Laff-a-Lympics (TV series)
- This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Laff-a-Lympics.
| Laff-a-Lympics | |
|---|---|
 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 from 1977 to 1978, airing 24 episodes that spanned two seasons.
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.
Recurring guest cameos include Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble of the Flintstones franchise, and Jabberjaw of the television series of the same name.
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 scrapped 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?. Additionally, the Dalton Brothers were also redesigned, and they would later have their new designs used for later appearances.
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.
- Opening theme song lyrics
Heavens to Hilarity, this is it sports fans!
Participants even!
Televisions' greatest array of stars.
Laff-a-Lympics!
Presents around the world triple team competition between,
the Yogi Yahooeys,
the Scooby Doobies
and the Really Rottens.
The players are on the field, and the stadium even, so let's get on with it. Laff-a-Lympics!
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | September 10, 1977 |
| 1x02 | September 17, 1977 |
| 1x03 | September 24, 1977 |
| 1x04 | October 1, 1977 |
| 1x05 | October 8, 1977 |
| 1x06 | October 15, 1977 |
| 1x07 | October 22, 1977 |
| 1x08 | October 29, 1977 |
| 1x09 | November 5, 1977 |
| 1x10 | November 12, 1977 |
| 1x11 | November 19, 1977 |
| 1x12 | November 26, 1977 |
| 1x13 | December 3, 1977 |
| 1x14 | December 10, 1977 |
| 1x15 | December 17, 1977 |
| 1x16 | December 24, 1977 |
| 2x01 | September 9, 1978 |
| 2x02 | September 16, 1978 |
| 2x03 | September 23, 1978 |
| 2x04 | September 30, 1978 |
| 2x05 | October 7, 1978 |
| 2x06 | October 14, 1978 |
| 2x07 | October 21, 1978 |
| 2x08 | October 28, 1978 |
Cast
- Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Mumbly, Announcer, Boo Boo Bear, Mr. Creepley, Junior Creepley, Dastardly Dalton and Pixie
- Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
- Daws Butler as Yogi Bear, Augie Doggie, Blabber, Dirty Dalton, Dixie, Hokey Wolf, Huckleberry Hound, Mr. Jinks, Quick Draw McGraw, Scooby-Dum, Snagglepuss Lion, Snooper and Wally Gator
- Mel Blanc as Captain Caveman and Speed Buggy
- Frank Welker as Dynomutt, Magic Rabbit, Sooey Pig, Tinker and Yakky Doodle
- Julie Bennett as Cindy Bear
- Joe Besser as Babu
- Scatman Crothers as Hong Kong Phooey
- Bob Holt as Dinky Dalton, Grape Ape and Orful Octopus
- Gary Owens as Blue Falcon
- Laurel Page as Mrs. Creepley and Taffy Dare
- Marilyn Schreffler as Brenda Chance and Daisy Mayhem
- John Stephenson as Doggie Daddy, Dread Baron, Mildew Wolf and The Great Fondoo
- Vernee Watson as Dee Dee Skyes
Crossover
| Title | Number | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: "Grape Juiced" | 1 | May 30, 2004 |
Legacy
Due to the popularity of having Scooby and Captain Caveman share airtime, Hanna-Barbera and ABC toyed with the idea of bringing them together in a block of their own called Scooby-Doo/Captain Caveman Mystery Hour in 1979, but was canceled.
In 1996, Archie Comics published Hanna-Barbera Presents #6, featuring the never before seen Summer Olympics, which was clearly inspired by Laff-a-Lympics, but there was individual competitors instead of three competing teams, and they were treated as real Olympic athletes known as the Hanna-Barbera All-Stars. Dick Dastardly and Muttley took the roles of the villains.
In the 2020 film Scoob!, The Rotten robots are named after the Really Rottens, and in an arcade cabinet at the Funland Arcade, there is a Laff-a-Lympics arcade machine.
In 2022, Dread Baron makes a non-speaking cameo in the Jellystone! episode "Jailcation." The Laff-a-Lympics themselves are revived as an annual event in the 2024 episode "LAFF Games," between the towns of Jellystone and New Bedrock, headed by Huckleberry and Dick Dastardly and Muttley, respectively, finally fixing what went wrong in Laff-a-Lympics, although Mr. and Junior Creepley were left out for unknown reasons.
In popular culture
- In the Robot Chicken episode "Ban on the Fun," there was a segment called "Laff-a-Munich," parodying the Laff-a-Lympics cartoon in a Munich style with the Really Rottens killing the Yogi Yahooeys, causing the Scooby Doobies to hunt the Rottens down. The characters in order of appearance were the Dread Baron, Mumbly, Dinky and Dirty, the Great Fondoo, Daisy, Yogi, Boo Boo, Huckleberry, Daddy, Wally, Quick Draw, Snagglepuss, Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, Scrappy-Doo, Scooby, Shaggy, Captain Caveman, Hong Kong, Snooper, Blabber and Scooby-Dum.
- In the South Park episode "Crippled Summer," the Red and Blue Teams, as well as the "villain" team that cheats in the race, is very similar to the teams in Laff-a-Lympics.
- In The Cleveland Show episode "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 this, Mumbly uses a classic cartoon cheat by dumping banana peels into the river and then snickers.
- The entirety of the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Plazalympics," parodies the Laff-a-Lympics with three teams of characters competing against each other. When it officially begins, the intro itself is also parodied, with Dynamite Watkins even saying "Heavens to hilarity," and "The players are on the field, the parking lot, even," then complaining about who wrote her script.
- In the Sugar and Toys episode "The Every Damn Internet Challenge Challenge," Snagglepuss and Grimy Coyote (a parody of Wile E. Coyote) host the L-O-Lympics, featuring Hollywood screw-ups competing to be the biggest loser.
Merchandise
Home media
In 1996, First Independent Films released a VHS called Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics: Bumper Special in the UK.
Between 2010 to 2012, Warner Home Video released the first season on DVD in the United States.
Reading material
Marvel Comics published a series of comics based on the television series, which ran for 13 issues from 1978 to 1979.
Marvel also featured a story based on Laff-a-Lympics in the third issue of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.
