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Family Feud's Funniest Bloopers

Being a contestant on a game show can be a nerve-wracking experience. The lights are on you, everyone in the audience is watching, and you have to answer some obscure trivia questions or guess the prices of grocery items. However, not every game show puts this much pressure on its contestants, and "Family Feud" has been one of the most lighthearted game shows around since its premiere in 1976.

The game today is almost identical to the one that was first played back in the '70s — two families of five compete to guess the most popular answers to surveys posed to 100 Americans. You don't have to answer trivia questions or solve word puzzles, but simply know how people think. The winning team goes on to play the Fast Money bonus round for the grand prize, where two members of the family answer five survey questions on the clock. If they can rack up 200 points between them, they win.

Of course, being on the clock can lead to some very wrong answers. "Family Feud" has always had its fair share of bloopers, usually thanks to hilariously incorrect answers that contestants have given, and current host Steve Harvey really likes to milk it for all its worth. Let's take a look back at some of the funniest bloopers in "Family Feud" history.

O Mother, Where Art Thou?

Oftentimes, the most ridiculous "Family Feud" moments come from the simplest questions, such as "Tell me another way people say mother." Obvious answers like "Mama" and "Mom/Mommy" were taken right away, but then things started to get weird for the Patterson family. Yolanda said "Nanny," which was not on the board, and Cecilia tried the very similar "Nana," which also was not.

Sheila was running out of options, so she offered a different pronunciation of "Nana," which of course led to some light roasting from Steve Harvey. Clearly unable to understand why the answer wasn't taken, Sheila instead offered an alternate pronunciation of "Mommy," emphasizing the second syllable. When Steve asked for yet another answer, she tried "Mommy" again, which led Steve to pause the game to give the audience a guide to proper pronunciation.

After all of this, Steve assumed that the fourth time would be the charm, and asked Sheila to guess again. Her answer? "Nana." Steve joked that the whole segment would be edited down on TV, and he started a singalong of Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," which the audience gladly joined in with. When Sheila still couldn't give an original answer, he gave the family their third strike. Unfortunately, the opposing family was unable to steal, which gave the Pattersons enough points to win and torment Steve for another day.

Drop Dead Fred

Long before Steve Harvey was hosting the "Feud," the show was helmed by "Hogan's Heroes" star Richard Dawson. While Dawson is best remembered these days for his insistence on kissing every female contestant, he also had some extremely memorable reactions to bad answers. Take for example Fred Baedeker's laughable attempt at the Fast Money bonus round.

Sure, giving five answers in 20 seconds could make anyone nervous, but few have ever let their nerves get the best of them like Fred. When asked to name "A time most people get up," the literal-minded Fred said "In the morning," and his reply to "A time most people go to bed" was predictably "At night." His chances were pretty much shot at this point, but Fred continued to soldier through, and he saved his most hilarious answer for last. When asked to name "Something you put in tea," he said "A tea bag," before immediately realizing his mistake and laughing it off.

Richard continued to mock the man as he read through his embarrassing answers, but the most surprising moment of all came when the board revealed that two people in the survey had actually given the answer of "Night," which meant that they must have surveyed Fred twice. Ultimately, Fred was only able to scrape together a measly 12 points.

This One's Outta Here

Joe Buck is not the most beloved sports commentator out there, but he really made himself look bad on an episode of "Celebrity Family Feud." Buck's team — made up of himself, his wife, his two daughters, and his sister — was competing against actor Oliver Hudson and his friends. The final survey question of the game, which had been posed to 100 men, was "Name a woman in your life who's smarter than you." Hudson's team got control, which meant the Bucks got to huddle up and think of an answer to steal.

When Hudson's team struck out, Steve came to Joe for his answer. The sportscaster confidently said "Best friend," to the shock and ire of every member of his family, who had all agreed on "Boss" as their answer. Predictably, Joe's answer was not on the board, and Hudson's team won the game. The cherry on the sundae came when Steve revealed the final answer on the board — "Boss." A lot of people get mad at Joe Buck when they hear him call a baseball or football game, but no one has ever been madder at the man than the four women on his team who were smarter than him.

I Mustache You a Question

When you're a contestant on a game show, it's good to read the room. For the most part, you don't want to go out of your way to mock the host, but it would seem that no one gave Chinedu the memo. When Steve Harvey posed the question of "Name something that makes a guy look sleazy," she immediately buzzed in and said "A mustache."

Regardless of one's feeling about the sleaziness of upper lip hair, it is probably best to not give this answer on "Family Feud," where the host is well-known for his mustache. The other contestants all looked embarrassed for her, and Steve Harvey looked completely defeated, as the camera slowly zoomed in on his face like it was the ending of a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode. Steve reluctantly called for the answer, and his disappointment only increased when he learned that nine people in the survey agreed with Chinedu.

Dead on Arrival

While many of the questions that lead to dumb answers are overly simple, "Family Feud" is also known to deliberately ask questions that will lead to laughs. Take for example this question — "There's a dead body in your house. Cops will blame you. What do you do with the body?" The first answer of "Put it in the fridge" was amusing enough, but that was only the beginning. One contestant said she would "Barbecue it," which led to a Jeffrey Dahmer quip from Steve Harvey, but her teammate made Steve completely lose his composure.

When asked what he would do with the dead body, Mac said, "I'm gonna prop it up in the chair, [and] dress it up to act like it's asleep." Steve Harvey's laughing fit began almost immediately, and Mac continued to describe his answer in more detail to make Steve laugh harder. Unfortunately for Mac and any fans of "Psycho," the answer wasn't on the board.

Easy as Pie

Occasionally, "Family Feud" will pose a question in its bonus round that really only has two good answers. This can lead to some very embarrassing wrong answers, and no one knows this better than Snoop Dogg. It takes 200 points to win Fast Money, and Snoop's partner had gotten him an impressive 141 points. Still, he almost blew it, thanks to one staggeringly wrong answer.

Snoop's fourth question was "Fill in the blank: Pie in the WHAT?" His partner had given the obvious answer of "Sky," but instead of saying "Face," Snoop went with "Horse." It looked like Snoop might win before Steve had to reveal his fourth answer, but the "Feud" gods smiled down on Steve and made sure Snoop only had 199 points from his first three answers. Steve took his good old time mocking the answer, chalking it up to Snoop's reputation as a stoner and promising that it would be on YouTube. "Horse," of course, scored zero points, but thankfully, Snoop's final answer crossed the 200-point threshold, and he won $25,000 for his charity.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Steve Harvey has become legendary for his inability to go on after hearing a bad answer, but he was not the first. Back on the original "Family Feud," Richard Dawson once heard an answer so hilarious that he had to stop the clock — twice.

The Trejo family had won the game, and Cathy was set to play Fast Money. Richard asked, "During what month of pregnancy does a woman begin to look pregnant?" and without thinking it over, Cathy said "September." The host and contestant immediately recognized the mistake and broke into laughing fits, and the clock had to be paused until Richard could go on. Her one bad answer aside, Cathy did manage to rack up 92 points, and Richard brought out her partner, Dee Dee, to try and get the remaining 108.

Cue laughing fit number two. Richard tried for a solid minute to get the first question out, but he ended up laughing so hard that he literally fell on the floor. Dee Dee eventually quipped that she was "dying to hear" the question, which only made his laughing fit worse. He did finally start the clock, but when Dee Dee answered "A noisy bird" with "A cuckoo," Richard had to stop the clock yet again. We only hope that the person running the clock got a raise that day.

Ray of Hope

Richard Dawson hosted the show from 1976 until its initial finale in 1985. However, the show was revived just a few years later, with stand-up comedian Ray Combs as host. Ray was an absolute pro at keeping his composure, and his poker face led to some of the show's most hilarious moments.

It is ultra-rare that the first contestant will win Fast Money by themselves, but it has been known to happen, and Ray Combs always had fun when it did. Instead of bringing the second contestant out and telling them they'd already won, he would clear the board, tell the second contestant they needed a ridiculous number of points to win, and make up some absurd questions on the spot. In this particular instance, the contestant gave some pretty solid answers to the joke questions. "The kind of car you would steal if you stole automobiles?" Jeffrey said "Porsche" without hesitation. He wisely passed when asked to name the ugliest woman he'd ever seen, but for ugliest man, he came up with "W.C. Fields," and he said "Rosemary's Baby" for ugliest child. Ray closed by asking his favorite game show, and after Jeffrey said "Family Feud," Ray turned him around to reveal his partner had already won. Amusingly, Ray seemed to get a better laugh out of it than anyone.

Cruisin' with Carol

If you have not seen clips of the famous Carol on "Family Feud," then you are missing out. This contestant may have seemed like a sweet grandmother, but as she said herself, "When you get to be 89, you get to say what you want." She held to her own motto throughout her episodes, and Steve Harvey clearly loved her, but her finest moment didn't even involve an answer she gave.

Carol and her opponent Jerica walked up to the podium, and Steve asked the question, "Name something you'd do if your husband made reservations for the two of you on a swingers' cruise." Jerica quickly buzzed in and said, "Invite my best friend," which strangely seemed to get her husband very excited, as he began dancing. Of course, Carol got the last laugh, as she said "I told you I couldn't go," which led her opponent to reach across the podium and high-five her. Even better, Carol got the #1 answer of "I wouldn't go," and won control for her team.

'Well, Well, Well, Reverend'

When Steve Harvey found out that a young contestant named Dylan was studying to be a pastor, he made sure to bring it up multiple times during the game. Dylan struggled to come up with the name of a flower that could also be the name of a stripper, inexplicably answering "Sunflower," but he got his revenge on a later question.

Dylan and his opponent stepped up to the podium, and Steve asked, "Name something a husband might get his wife for her birthday that would be grounds for divorce." The other contestant buzzed in with a wrong answer, but Dylan was prepared, confidently answering "Another woman." This led to one of Steve Harvey's greatest reactions, as he leaned into Dylan's microphone and said, "Well, well, well, reverend." Dylan's answer was on the board, but his future as a minister may have been in serious jeopardy. Steve even correctly acknowledged that "Pastor made a comeback" as he walked over to the team.

Where There's a Quill

So many bad "Family Feud" answers are just outright wrong, and we all get to laugh at how ridiculous they are. By comparison, this one wasn't all that bad, but that doesn't make it any less funny. The question was "Name something that follows the word pork," and things got off to a bad start right away. First, a contestant shouted the answer of "Loin" so excitedly that Steve Harvey couldn't understand it, assuming she had said "Lawn," but that was quickly cleared up.

On a question like this, it's understandable to run out of answers once "Chop," "And beans," and "Rind" have all been said, but there's no excuse for a bad answer when you're the third player answering, and only "Loin" and "Belly" are on the board. Regardless, Will confidently went all-in with his brilliant answer of "Cupine." At first, Steve was completely confused as to what he was saying, but when he realized that Will was getting at "Porcupine," he had to admit it was pretty amusing, even saying, "This is the greatest answer I've ever heard." We have to agree, Steve. Sadly, the survey did not.

The Family That Spells Together

It was a question that any child could answer — "Name an animal with three letters in its name." Obviously, "Dog" and "Cat" come to mind, but there are plenty of acceptable answers. However, this father-son duo couldn't come up with any of them. Bob Jr. played Fast Money first, and his response was "Frog." This answer clearly steered him off-course, because he also answered "Regular" for "A brand of gasoline," and "Snow" for "Something that comes with a summer storm."

Bob Sr. came out, needing 172 points to win. He prepped himself, ready to make the biggest comeback in "Family Feud" history. His three-lettered animal? An alligator. Richard Dawson was in utter disbelief, asking the question on everyone's mind, "You don't use narcotics, do you, Bob?" The senior Bob at least had a good sense of humor about it and said, "No, but I will." In the Bobs' defense, perhaps they were just taking the question as literally as possible. Maybe the question should have been, "Name an animal with exactly three letters in its name."

What's My Age Again?

For the most part, a game show host's job is to make everyone comfortable, keep the game moving, and play straight man or woman to the antics. However, sometimes things go so far off the rails that you just have to embrace the ridiculousness of it all. Richard Dawson was perhaps never more frustrated than on this question — "Name a question such as 'How old are you?' that you might answer with a lie."

The first contestant buzzed in before the question was done and excitedly said "18." Richard assumed that when he finished the question for the second contestant, there would be no confusion. Boy, was he wrong. When he turned to the second contestant, she said "50." The increasingly-agitated Richard turned to another member of the first family, praying that someone would finally understand the question. This contestant's answer? "39." If Richard had ripped up the card and walked off set, no one would have blamed him.

Steve Has Had It

While Richard Dawson at least tried to hold things together, Steve Harvey will gladly threaten to damage the set when he doesn't like an answer. To be fair, the writers were asking for it with the question of "If they sold a Steve Harvey costume for Halloween, what might it come with?" Once the obvious answer of "Mustache" was out of the way, it started getting interesting.

Some contestants were diplomatic with their answers, offering things like "A suit" and "A good joke," but Steve was not a fan of contestants answering "Big lips" and "Bald cap," even though both of those were on the board. With only one answer left, Steve turned to team captain Lamont, who confidently said, "A big nose." His family cheered him on, but Steve was done with this question, saying he would "tear the game board down" if it was the final answer. While this threat may have worked during the Richard Dawson era, the "Family Feud" game board has been digital for quite a while now. It didn't matter though, because the answer wasn't up there. Steve turned to Robert for an answer, expecting the worst, but he instead got the very tame answer of "Microphone." It was there, to the relief of Steve and every "Family Feud" crewmember.