2 weeks Ago
Everybody Loves Bill Dance When non-angler friends and acquaintances learn I work in the fishing industry, many ask the same question, followed by a similar statement: “Have you ever met Bill Dance? I love his blooper videos.” Seems Dance’s disastrous outtakes are almost as famous as his iconic T-for-Tennessee ballcap. Although angler-mishap videos are everywhere on the Internet these days, I too still enjoy Dance’s OG “fishing fail” videos.
My favorites are his boat-battery-swing fall off the dock and the one in which his electric trolling motor breaks off in his hand and seemingly takes off with a mind of its own – the original “Ghost” trolling motor, har har. The Accidental Origins of America’s Favorite Outtakes That funny footage was foremost in my mind recently when I wondered about the origins of Dance’s infamous blooper reels – how and when did the tradition of airing them begin? The answers to those questions – God bless the Internet – were a quick Google search and Youtube play-arrow click away. Turns out I hadn’t been the only one wondering about the origins of Bill Dance Bloopers: “One of the most often asked questions we get here at Bill Dance Outdoors is, ‘How did your blooper tapes get started?’” says none other than Bill Dance himself, in the video below.
When Dick Clark and Ed McMahon Got Involved The answer involves two celebrities not from the fishing world, but from television – Dick Clark and Ed McMahon. Back in the day, it wasn’t Ryan Seacrest who hosted TV coverage of New Years Eve in Times Square, it was Dick Clark. He’d risen to fame hosting dancing teenagers and famous pop-music groups on his TV show “American Bandstand,” which ran until 2002 after launching in 1956.
And back then, the sidekick on “The Tonight Show” wasn't Steve Higgins, it was Ed McMahon, whose main duty was to laugh loudly at host Johnny Carson’s jokes from 1962 to 1992. “As luck would have it,” Dance recounts, Dick Clark and Ed McMahon had seen his fishing-fail film clips and wanted to feature some in a TV show they co-hosted throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s called “Super Bloopers and Practical Jokes.” Dance agreed and sent over the tapes.
“And apparently they went over pretty doggone good, because [Dick Clark Productions] asked for more later on,” Dance says. How the Bloopers Helped Build the Bill Dance Brand Before long, Dance and his team decided to hold onto his blooper reels and feature them again on his own show. “After a while, we said, ‘If they're so popular for ol’ Dick Clark .
.. we'll just put some together and run them ourselves” he says.
“And we did.” The very first Bill Dance bloopers – the ones later exposed to a wider audience by Dick Clark and Ed McMahon – aired on Dance's show out of necessity, rather than some genius master plan. “A long, long time ago, we were out trying to tape a show, and let's just say conditions, they were absolutely tough, and we really didn't catch enough fish to complete the show, but we had enough to get a half a show,” Dance recalls.
“Well, our editors at that time came up with a pretty good idea – they said, ‘Well, we got a half a show. Why don't we go back in the archives and look back and get some outtakes and make the second half?’ So they did.” Fishing fans – and non-fishing fans alike – have for years been enjoying those outtakes and all that followed.
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