40 Fun Facts About Laff-A-Lympics

Which pink mountain lion with a love of the theatre co-hosted Laff-A-Lympics as a sports commentator?

Snagglepuss called the action like an Olympic broadcaster and was the one who kept catching the Really Rottens cheating.

Which American radio host voiced Shaggy Rogers for the Scooby Doobies in Laff-A-Lympics?

Casey Kasem had voiced Shaggy since 1969, all while counting down the hits each week on his radio show American Top 40.

Which prehistoric superhero, thawed from a block of ice, competed for the Scooby Doobies in Laff-A-Lympics?

Captain Caveman was brand new in 1977: his own mystery cartoon led off the two-hour block that also carried Laff-A-Lympics.

The final Laff-A-Lympics episode staged a rocket race and a foot race in which off-world location?

The Moon shared the last episode with Siam, where the teams raced sampans and played a three-sided soccer match.

Which crimefighting dog, a mild-mannered police janitor by day, joined the Scooby Doobies in Laff-A-Lympics?

Hong Kong Phooey took the team place first sketched for Jeannie, whose image rights belonged to another studio.

Which drum-playing great white shark turned up on Laff-A-Lympics as a guest announcer and referee?

Jabberjaw, drummer for the undersea band The Neptunes, was born of the shark craze that followed the film Jaws.

Which Stone Age pair from Bedrock turned up in several Laff-A-Lympics episodes as guest announcers and judges?

Fred and Barney were on hand from the very first episode, set in the Swiss Alps and Tokyo.

Which nephew of Scooby-Doo debuted in 1979, too late to compete for the Scooby Doobies in Laff-A-Lympics?

Scrappy-Doo was created to rescue Scooby-Doo's sinking ratings, a year after the last new Laff-A-Lympics episodes aired.

The first Laff-A-Lympics episode sent the teams to Tokyo for tennis, baseball batting and which traditional sport?

Sumo wrestling shared the Tokyo half of the opener with a one-point tennis match; the Swiss Alps half had skiing, skating and a toboggan race.

Which mythical place, paired with New Orleans in one episode, was the only unreal venue in Laff-A-Lympics?

Atlantis hosted a sea horse race and a mermaid rescue; every other venue, from the Sahara to Sherwood Forest, was a real place.

Which trenchcoated dog detective became the cheating leader of Laff-A-Lympics' Really Rottens?

Mumbly stood in for Muttley, a near-identical dog the studio co-owned with another company and could not use.

Besides the Olympic Games, which celebrity sports contest launched in 1976 did Laff-A-Lympics spoof?

Battle of the Network Stars set actors from the three big channels against each other in sporting events, ending with a tug of war.

Which American network aired Laff-A-Lympics on Saturday mornings from 1977 as part of a two-hour Scooby-Doo block?

ABC's own sports announcers wore the style of blazer that the cartoon's two hosts copy on screen.

Which Yogi Yahooeys member in Laff-A-Lympics was the team's only character who debuted in the 1970s?

Grape Ape, a 40-foot purple gorilla with the mind of a child, arrived in 1975; every teammate dated from 1962 or earlier.

Which pair of mice competed for the Yogi Yahooeys in Laff-A-Lympics beside Mr. Jinks, the cat who chases them?

Pixie and Dixie, one in a bow tie and one in a vest, spent their own cartoons outfoxing Mr. Jinks before all three became teammates.

Dinky, Dirty and Dastardly, three cowboy outlaws on Laff-A-Lympics' Really Rottens, share which surname?

Dalton brothers had menaced Hanna-Barbera sheriffs since a 1958 short, and the trio got new designs for the Really Rottens.

Unlike most Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1970s, Laff-A-Lympics was made without which sound feature?

A laugh track ran under most of the studio's 1970s comedies, which makes its absence a surprise in a show with Laff in the title.

Which talking orange race car, driven by teenage mechanic Tinker, raced for the Scooby Doobies in Laff-A-Lympics?

Speed Buggy spent his own 1973 series solving mysteries between racing competitions, and Tinker joined him on the team.

Which musician and actor voiced the Scooby Doobies' crimefighting janitor dog in Laff-A-Lympics?

Scatman Crothers took his nickname from his scat singing and later played Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

Which Batman-style superhero joined Laff-A-Lympics' Scooby Doobies with his bumbling mechanical dog Dynomutt?

Blue Falcon is secretly a millionaire art dealer, and his sidekick's gadgets misfire so often that he calls him Dog Blunder.

Brenda, Taffy and Dee Dee of Laff-A-Lympics' Scooby Doobies came from a cartoon that parodied which 1970s TV hit?

Charlie's Angels was the model for the Teen Angels, three mystery-solving girls whose cartoon began in 1977 as a segment of the Scooby block.

Which publisher launched a Laff-A-Lympics comic book in 1978 that ran for 13 issues?

Marvel Comics staffed the series with creators including Mark Evanier and Scott Shaw, and its stories later filled British hardback annuals.

Which Really Rottens villain was created for Laff-A-Lympics as a stand-in for the unavailable Dick Dastardly?

Dread Baron returned a decade later in a 1987 Yogi Bear TV movie, where he schemes to get rich from the Spruce Goose.

Which hillbilly member of Laff-A-Lympics' Really Rottens competed alongside Sooey, her eyepatch-wearing pet pig?

Daisy Mayhem was one of the villains invented for the series, and her parents turned up as guests when the games reached Arizona.

Which bungling magician of Laff-A-Lympics' Really Rottens performed with a pet known as Magic Rabbit?

The Great Fondoo was invented for the series as a stage villain whose tricks and spells hardly ever worked as intended.

Which pet of the monstrous Creepley family competed as a full member of Laff-A-Lympics' Really Rottens?

Orful Octopus was invented for the show as the Creepleys' pet, and his own parents turned up as guests in one episode.

Which Laff-A-Lympics co-host first appeared in Cattanooga Cats, forever chasing a lamb named Lambsy?

Mildew Wolf came back six years after his old show was cancelled, this time sharing the microphone as a sports commentator.

John Stephenson voiced one Laff-A-Lympics co-host by impersonating which comedian, the character's original voice?

Paul Lynde had voiced the character from 1969 while becoming famous as the center square on the game show Hollywood Squares.

Which voice actor played both Scooby-Doo and Boo-Boo, putting him on two rival Laff-A-Lympics teams at once?

Don Messick also voiced the Really Rottens' leader, giving him a star on all three teams.

Which voice actor played Yogi Bear and so many other Yogi Yahooeys that he was nearly the whole Laff-A-Lympics team?

Daws Butler voiced ten of the Yogi Yahooeys, among them Wally Gator, Augie Doggie and Mr. Jinks.

Rights held by Archie Comics kept characters from which musical cartoon off the Scooby Doobies in Laff-A-Lympics?

Josie and the Pussycats characters such as Melody and Alexandra appear on an early Scooby Doobies model sheet but never made the show.

Which Old West sheriff on Laff-A-Lympics' Yogi Yahooeys moonlights as the guitar-swinging vigilante El Kabong?

Quick Draw McGraw's El Kabong, a spoof of Zorro, swoops in on a rope and smashes a guitar over villains' heads.

Huckleberry Hound of Laff-A-Lympics' Yogi Yahooeys starred in the first animated series to win which award?

An Emmy went to The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1960; its star is a blue dog who speaks with a North Carolina accent.

How did the final Laff-A-Lympics episode end, after a run in which the Scooby Doobies had won most weeks?

A three-way tie on 80 points closed the series, after 14 wins for the Scooby Doobies, seven for the Yogi Yahooeys and two for the Really Rottens.

Which 1978 Hanna-Barbera all-star series followed Laff-A-Lympics with another contest between cartoon favourites?

Yogi's Space Race moved the all-star contest to intergalactic racing and added several new characters alongside Yogi.

Which stop-motion sketch comedy parodied Laff-A-Lympics in a segment styled on the trailer for Spielberg's Munich?

Robot Chicken ran the sketch in its episode Ban on the Fun, arming the Scooby Doobies for revenge on the Really Rottens.

Which comedian, briefly one of the Three Stooges, voiced the Scooby Doobies' genie-in-training in Laff-A-Lympics?

Joe Besser appeared in the Stooges' short films of 1957 to 1959 and had first voiced the bumbling junior genie in a 1973 cartoon.

Which junior genie joined Laff-A-Lympics' Scooby Doobies alone after his mentor Jeannie was cut over image rights?

Babu belonged to Hanna-Barbera outright, while the rights to Jeannie's likeness sat with Columbia.

Yogi Bear, leader of Laff-A-Lympics' Yogi Yahooeys, usually steals picnic baskets from campers in which fictional home?

Jellystone Park spoofs the name of a famous real national park, and it now lends its own name to a chain of real campgrounds.

Which Paris landmark did the Laff-A-Lympics teams race to climb in the episode that also staged a Tour de France?

Eiffel Tower climbing was one of several landmark scrambles; other episodes sent the teams up Big Ben, the Great Pyramid and the Statue of Liberty.