Animal Crack-Ups facts for kids

Animal Crack-Ups was a fun American TV game show. It aired on the ABC network. The show first appeared in 1987. It was on during prime time for a short time. Then, it moved to Saturday mornings.

The show was produced by ABC Productions and Vin Di Bona Productions. These companies also made America's Funniest Home Videos. The host was Alan Thicke, who was also starring in the TV show Growing Pains at the time. The idea for Animal Crack-Ups came from a popular Japanese TV series called Wakuwaku Dōbutsu Land.

The show's theme song was called "Animals Are Just Like People Too." It was created by Alan and Todd Thicke, along with Gary Pickus.

How the Game Was Played

In Animal Crack-Ups, four famous people competed. The host, Alan Thicke, would show a video clip about an animal. At a certain point, the video would stop. Then, Alan Thicke would ask a question about what was happening in the clip.

The celebrities would give their answers. After that, the rest of the video clip played. This revealed the correct answer. If a celebrity gave the right answer, they earned a point.

The score was kept in a fun way. A stuffed animal was placed in front of the celebrity's podium for each point. In the first season, it was a monkey. Later seasons used a hedgehog. The celebrity with the most stuffed animals, or points, won the game. They won $2,500 for their favorite animal charity. If there was a tie, the money was split among the charities.

During the show, a special hedgehog puppet appeared. His name was "Reggie the Hedgie." Susan Blu did his voice, and Lisa Sturz performed him. Reggie would share interesting animal facts with viewers at home. He also read mail sent in by viewers.

Animal Crack-Ups Around the World

The idea for Animal Crack-Ups was so popular that other countries made their own versions! Here's a look at some of them:

Country	Name	Host(s)	TV station	Year aired
Japan (original version)	'	Various	TBS	1983–1992
Argentina	Waku Waku	Héctor Larrea	Azul Televisión/Canal 9	1999–2000
Brazil	'	Angélica Eliana Gugu Liberato Beto Marden Roberta Peporine	SBT	1988–1992 1995–1996 2009–2010
Chile	'	Javier Miranda (1995-1999) Paulina Nin (2000) Antonio Vodanovic (2001-2002)	Canal 13	1995–2002
Netherlands	'	Rob Fruithof (1988-1996) Sybrand Niessen (1996-2000) Paula Udondek (2000-2001)	KRO	1988–2001
Portugal	Arca de Noé	Fialho Gouveia Ana do Carmo Carlos Alberto Moniz	RTP2 RTP1	1990–1993 1994–1995
Spain	' Jimanji Kanana	Consuelo Barlanga Nuria Roca Rosa García Caro	TVE-1 La 1	1989–1991; 1998–2001 2003

See also

In Spanish: Waku Waku para niños