The show is similar in content to You've Been Framed! and America's Funniest Home Videos, which was also created by Vin Di Bona. The videos frequently feature slapstick and lowbrow humour such as people tripping over or animals behaving in amusing ways. Most videos are overdubbed with a voice-over and sound effects. In a deal with various foreign producers of similar shows, some imported clips are used, in exchange for home-grown videos from Australia. Each new Australian video shown receives AU$500. At the end of each episode the audience watching at home can choose their favourite video of the night from a selection of 4, via telephone and SMS voting. The winning clip receives $10,000. At the end of each year there are semi finals and a grand final, where third place receives a home theatre package from JVC, second place receives a prize package worth around $100,000, normally two or three cars and the winner receives $250,000 in cash although in 2012, the winner received $150,000. For most of the show's life, it has been a half-hour program on Tuesday at. In 2000 the show moved to 6.30 pm Saturday, and in 2004, was extended to one hour, and now provides a fair amount of non-video content, although the majority of content still comes from videos. In 2014, the show returned to its original half-hour format and airs on Saturday at 7.00 pm. In 2005, the show received a revamp with a new set, logo and theme music, leaving behind the original look of worldwide Funniest Video Shows for a "futuristic" look with a brighter and more open set. Since then, the set has received both minor and major alterations, but still retains a bright and open appearance. In 2013, the show switched from its regular seasonal broadcast to a "summer season" of repeats to allow for broadcasting of the recently introduced The Voice Australia.
In the summer of 1999, the show celebrated its 10th birthday hosted by Kim Kilbey & featured special guests Frank Bennett to perform his single Beautiful People including the Sydney Children's Choir singing a special arrangement of the shows theme song along with Jo Beth Taylor. The show's anniversary special includes: Timeline of hosts, bloopers, fashion and interviews of former hosts Graham Kennedy, Jacki MacDonald, Lisa Patrick, Jo Beth Taylor, Catriona Rowntree. This was also the last episode before moving to the Melbourne network and the introduction of a redesigned series in 2000. On 31 December 2003, the show celebrated its 14th birthday which includes: As The Camera Rolls is wearing a pirate eye patch. Other features include the introduction of the "Taped Crusader" character, and a videotaped message from former host Catriona Rowntree which paid tribute to inaugural presenter Graham Kennedy before he died in 2005. On 4 April 2009, it celebrated its 20th birthday, some of the features of which include: Timeline of the openings and Fashion and even more. On 16 April 2011, it celebrated its 21st birthday, some of the features which includes: Timeline of the hosts and more.
Spin-offs
''Australia's Funniest Home Videos: Daily Edition''
Australia's Funniest Home Videos: Daily Edition is a spin-off to Australia's Funniest Home Videos which first aired on the Nine Network from 30 November 2009 to December 2010 and later aired on GO! from 2011. It was a brief 30-minute version of the full show that would broadcast selected clips from the original show, and was hosted by then-current host of the original series Shelley Craft. The show was later cancelled in late-2012.
Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos is a controversial one-off special spin-off to Australia's Funniest Home Videos which aired on the Nine Network on 3 September 1992. It was a highly explicit special, depicting videos of sexual situations and other sexually explicit content, and was hosted by Australian radio personalityDoug Mulray. It was planned to be a 60-minute broadcast, but due to complaints from both viewers and then-owner on the Nine Network Kerry Packer, was taken off the air part-way through the first and only episode, making it the only Australian television series to have done so. A copy of the full episode was later located at the Nine Network in 2008, after which the episode was edited to comply with new television standards and re-broadcast with commentary from Bert Newton at 8:30 PM on 28 August 2008, one week short of sixteen years after the original special, and at the same airing time.
