Football Follies are collections of American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 bloopers performed by National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 players. Produced by NFL Films

NFL Films

NFL Films is a Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based company devoted to producing commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries on the National Football League, as well as other unrelated major events and awards shows...

, these collections also spoof parts of popular culture. Mel Blanc

Mel Blanc

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...

 joined in the fun in 1976

1976 NFL season

The 1976 NFL season was the 57th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 28 teams with the addition of the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers...

 with The Son of Football Follies, and returned (in one of his final efforts) in 1989

1989 NFL season

The 1989 NFL season was the 70th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced his retirement...

 for The Super Duper Football Follies. In addition, Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters

-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...

 was featured in 1987

1987 NFL season

The 1987 NFL season was the 68th regular season of the National Football League. A 24-day players' strike reduced the 16-game season to 15. The games that were scheduled for the third week of the season were canceled, but the games for weeks 4–6 were played with replacement players...

's The NFL TV Follies, intended as a parody of the relationship between football and television.

The series of films currently airs on NFL Network

NFL Network

NFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...

, usually as filler programming when a live game is airing on another network (most commonly Sunday

NBC Sunday Night Football

NBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color...

 or Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...

).

The First Football Follies

The first film using sports bloopers to satirize PR hype nearly didn't get off the ground. The coaching staff of the Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 brought the film to the Eagles training camp in 1969

1969 NFL season

The 1969 NFL season was the 50th regular season of the National Football League, and the last one before the AFL-NFL Merger. To honor the NFL's 50th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season.As per the...

, 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

Johnny Carson

John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...

 began airing those football foul-ups on The Tonight Show

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....

 in 1969 as a weekly series, with a popular response from football fans. The Football Follies were officially produced by NFL Films

NFL Films

NFL Films is a Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based company devoted to producing commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries on the National Football League, as well as other unrelated major events and awards shows...

 in 1968

1968 NFL season

The 1968 NFL season was the 49th regular season of the National Football League. As per the agreement made during the 1967 realignment, the New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants switched divisions; the Saints joined the Century Division while the Giants became part of the Capitol Division.The...

.

Best of the Football Follies

In 1985

1985 NFL season

The 1985 NFL season was the 66th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XX when the Chicago Bears defeated the New England Patriots.-Major rule changes:...

, 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

1976 NFL season

The 1976 NFL season was the 57th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 28 teams with the addition of the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers...

 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

 and the lovable losers the New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....

, 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

1981 NFL season

The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals.-Major rule changes:...

), focusing on head coaches (notably Dick Vermeil

Dick Vermeil

Richard Albert "Dick" Vermeil is a former American head coach for the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles , St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs...

 and Hank Stram

Hank Stram

Henry Louis "Hank" Stram was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the American Football League's Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs and the Chiefs of the NFL. Stram won three AFL Championships and Super Bowl IV with the Chiefs...

 at Super Bowl IV

Super Bowl IV

Super Bowl IV was the fourth AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, and the second one to officially bear the name "Super Bowl"...

) who were wired for sound.

Other titles

Several imitators have surfaced in response to the original Football Follies, even in sports other than football. Below is a list of sequel

Sequel

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

s and imitators, listed by year:

• The Football Follies - 1968
• Those Fantastic Football Follies - 1970
• Son of Football Follies - 1976 - featuring voices by Mel Blanc
  Mel Blanc
  Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
  
  
• A Festival of funnies - 1980
• The NFL Symfunny - 1980
• NFL Follies go Hollywood - 1983 - features a rare onscreen appearance by John Facenda
  John Facenda
  John Thomas Ralph Augustine James Facenda was an American broadcaster and sports announcer. He was a fixture on Philadelphia radio and television for decades, and achieved national fame as a narrator for NFL Films and Football Follies...
  
  
• The Best of the Football Follies - 1985
• The All New NFL Football Follies - 1986
• The NFL TV Follies - 1987 - hosted by Jonathan Winters
  Jonathan Winters
  -Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
  
  
• 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 - hosted by Dom Irrera
  Dom Irrera
  Domenick Jack Irrera , originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a stand-up comedian. Much of his material is in the form of stories about his life, especially his childhood years and growing up in an Italian-American family, which contributes to the "natural" feel of his...
  
  
• 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 - hosted by Nick Bakay
• Legends of the follies - 2007
• 2007 Fall follies - 2007 - Includes spoof of America's Game portraying the 2007 Dolphins
  2007 Miami Dolphins season
  The 2007 Miami Dolphins season was the 38th season for the team in the National Football League and 42nd season overall. The team nearly went winless for the season, but on December 16, the third to last game of the regular season, they beat the Baltimore Ravens, giving them a final record of 1–15...
  
  
• NFL Top 10 Follies - 2009
• NFL New Year's Mis-tackular

(Note: Titles in this list are licensed by the NFL.)