Animal Crack-Ups

Animal Crack-Ups was a game show on ABC that first appeared in prime time from August 8 to September 12, 1987. It then moved to Saturday mornings, running from September 12, 1987, to December 30, 1989, and later returned for a brief run from June 2 to September 1, 1990. The show came from ABC Productions and Vin Di Bona Productions—the same companies behind *America's Funniest Home Videos*—and was hosted by Alan Thicke, who was then starring on *Growing Pains*. The program was adapted from a Japanese series on Tokyo Broadcasting System Television called *Wakuwaku Dōbutsu Land*.

The theme song, "Animals Are Just Like People Too," was written by Thickovit music, a group consisting of Alan Thicke, Todd Thicke, and Gary Pickus.

Four celebrities took part in each episode. Host Thicke would show a video clip about an animal, pause it, and ask a question about what had been shown. The celebrities gave their answers, then the rest of the clip played to reveal the correct response. A correct answer earned a celebrity one point, marked by placing a stuffed animal—a monkey in the first season, a hedgehog in later seasons—in front of their podium. Co-host Debbie Bartlett handed out these stuffed animals. The celebrity with the most stuffed animals won the game and received $2,500 for their favorite animal charity. In the event of a tie, the prize money was split between the charities.

During transitions to two commercial breaks, a hedgehog puppet named "Reggie the Hedgie" (voiced by Susan Blu and performed by Lisa Sturz) shared animal facts with home viewers and read letters from the audience.