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Ernest P. Worrell
Ernest P. Worrell is a fictional character that was portrayed by American actor Jim Varney in a series of television commercials and then later in a television series (Hey Vern, It's Ernest!) and a series of feature films.
Ernest—created by Varney with the Nashville advertising agency Carden & Cherry—was used in various local television ad campaigns. The only national products the character promoted were The Coca-Cola Company's sodas, Chex cereals, and Taco John's. The first Ernest commercial, filmed in 1980, advertised an appearance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders at Beech Bend Park, an amusement park near Bowling Green, Kentucky.[citation needed]
The format of the Ernest commercials seldom varied, most often scripted to be comedic and fast-paced. The rubber-faced, Southern-accented Ernest, almost always dressed in a denim vest and a baseball cap, appeared at the door or window of an unseen, unheard, and seemingly unwilling neighbor named Vernon, or "Vern" for short. The spots were structured in a way to allow the viewer to be "Vern", as Varney looked directly into the camera whenever Ernest addressed Vern. Ernest's seemingly pointless conversations with Vern - delivered essentially in monologue to an unresponsive listener - inevitably rambled around to a favorable description of the sponsor's product, followed by Ernest's signature close, "KnowhutImean?"
The Ernest ads were shot with a handheld film camera at the Nashville-area home of producer John Cherry III and Jerry Carden, beginning in 1980. As their number of clients increased, Varney sometimes did upwards of 25 different versions of a spot in a single day. Producer Coke Sams stated that Varney had a photographic memory and would read through the script one time then insert the various products' names on different takes. The commercials and the character had definite impact; children, especially, seemed to imitate Ernest and, "Knowwhatimean?", became a catchphrase. The ads were written by a team that included Varney, Cherry, Glenn Petach, Dan Butler, Steve Leasure, and Gil Templeton.
Carden & Cherry had begun receiving requests from major national companies to use Ernest, but were largely unable to agree to most of them because of conflicts with the exclusive rights local companies received when they had requested Ernest commercials. The company also felt that the volume of local commercials made it a more viable business model than targeting a handful of national companies that might lead the Ernest character to burn out; they estimated 4,000 commercials were produced over the course of the character's run. Carden & Cherry responded by transitioning the character to film and television. Ernest's first feature-film appearance was as one of Varney's numerous characters in the science fiction horror spoof Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam, which introduced several supporting actors who would reappear throughout the Ernest franchise, including Bill Byrge, Myke R. Mueller, and Jackie Welch.
Ernest's appearance at the Indianapolis 500 drew the attention of The Walt Disney Company. A Saturday morning sketch comedy series, Hey Vern, It's Ernest!, followed shortly thereafter, which won Varney a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance. A series of five feature-length comedies starred Ernest between 1987 and 1993, The movies were not critically well-received; however, they were produced on very low budgets and were quite profitable; after Disney dropped the series following four pictures, Cherry struck a three-picture agreement with Capital Cities to release films both for video release and for television on the ABC network.
In the films, Ernest is apparently somewhat aware of his extreme resistance to harm, as in Ernest Rides Again, he seemed barely fazed by nails bending after being fired at his skull, remarking "Good thing they hit the hard end", he also commented that he would be dead "If I wasn't this close to being an actual cartoon." To allow Varney to act out his numerous other characters, Ernest is portrayed as a master of disguise, able to pose as one of any number of relatives to get out of a predicament. He also is impervious to electrocution, though it did inflict various comical side effects as seen in Ernest Goes to Jail. The film series portrays Ernest as a working-class bachelor holding various minimum-wage and blue-collar jobs, such as a gas station attendant, janitor, sanitation worker and construction worker.
In his Ernest role, Varney appeared in dozens of Cerritos Auto Square commercials for many years on Los Angeles area television stations; he also appeared in commercials for Audubon Chrysler Center in Henderson, Kentucky, John L. Sullivan auto dealerships in the Sacramento, California area, the Pontiac, Michigan-based electronics store ABC Warehouse, and the Oklahoma City-based Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store. In the Southeast, the Ernest character was the spokesman for Purity milk. In New Mexico, he appeared in commercials for Blake's Lotaburger. In northern Virginia Ernest appeared a series of commercials for Tyson's Toyota. In South Dakota, he appeared in commercials for Lewis Drug.
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Ernest P. Worrell
Ernest P. Worrell is a fictional character that was portrayed by American actor Jim Varney in a series of television commercials and then later in a television series (Hey Vern, It's Ernest!) and a series of feature films.
Ernest—created by Varney with the Nashville advertising agency Carden & Cherry—was used in various local television ad campaigns. The only national products the character promoted were The Coca-Cola Company's sodas, Chex cereals, and Taco John's. The first Ernest commercial, filmed in 1980, advertised an appearance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders at Beech Bend Park, an amusement park near Bowling Green, Kentucky.[citation needed]
The format of the Ernest commercials seldom varied, most often scripted to be comedic and fast-paced. The rubber-faced, Southern-accented Ernest, almost always dressed in a denim vest and a baseball cap, appeared at the door or window of an unseen, unheard, and seemingly unwilling neighbor named Vernon, or "Vern" for short. The spots were structured in a way to allow the viewer to be "Vern", as Varney looked directly into the camera whenever Ernest addressed Vern. Ernest's seemingly pointless conversations with Vern - delivered essentially in monologue to an unresponsive listener - inevitably rambled around to a favorable description of the sponsor's product, followed by Ernest's signature close, "KnowhutImean?"
The Ernest ads were shot with a handheld film camera at the Nashville-area home of producer John Cherry III and Jerry Carden, beginning in 1980. As their number of clients increased, Varney sometimes did upwards of 25 different versions of a spot in a single day. Producer Coke Sams stated that Varney had a photographic memory and would read through the script one time then insert the various products' names on different takes. The commercials and the character had definite impact; children, especially, seemed to imitate Ernest and, "Knowwhatimean?", became a catchphrase. The ads were written by a team that included Varney, Cherry, Glenn Petach, Dan Butler, Steve Leasure, and Gil Templeton.
Carden & Cherry had begun receiving requests from major national companies to use Ernest, but were largely unable to agree to most of them because of conflicts with the exclusive rights local companies received when they had requested Ernest commercials. The company also felt that the volume of local commercials made it a more viable business model than targeting a handful of national companies that might lead the Ernest character to burn out; they estimated 4,000 commercials were produced over the course of the character's run. Carden & Cherry responded by transitioning the character to film and television. Ernest's first feature-film appearance was as one of Varney's numerous characters in the science fiction horror spoof Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam, which introduced several supporting actors who would reappear throughout the Ernest franchise, including Bill Byrge, Myke R. Mueller, and Jackie Welch.
Ernest's appearance at the Indianapolis 500 drew the attention of The Walt Disney Company. A Saturday morning sketch comedy series, Hey Vern, It's Ernest!, followed shortly thereafter, which won Varney a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance. A series of five feature-length comedies starred Ernest between 1987 and 1993, The movies were not critically well-received; however, they were produced on very low budgets and were quite profitable; after Disney dropped the series following four pictures, Cherry struck a three-picture agreement with Capital Cities to release films both for video release and for television on the ABC network.
In the films, Ernest is apparently somewhat aware of his extreme resistance to harm, as in Ernest Rides Again, he seemed barely fazed by nails bending after being fired at his skull, remarking "Good thing they hit the hard end", he also commented that he would be dead "If I wasn't this close to being an actual cartoon." To allow Varney to act out his numerous other characters, Ernest is portrayed as a master of disguise, able to pose as one of any number of relatives to get out of a predicament. He also is impervious to electrocution, though it did inflict various comical side effects as seen in Ernest Goes to Jail. The film series portrays Ernest as a working-class bachelor holding various minimum-wage and blue-collar jobs, such as a gas station attendant, janitor, sanitation worker and construction worker.
In his Ernest role, Varney appeared in dozens of Cerritos Auto Square commercials for many years on Los Angeles area television stations; he also appeared in commercials for Audubon Chrysler Center in Henderson, Kentucky, John L. Sullivan auto dealerships in the Sacramento, California area, the Pontiac, Michigan-based electronics store ABC Warehouse, and the Oklahoma City-based Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store. In the Southeast, the Ernest character was the spokesman for Purity milk. In New Mexico, he appeared in commercials for Blake's Lotaburger. In northern Virginia Ernest appeared a series of commercials for Tyson's Toyota. In South Dakota, he appeared in commercials for Lewis Drug.