{{Short description|US radio and television game show (1942–1960)}} {{For|the 1946 American film|People Are Funny (film)}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2014}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = Alinkletter.jpg | caption = Sam Berman's caricature of Art Linkletter for NBC's 1947 promotional book. | camera = | runtime = 30 minutes | creator = | developer = | executive_producer = John Guedel | presenter = Art Baker (1942–43)<br>Art Linkletter (1943–60)<br>Flip Wilson (1984) | narrator = | country = | language = | network = NBC<br>CBS (Radio, 1951–54) | first_aired = {{Start date|1942|04|10}} | last_aired = {{End date|1961|04|13}} | first_aired2 = {{Start date|1984|03|24}} | last_aired2 = {{End date|1984|07|21}} | num_episodes = }} '''''People Are Funny''''' is an American radio and television game show, created by John Guedel that ran from 1942 to 1960 in which contestants were asked to carry out stunts in order to prove that "People Are Funny." Many stunts lasted weeks, months, or even years; but those who were successful received prizes. ''People Are Funny'' rarely had celebrities, focusing instead on everyday people. As a result, few recordings of the show were saved.
==Radio== The series began in 1938 when Guedel made an audition recording, and the following year, his concept of a comedy stunt show aired in Los Angeles as ''Pull Over, Neighbor'', later reworked into ''All Aboard''. Watching a bored, unreceptive audience listening to an after-dinner speaker, Guedel scribbled, "People are funny, aren't they?" on a napkin, and he had his title.
In 1942, learning of a show that was canceled, he pitched ''People Are Funny'' to NBC, and it went on the air April 10, 1942, with Art Baker as host. In a popular first-season stunt, a man was assigned to register a trained seal at the Knickerbocker Hotel while explaining that the seal was his girlfriend.<ref name="dunning">{{cite book | last=Dunning |first=John |date=1998 | title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22People+Are+Funny,+audience%22&pg=PA536 |pages=536–538 |access-date=1 May 2017 }}</ref>
On October 1, 1943, Baker was replaced by Art Linkletter, who continued for the rest of the series. For a memorable stunt of 1945, Linkletter announced that $1,000 would go to the first person to find one of 12 plastic balls floating off California. Two years later, an Ennylageban Island<ref>"People Are Funny" says Eller Island</ref> native claimed the prize.<ref name=dunning/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Linkletter|first=Art|title=People are Funny|publisher=Pocket Books|year=1960|page=30|chapter=Weather Report: "Brainstorms in the West"}}</ref>
As the popularity of the program escalated, a film musical titled ''People Are Funny'' was released in 1946, offering a fictional version of the show's origin in a tale of rival radio producers. Phillip Reed appeared as Guedel, with Linkletter and Frances Langford portraying themselves. Also in the cast were Jack Haley, Helen Walker, Ozzie Nelson and Rudy Vallée. One outstanding moment in the film is a Spanish dance number performed by Lupe Mayorga (aka Lillian Molieri) to the song "I Love My Marimba." The radio series moved to CBS from 1951 to 1954, returning to NBC from 1954 to 1960.<ref name=dunning/>
==Television== Linkletter continued as host of the show during its run on television from September 19, 1954, to April 1, 1960. In one stunt, a contestant would win a prize if he could sustain a phone conversation with a puzzled stranger (picked at random from the phone directory) for several minutes without the other party hanging up. The series received Emmy nominations in 1955 and 1956. It finished #27 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1955–1956 season,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://classictvguide.com/tvratings/1955.htm | title=TV Ratings: 1955–1956 | work=Classic TV Hits}}</ref> then finished #21 for 1956–1957<ref>{{cite web | url=https://classictvguide.com/tvratings/1956.htm | title=TV Ratings: 1956–1957 | work=Classic TV Hits}}</ref> and #29 for 1957–1958.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://classictvguide.com/tvratings/1957.htm | title=TV Ratings: 1957–1958 | work=Classic TV Hits}}</ref>
Although the series ended on April 1, 1960, the network aired encores until April 13, 1961, making ''People Are Funny'' the first game show to air repeats. On March 24, 1984, a "reconstituted" version of ''People Are Funny'' with Flip Wilson as host returned to NBC where it was telecast until July 21.
==U.S. television ratings==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- ! Season ! Episodes ! Start date ! End date ! Nielsen rank ! Nielsen rating<ref name="RATINGS1">{{cite web | url=http://www.tvratingsguide.com/2017/09/1983-84-ratings-history-networks-are.html | title=1983–84 Ratings History – The Networks Are Awash in a Bubble Bath of Soaps | first=J | last=Clawson | work=The TV Ratings Guide | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929205244/http://www.tvratingsguide.com/2017/09/1983-84-ratings-history-networks-are.html | archive-date=September 29, 2017 | access-date=November 12, 2021}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center" | 1983–84 | style="text-align:center" | | style="text-align:center" | March 24, 1984 | style="text-align:center" rowspan=6| July 24, 1984 | style="text-align:center: rowspan=8| 62 | style="text-align:center" | 14.0 |}
==Cultural legacy== * Derek Roy was the host of a 1955 British version. * The series was satirized in the 1959 Warner Bros. cartoon, ''People Are Bunny''. The Art Linkletter character was named Art Lamplighter, and the show was titled ''People Are Phony'', in which contestant Daffy Duck became one of his unfortunate victims; his goal was to help an elderly lady across the street. * ''People Are Funny'' is mentioned in the "Ladies Room" episode of the series ''Mad Men'', and later a clip from the show is seen on a TV set in the background. * ''People Are Funny'' is referenced in a cameo by Art Linkletter in the 1960s series ''Batman'' (episode 2.49, "Catwoman Goes to College"). The Dynamic Duo are rope-climbing the side of a building when Art Linkletter (as himself) opens a window and briefly converses with them.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0046635|title=People Are Funny (1954 series)}} * {{IMDb title|id=0250906|title=People Are Funny (1955 UK series)}} * {{IMDb title|id=0086777|title=People Are Funny (1984 series)}} * [http://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=OTR-Quiz&series=People%20Are%20Funny 39 episodes] on RadioEchoes
Category:NBC game shows Category:CBS game shows Category:1942 radio programme debuts Category:1960 radio programme endings Category:1940s American radio programs Category:1950s American radio programs Category:1954 American television series debuts Category:1960 American television series endings Category:1984 American television series debuts Category:1984 American television series endings Category:1940s American comedy game shows Category:1950s American comedy game shows Category:1960s American comedy game shows Category:1980s American comedy game shows Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:Television series based on radio series Category:English-language American television shows Category:CBS original programming Category:CBS Radio programs Category:NBC radio programs Category:1950s British game shows