TV Reviews : ‘Funniest People’: Hammy Amateurs

Oh, your aching sides. Just how much wit can viewers stand in one evening?

From the womb of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” comes “America’s Funniest People,” which premiered on ABC at 8:30 p.m. Sunday. If you can play the musical saw while standing on your head and wiggling your ears, this may be your ticket to the big time.

Like its parent, which became one of the surprise hits of last season, the new series gives cash prizes for home videos. Unlike the older series, the new one has two babbling hosts, David Coulier and Arleen Sorkin. And again unlike the older series, this one is happy to have the videos staged, with people cutting up in front of a camera.

When “America’s Funniest Home Videos” works, it’s because of spontaneity, a quality lacking in its offspring. “America’s Funniest People” travels the country in search of hammy amateurs. The search has already yielded a man who on Sunday was shown balancing a bike on his face and another who balanced a chair on his face. And it got even better. There was a ventriloquist who was named one of the week’s finalists for material like this:

Man: My sister’s got beautiful eyes.

Dummy: All three of them.

If nothing else, these two have a good shot at replacing the hosts.