Ernest P. Worrell
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Ernest P. Worrell was a character portrayed by American actor Jim Varney in a series of television commercials and later in a television series and a series of motion pictures.
Ernest was created for Varney to play by Nashville advertising agency Carden & Cherry. Ernest was used in various local campaigns and was never a spokesman for a truly national product or company, save for Sprite. The first commercial, filmed in 1980, was to advertise an appearance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders at Beech Bend Park, an amusement park located near Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The format of the commercials seldom varied. The rubber-faced Ernest, dressed in a denim vest and baseball cap, appeared at the door of a seemingly-unwilling neighbor, Vern. (Vern was never seen or heard, and the spots were structured in such a way as for the viewer to fulfill that role, as Varney looked directly in the camera whenever Vern was addressed.) Ernest's seemingly pointless conversation eventually rambled around to a favorable description of the sponsor's product, followed by his signature close, "KnowwhutImean?"
The commercials and the character created a sensation; children especially seemed to imitate Ernest and "KnowwhutImean?" became a catch phrase. Such popularity was bound to be exploited, and both a television series (called Hey Vern, It's Ernest!) and a series of theatrically-released motion pictures followed. The movies were not critically well-received, however they were produced on very low budgets and hence were quite profitable. Although the Ernest character and movies were considered juvenile, all of them were absolutely clean, and child safe. Parents had little reason to worry about inappropriate material.
One film, Ernest the Pirate was in post-production at the time of Varney's death in 2000, which marked the end of the character. The film was never released.
An episode of the MTV series Beavis & Butt-head featured a parody of the "Ernest" character opening a door and falling out of the nose of the Statue of Liberty. The character was also parodied in Family Guy when Peter was trying to decide between two fictitious "Ernest" movies which were: 1. Ernest Goes to the Beach 2. Ernest Doesn't Go to the Beach. On two separate episodes of The Simpsons, films shown at the Aztec theater included Ernest Goes Somewhere Cheap and Ernest Needs a Kidney.
In 2005, Ernest P. Worrell commercials hit the air again; however, this time, Ernest was a CGI cartoon. An animation company called face2face are animating the commercials while Ernest is being voiced by John Hudgens, an advertising and broadcast producer from Little Rock, Arkansas. The spots are again produced by Ernest originators Carden & Cherry.
Ernest feature films
- Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam (1986) - character only has a cameo role
- Ernest Goes to Camp (1987)
- Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
- Ernest Goes to Jail (1990) (#1 Box Office movie it's opening week end with $17 million in ticket sales)
- Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)
- Ernest Rides Again (1993)
- Ernest Goes to School (1994)
- Slam Dunk Ernest (1995)
- Ernest Goes to Africa (1997)
- Ernest in the Army (1998)
- Ernest the Pirate (2000) - never released due to death of the lead actor before filming was complete.
See also
External links
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