A blooper, or gag reel, is short clip from a film, television program or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew.
The more provocative term "choke" may be used to describe such plays instead, especially if a blooper affects the outcome of a sports competition in a major way, such as a late-game event in a close game.
[citation needed] Schaefer was by no means the first to undertake serious study and collection of broadcast errata; NBC's short-lived "behind-the-scenes" series Behind the Mike (1940–42) occasionally featured reconstructions of announcers' gaffes and flubs as part of the "Oddities in Radio" segment, and movie studios such as Warner Brothers had been producing so-called "gag reels" of outtakes (usually for employee-only viewing) since the 1930s.
The transmission of humorous mistakes, previously considered private material only for the ears of industry insiders, came to the attention of BBC Radio 2.
They commissioned a series of six fifteen-minute programmes called Can I Take That Again?,[6][7] produced by Jonathan James Moore (then Head of BBC Light Entertainment, Radio).
[citation needed] The comment made by newsreaders after making a mistake "I'm sorry I'll read that again" was the origin of the title of the radio show which ran on the BBC during the 1960s and 1970s.
The ABC Network aired Foul-Ups, Bleeps & Blunders hosted by Steve Lawrence and Don Rickles in direct competition with the Clark TV series.
Where actors need to memorize large numbers of lines or perform a series of actions in quick succession, mistakes can be expected.
One of the earliest known bloopers is attributed to 1930s radio broadcaster Harry Von Zell, who accidentally referred to then-US President Herbert Hoover as "Hoobert Heever" during an introduction.
Reportedly it was upon hearing of this mistake that Kermit Schafer was inspired to begin collecting bloopers, although the exact circumstances of the event have been debated.
[citation needed] On the Wild Bill Hickok radio series in the early 1950s, a newsflash caused an unexpected blooper when it broke into the show.
"[This quote needs a citation] In a similar vein, New York children's radio show host "Uncle Don" Carney supposedly delivered the ad-libbed line "Are we off?
As a discredited urban legend has it, the remarks went to air, eventually leading to the show's cancellation and "Uncle Don"'s disgrace; apparently, Carney himself would tell the story of his blooper, especially once it became popular after the release of Schaefer's records.
)[citation needed] A popular story among Texas broadcasting circles has it that a station manager's late change in programming from Les Brown's orchestra to a religious programme marking the somber Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur led to the staff announcer's billboard urging his listeners to "Stay tuned for the dance music of Yom Kippur's Orchestra."
In much the same vein was an ad for instant tea as came out in the end "Instant White Rose, hot or cold – Orange Tekoe Pee" and a bakery advertising itself as having "the breast bed and rolls you ever tasted; I knew that would happen one night, friends," all the while breaking out in fits of uncontrollable laughter trying to get the line right.
Afrikaans news anchor Riaan Cruywagen made several live-bloopers during his long career, most notably: where the normally very composed and highly professional Cruywagen burst into uncontrollable laughter while covering story about a record-breaking frog;[10] as well as when co-anchor Marïetta Kruger asked what the word "dysentery" meant while covering a story related to the topic, to which he responded with "spuitpoep" (it translated as "spray poo"), which resulted in Kruger going into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
The announcer was merely making a joke of the character being frozen in place for 24 hours waiting for us, rather like Elwood in the opening minutes of Blues Brothers 2000, or like toys put back in the cupboard in several children's films.
Star Trek produced many famous out-takes, which were shown to the delight of fans at gatherings over the years and have been extensively bootlegged.
In another out-take, series star William Shatner breaks character during a scene and starts complaining about the food served in the studio commissary.
People bumping into supposedly automatic doors when the backstage personnel mistimed opening them was a common accident depicted.
As an homage to its inspiration, the closing-credits blooper reel for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy actually featured one outtake from Smokey and the Bandit II.
[citation needed] Pixar also has a tradition of including blooper-like material during the end credits of such films as A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc.; the latter was at one point reissued to theatres with a major selling feature being the addition of extra "bloopers".
Since Pixar's films are painstakingly animated, making actual blunders of this sort is impossible, these scenes are in fact staged to provide additional audience enjoyment.
The makers of another animated film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, likewise also created a faux blooper reel showing the characters playing practical jokes and, in one case, bursting into laughter when one "sneezes" during a dramatic sequence.
Going back decades earlier, in 1939 Warner Bros. cartoon director Bob Clampett produced a short "blooper" film (for the studio's annual in-house gag reel) of Looney Tunes character Porky Pig smashing his thumb with a hammer and cursing.
[citation needed] The fishing television series Bill Dance Outdoors has produced four videos (two VHS and two DVD) focusing entirely on bloopers occurring during production of the show and associated commercials, often showing various mishaps such as missed lines (which sometimes take several takes to finally deliver correctly), accidents during filming (including falling into the water, being impaled with a fish hook, or equipment malfunctions), as well as practical jokes played on the host by his guests and film crew (and vice versa).
In Asia, variety shows, which is broadcast in a live-like format, would sometimes air bloopers titled NG's, which stands for no good/not good.
In introducing the singer Idina Menzel's performance of one of the Best Song nominees, actor John Travolta accidentally announced her as "Adele Dazeem".
He felt actors needed to be free to make mistakes without expecting that they would be shown to the public, and wrote a letter to Roddenberry asking him to stop.
[13] Comedian Greg Giraldo flubbed a joke about sex with koalas during a performance of his Comedy Central special Midlife Vices.