and the Himalayas" 1x09 November 5, 1977
"India and Israel" 1x10 November 12, 1977
"Africa and San Francisco" 1x11 November 19, 1977
"The Grand Canyon and Ireland" 1x12 November 26, 1977
"Hawaii and Norway" 1x13 December 3, 1977
"North Pole and Tahiti" 1x14 December 10, 1977
"Arizona and Holland" 1x15 December 17, 1977
"Quebec and Baghdad" 1x16 December 24, 1977
"Russia and the Caribbean" 2x01 September 9, 1978
"New York and Turkey" 2x02 September 16, 1978
"South America and Transylvania" 2x03 September 23, 1978
"French Riviera and New Zealand" 2x04 September 30, 1978
"New Orleans and Atlantis" 2x05 October 7, 1978
"Morocco and Washington D.C." 2x06 October 14, 1978
"Canada and Warsaw, Poland" 2x07 October 21, 1978
"Siam and the Moon" 2x08 October 28, 1978

Cast

In popular culture

Robot Chicken

Main article: Robot Chicken

The Cleveland Show

  • "Ship'rect": Mumbly is the captain of a boat crewed by the Really Rottens (consisting of Daisy Mayhem, Mr. Creepley, Orful Octopus, and the Dalton Brothers) in a Floaterboat Race. In which, Mumbly uses a classic cartoon cheat by dumping banana peals into the river and then snickers.

Ok K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

  • "Plazalympics": An entire episode that parodies the Laff-A-Lympics with three teams of characters competing against each other. Not only was the Laff-A-Lympics show itself parodied, but the intro was also parodied within the episode.

References