In honor of Alfonso Ribeiro’s TV return, we present his finest Carlton moments
America’s Funniest Home Videos is getting a makeover. Long-standing host Tom Bergeron is gracefully bowing out (he took over for Bob Saget many moons ago) and his replacement has officially been named. Annnnnnnnnd it’s Alfonso Ribeiro! You know what that means?
Carlton is back, everyone!
Ok, so it’s not really Carlton from the magical world of Bel Air, but Ribeiro (who obvi played Carlton) is the next best thing. He’s super excited about his new venture too, and shared his internal jazz with Entertainment Weekly, providing a window into how he sees his hosting duties. “It’s really about assisting the videos not trying to overpower the videos with your comedy. But I have a different energy than Tom does and I’m very animated and energetic, and some of that will absolutely come through. I’m sure it will be dance-related in some form.” Amazing news.
In honor of this whole hosting sitch, today is a great day to revisit some of Ribeiro’s best moments as Carlton. It’s also been 19 years to the day since Fresh Prince went off the air (coincidence????). So is this what we can look forward to when Carlton Ribeiro takes over AFV? Perhaps not. But these are some of the very powerful examples of why we adored Carlton. We are so thankful you’ll be back on our small screens.
All the times he danced, even when it wasn’t his signature “Carlton” dance.
Ribeiro whipped out lots of different moves over the show’s run, and while the most iconic one (prominently featured at basically every social dance) is the Carlton, there are others, too!
Truly, there are no words to sufficiently express the amazing/life-altering dance he and Will did to, “Jump On It.”
When Carlton met Oprah
Carlton meeting Orphan is like if we all met Oprah. We’d probably freak out too and then immediately start dancing, just like he did. She’s got a magical hold like that.
Ok, one more dance: That time he dances like no one is watching
THIS is the iconic Calrton dance. First, he makes sure that no one is around. Then he grabs a candle and sings into it like a microphone. Then he lets the music move him around the living room, over furniture, dancing like there’s no tomorrow. Oh please let AFV have so much dancing.
His very emotional Trix Rabbit speech.
If everyone could just share their cereal with one another, the world would be a better place. And I implore you to revisit Carlton’s whole entire cereal speech. Epic.
One more dance break for good measure: Tap dancing on Soul Train.
I know I said no more dancing, but this one is just too good. The whole family ends up on Soul Train, and while everyone else boogies down the line, Carlton gets up on stage and tap dances. More of this, please. So much more of this.
