NFL Films ~ The Best Of The Fabulous Football Funnies (Narrated By Steve Sabol 1994 ESPN)

  • 9 years ago
Football Follies are collections of American football bloopers performed by National Football League players. Produced by NFL Films, these collections also spoof parts of popular culture. Mel Blanc joined in the fun in 1976 with The Son of Football Follies, and returned (in one of his final efforts) in 1989 for The Super Duper Football Follies. In addition, Jonathan Winters was featured in 1987's The NFL TV Follies, intended as a parody of the relationship between football and television.

The first film using sports bloopers to satirize public relations hype nearly didn't get off the ground. The coaching staff of the Philadelphia Eagles brought the film to the Eagles training camp in 1969, but feared that the Eagle players would be angry when they saw the mistakes made by themselves and other NFL players. Instead, the film was met with roaring laughter, and was an instant hit with the players. Soon, Johnny Carson began airing those football foul-ups on The Tonight Show in 1969 as a weekly series, with a popular response from football fans. The Football Follies were officially produced by NFL Films in 1968.

In 1985, NFL Films released The Best of the Football Follies, a look back at some of the series' highlights. This special features two new segments: The story of two teams whose history was filled with follies - the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the lovable losers the New Orleans Saints, who had gone 78-203 in their history with only one season at .500 (both teams would win Super Bowls in the decades following the special); the special also included outtakes from the NFL's Best Ever Coaches (produced in 1981), focusing on head coaches (notably Dick Vermeil and Hank Stram at Super Bowl IV) who were wired for sound.

Several imitators have surfaced in response to the original Football Follies, even in sports other than football. Below is a list of sequels listed by year:
The Football Follies - 1968
Those Fantastic Football Follies - 1970
Son of Football Follies - 1976
A Festival of Funnies - 1980
The NFL Symfunny - 1980
NFL Follies Go Hollywood - 1983
The Best of the Football Follies - 1985
The All New NFL Football Follies - 1986
The NFL TV Follies - 1987
The Super Duper Football Follies - 1989
Football Follies on Parade - 1990
Phenomenal Football Follies - 1990
Foul-ups, Fumbles & Follies - 1991
Football Card Follies - 1992
100 Greatest Follies - 1994
NFL's Newest Follies - 1995
Offsides - 1995
Best of NFL follies - 1996
Talkin' Follies - 1997
The Nfl All-Star Follies - 1999
21st Century Follies - 2000
Football Comedy - 2003
Follies The Next Generation - 2005
Legends of the follies - 2007
2007 Fall follies - 2007
NFL Top 10 Follies - 2009
NFL New Year's Mis-tackular - 2009
NFL Holiday Spectacular - 2011
Titles in this list are licensed by the NFL.

Recommended