Results: Ernie Kovacs

Before this survey. have you heard of Ernie Kovacs?

As with Chuck Jones' Looney Tunes cartoon shorts and Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy comic strips, much of Kovacs' best comedy for television derives from playing around wth space and perspective. Do you find humor that plays tricks wth the way you see things funny?

One skit Kovacs reprised over multiple TV series is "The Nairobi Trio," weherein a three apes mimed a perfomance of songwriter/harpist Robert Maxwell's "Solfeggio," Primates mimicking human activity have amused people long before and after Kovacs' career, but does his approximation of it -included here in its original -tickle your funnybone?

Another aspect of Kovacs' humor was his inclusion of his wife/singer/actor Edie Adams, as his partner in making merry. This wasn't necessarily a unique arrangement, but there don't seem to be many married couples performing comedy together as there once were. Which of these other pairs of spouses have you found funny?

One of Kovacs' innovations was, save for opening monologue and closing credits, a live half-hour TV special wherein the only audio came from music and sound effects. The main sketch from it included here, a black and white edi of an originally color shoot, contains several of the visual tricks he pioneered for the small screen. Does the prospect of visual humor bereft of dialogue, much less monologue, intrigue you (which could include the silent movies and theatrical shorts that preceded TV, too)?