TreasuryCast #60 – Laff-A-Lympics

TREASURYCAST #60 - LAFF-A-LYMPICS

In honor of the 2021 Summer Olympics, Rob welcomes frequent Fire and Water Network guest Shawn M. Myers to discuss THE FUNTASTIC WORLD OF HANNA-BARBERA #3: LAFF-A-LYMPICS!

Check out images from this comic by clicking here!

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Opening theme by Luke Daab: http://daabcreative.com. Closing music by Hanna-Barbera.

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Thanks for listening! Go big or go home!

35 responses to “TreasuryCast #60 – Laff-A-Lympics

  1. Laff-A-Lympics is probably the closest I could ever get to participating in an actual sporting event. I had absolutely no knowledge of this treasury before this episode, but I do vaguely remember watching a few episodes of the cartoon as a child. I was obviously too young for it, because I couldn’t quite make sense of how Scooby-Doo and Shaggy were able to interact with Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo.

    Thanks for covering this treasury and opening my eyes to just how scary a world without Thursdays could be.

  2. Thanks for another great episode, it’s always fab to hear Shawn on a show. He’s Kylie entertaining.

    I remember the Laff-O-lympics on telly when I was a kid and I still have no idea who Snooper and Blabber are. It always bothered me that it wasn’t Laff-O-Lympics, which it surely should have been.

    Paul Norris is in here? Mind blown!

    Mark Evanier is still doing great comicon jokes, in this week’s wonderful Groo Meets Tarzan special with Sergio Arigones. I’ve posted the spread on the TreasuryComics Twitter feed.

    Rob, do you really think the artists got rush rates? In the work-for-hire days, they weren’t treated wonderfully, were they?

    Yeah, the Mark Russell/Steve Pugh Flintstones book is great, but try also the regular Scooby Doo books – especially the DC team-ups by Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela – and the team-up events with DC characters a few years back.

    I see there’s a new HB Yogi Bear cartoon coming, it looks utter pants, those redesigns!

    So, the competition. I hope international readers are eligible to enter!

  3. Wow! Laff-ALympics! I had no idea this ever made it into comics form. I loved this show. All those great cartoon characters together! It’s like Hanna-Barbera’s Crisis crossovers. I used to get genuinely upset when the Really Rottens would win by cheating! “Where are the officials!?! Why is this being allowed!?! They’ve admitted their scheme right on camera! They need to enact instant replay!”
    Please consider me shamelessly pleading to be entered into the chance to win a copy of this treasury!

  4. I’m on the hunt for those cartoon previews. I definitely remember watching those! Thanks for the terrific podcast!

  5. I didn’t know this existed and it sounds like a complete hoot.

    I remember the Laff-a-lympics. I was definitely a fan of the Yogi Yahoo-ies. Those are my people. I probably identify most with Yogi and Top Cat, sarcastic clever guys who get into trouble when they truly think they are the smartest person in the room. But me in a fedora and tie in Top Cat’s alley? I’m there!

    It is a bit nutty that this is a time travel story. And I honestly thought for a second Ranger Smith was the bad guy! I swerved my car in traffic!!

    Lastly, I was just a Terrificon and a couple of dealers had Treasuries! But they were loose in a box, relatively scragged, and all had post-it notes that said ‘$60’ or more. So no purchases!

    Thanks again for a great show. Unga bunga!

    1. I forgot to mention that I am a big time sports fan, following the pros and cheering on my teams. I am a big college basketball fan.

      I know that puts me in the minority, a small overlay on the venn diagram.

  6. I’ve never watched one moment of the actual Olympics & have no interest in sports. The Laff-a-Lympics & Battle of the Network Stars are the only sporting events I’ve ever watched. Nothing compares to that Gabe Kaplan-Robert Conrad rivalry.

  7. Aw, I would have loved more talk about the particular stories but still a jam-packed episode. It’s nice seeing all the H-B characters assembled without the preachiness of Yogi’s Gang. Anyone remember that 70s atrocity? It’s where almost everyone becomes incredibly naive and gets taken by some terribly corny villain (like Dr. Bigot, Smokestack Smog, or the Gossippy Witch of the West) until one H-B character finally gets everyone to realize what’s going on. Making cartoons to appease parent groups is the WORST.

  8. Hey Rob, another great episode of TreasuryCast as always. I’m a huge fan of Mark Evanier, reading his blog daily, and I really appreciated hearing his anecdotes about the production of this edition. And a copy of this would really go well with the other Treasuries in my collection.

  9. Wow, Mark Evanier strikes again. What a great behind-the-scenes story.
    Anyway, I know you went over the background of these Marvel/Hanna Barbera treasuries when you covered the Flintstones one a few years ago, but I still find the fact of their existence a bit of a head-trip. Especially this one, which not only involves the Laff-A-Lympics but also time travel. And I agree that the section featuring the comics convention was probably drawn by Dan Spiegle.

    Since you guys asked, I read the recent, updated Flintstones by Mark Russell and found it quite good. So yes, I’d definitely recommend reading it.

  10. Nice show as usual.

    The Laff-A-Lympics were a favorite too (my relationship to sports is similar to Shawn’s – hey, if he’s trying to get a bingo card he should ask about our deals on Tuesday slots), and I’m trying to think if I had a favorite team. Probably the humano-centric gang headed by Fred Flintstone and Scooby-Doo because it had superheroes in it, though my feeling is that the funny animals usually did better. Is there somewhere I can go to track the medals across the entire series, I wonder.

  11. Fun show guys! I had no idea this comic existed! I loved the Laff-A-Lympics. It did indeed seem to be the first “All-Star” crossover of previously existing cartoon characters. I wonder if the concurrent “Battle of the Network Stars” was also an inspiration, in addition to the real Olympics. It seemed like Laff-A-Lympics was reaired by ABC over the years, maybe when the Olympics came back around? I seem to recall seeing it again on the network in the 80s.

    I’ve brought it up before, but as a kid I frequented Kings Island theme park near Cincinnati, Ohio, and they a Hanna Barbara Land, with all the rides and attractions being based on HB characters. Plus there were costumed versions of the characters walking around, so it was kind of like being in the middle of this comic, bumping into Scooby-Doo, but then turning the corner and there’s Yogi Bear. It was wonderful!

    Chris

    1. As much as I loved when Paramount bought Kings Island, and you could run into a Klingon while waiting in line for a ride, I still missed the days when I could get a high five from Scooby.

      By the way, who owns the park nowadays? I haven’t been in decades.

      One of these years, we’ll have to visit my parents when the park is open, so I can take my wife and daughter. Actually, one of my brothers just moved back to the area, and I believe his company holds their annual picnic at KI. Maybe, I can score some tickets off him? Hmm….

      1. Cedar Point owns the park now, and like at their amusement park near Cleveland, their kids’ area is now themed to the Peanuts. So not a bad trade-off by any means. My company held their picnic there in 2019 and it was the first time we had been in several years. We had a lot of fun on that trip. They still have the beloved Blueberry soft-serve Ice Cream, that at one point was known (at least unofficially) as either Huckleberry Hound or Smurf Ice Cream in the park.

        Chris

  12. You can count me among the Laff-A-Lympics fans, as well. I loved the fact that all my favorite HB characters were appearing in the same show. The crazy competitions were just icing on the cake.

    In regards to the actual Olympics, we tend to watch the first week of the Summer Games pretty religiously, because my wife, daughter, and I were/are all competitive swimmers. Once the games transition from swimming to track and field, our interest tends to wane.

    Thanks for another incredible episode.

  13. This is my first show listening and it caught my attention because of the Laff-A-Lympics Treasury Edition since it was the first Treasury I’d ever owned, and was a part of a long and happy comic collecting experience into the mid 90’s. Great podcast and I look forward to listening to many more you still offer from the past, and to future podcasts!

  14. Crisis on Earth H-B!

    Another great Treasurycast episode. Shawn was a terrific co-host coming in with a lot of knowledge and fondness for the characters.

    Being a child of the 70s, my favorite Laff-A-Lympics team was The Scooby Doobies. Not only were Scooby and Shag (the original Shag) on the team, but it included Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, Captain Caveman, Hong Kong Phooey, and Speed Buggy. As much as I love Grape Ape, those other characters were the ones I grew up with.

    Thanks for covering this issue. Speaking of which, I surely would love to add a copy of it to my pitifully small Treasury collection.

  15. Love Laff-a-Lympics as a kid, although I never knew about the comic books (let alone the Treasury) as a kid (I was alive when they came out, but perhaps *just* a touch too young to notice them). I *did*, however, have a giant coloring book that, although it wasn’t Laff-a-Lympics branded on the cover (it’s called “Funtastic Christmas World”) featured a Christmas-themed Laff-a-Lympics story. An oddity, though. Instead of the Scooby Doobies, one of the teams was the Magilla Gorillas (Magilla ponders if they have bananas at the north pole)!

    Although I confess to similar disappointment at hearing the synopsis of the Treasury and realizing that no actual Laff-a-Lympics game was being played (stone age antics notwithstanding), it did sound like a fun story. As a one-time watcher of Lois and Clark, I couldn’t help but expect someone to say “Duh!” every time the villain Tempus’s name was mentioned (seriously, Lane Davies’ Tempus was probably the best part of Lois and Clark).

    Looking forward to the next one!

  16. I’ve watched old Hanna Barbera cartoons from my dad’s DVDs, not not the Laff-A-Lympics one. I should give that a try.

    I did enjoy the old Flintstones cartoon, and asked dad to buy me issue 1 of the Flintstones DC Comic a few years ago when it came out, but I didn’t like it then because I was expecting it to be like the old cartoon. Dad thought it was brilliant though, and called it “Earth 2 Flintstones”. So I guess that book has the “Xum stamp of approval”, Mr. Myers.

    And since I like the new Jellystone cartoon, which is way different from my dad’s HB DVDs, maybe I should give the Flintstones book another go.

    Oh, and that’s a great Snagglepuss voice, Mr. Kelly.

  17. Great episode! Always great to hear Sean on a podcast, glad to see/hear him added to the rich lineup of TreasuryCast guest hosts!

    This Treasury is a total mystery to me, as I’ve never been able to find it, or any of the other Hanna-Barbera treasuries & regular sized comics published by Marvel. They are incredibly difficult to find!

    That’s quite the crazy story about the hectic publishing schedule and meeting the deadline in 3 weeks! And so sad that they never published the other treasury that was completed!

    Great episode as always, I’d love to be entered to win that spare copy.

  18. Awesome episode – great to hear Sean and Rob together! I also did not know this existed – I was never as big a fan of the comics starring the HB characters. I had a few of them when I was younger, and though I could tolerate Scooby and the gang, the rest of them left me “meh”. But this story sounded like a blast! And the behind the scenes info about Mark Evanier was really interesting, so thanks for that Rob!

  19. As soon as you mentioned the Scooby Gang walking into a comic book convention, my ears perked up like a Great Dane! I too had just read the very recently released Groo Meets Tarzan #1 comic from Dark Horse, featuring a hilarious double-page spread of Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones walking through a comic convention, as drawn by Sergio. I bought the issue primarily for that, but it’s a fun issue regardless. Highly recommended!
    I’ll also throw out my 2¢ and say that the 12-issue DC Flintstones series from 2016 is well worth a read.
    As always, great episode.
    Oh, and I’m praying you’ve not yet maneuvered your random giveaway. I’m gunning for that Treasury. 🙂

  20. Please don’t consider me a contest entrant, ’cause I think others will enjoy this treasury more than I will. I definitely enjoyed hearing about it, though. And this afternoon, when Cheerscast had not yet popped up in my feed (I had to refresh), my first thought was, “Oh no! Did someone steal Thursdays?”

  21. As a kid, I always enjoyed Laff-A-Lympics because it was like the Justice League of cartoons. Now as an adult it’s fun to watch with my kids. We all pick a team, I’m always saddled with the Really Rottens, and I always express how “this time things will be different”. They love proving me wrong.

  22. I so want to own this comic.

    I read some of the team up Hanna-Barbera / DC comics and they were mostly pretty fun. I think the best one is probably the Huckleberry Hound and Green Lantern comic.

    They made a new cartoon with pretty much every Hanna Barbera character for HBO Max called Jellystone..

  23. I had asked Mr. Evanier about whether there was any significance to the August 29th date on Twitter — on August 29th of course. I did not get a response (he has tons of followers, so I’m sure my comment was buried). But Mr. Evanier did post a note on his blog on August 29th, celebrating the birthday of Betty Lynn, an actress on The Andy Griffith Show who was also the Evaniers’ neighbor as Mark was growing up, and so became a lifelong friend.

    Could the Mastermind be secretly… Thelma Lou?!

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