Ernest P. Worrell was a fictional character portrayed by the late American actor Jim Varney (1949–2000) in a series of television commercials and later in a television series (Hey Vern, It's Ernest!) as well as a series of motion pictures.
Ernest was created for Varney to play by Nashville advertising agency Carden and Cherry. It became Bohan Carden and Cherry in 1997. Some speculate he may have been based on the earlier character Ernest T. Bass played by Howard Morris on The Andy Griffith Show. Ernest was used in various local campaigns and was never a spokesman for a truly national product or company, save for Sprite and Mello Yello which had its slogan "Make the Mello Yello move". 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, almost always dressed in a denim vest and baseball cap, appeared at the door of a seemingly-unwilling neighbor, Vern. His full name is Ernest Powertools Worrell.
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Vern
The character 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 with Vern (which actually was less of a conversation, and more closely resembled soliloquy due to Vern never responding) inevitably rambled around to a favorable description of the sponsor's product, followed by his signature close, "KnoWhutImean?"
Character history
The Ernest ads were shot with a handheld film camera at the Nashville-area home of producer John Cherry and Jerry Carden. As their number of clients increased, Varney sometimes did upwards of 25 different versions of a spot in a single day.
The commercials and the character created a sensation; children especially seemed to imitate Ernest and "KnoWhutImean?" 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 were quite profitable.
One film, Ernest the Pirate, was in post-production at the time of Varney's death in 2000, which marked an unexpected end of the character. The film was never released.[citation needed]
In 2005, Ernest P. Worrell commercials hit the air again; however, this time, Ernest was a CGI cartoon created by an animation company called face2face. Ernest was voiced by John Hudgens, an advertising and broadcast producer from Little Rock, Arkansas. The spots are produced by Ernest originators Carden & Cherry. Hudgens also played an Ernest type character in a live action ad for Glass Masters, an auto glass repair shop in Nashville. This is believed to be the only time he played the character on film, though his live action Ernest demos for Carden & Cherry are widely circulated on websites like YouTube.
Varney in his Ernest role also appeared in dozens of Cerritos Auto Square commercials for many years on Los Angeles area television stations, along with commercials for Audubon Chrysler Center in Henderson, Kentucky. In the southeast the Ernest character was the spokeman for Purity milk. 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; he also commented that he would be dead "If I wasn't this close to being an actual cartoon".
Family
Ernest has a large family made up of people with similar traits to him, all of whom were portrayed by Jim Varney. Most of them had their appearance in either Knowhutimean? Hey Vern, It's My Family Album or "Your World as I See It".
The Worrell Family:
- Ace Worrell: A fighter pilot who served in the army. His relation to Ernest is unknown.
- Astor Clementh: A wealthy college professor, who likes to brag about his rich status and unusual intelligence. He is Ernest's uncle.
- Bunny: The slow-witted and confused sister of Ernest who runs her own quirky hair salon called "Bunny's Beauty World."
- Lloyd Worrell: Ernest's bitter great-grandfather who is known as the meanest man ever to have lived.
- Auntie Nelda: Ernest's dramatic great aunt who is not on good terms with her son Izzy. She often acts like the death of her husband Morris was a blessing. She tries to get men to notice her by acting innocent all the time.
- Coy Worrell: Ernest's idiotic hillbilly brother who runs a sleazy autoparts store in the heart of the south. He often chases women and is quite proud of his tattoo collection on his body.
- Billy: Ernest's zany cousin who works on a ride at an amusement park called The Scrambler. He is talented in music and dancing, but still manages to scare people with his crass and unstable personality.
- Davy Worrell: Ernest's light-headed great, great- uncle who was a war veteran in the late 1800s. He helped his army win a battle against a Native American tribe. He is now deceased.
- Retch Worrell: Ernest's late great, great-grandfather who was popular with women. He was a heavy gambler and all of his ladies described him as incredibly stupid.
- Pa Worrell: Ernest's elderly father, a World War II veteran who has a politically incorrect view of the world. His first name is never revealed. He's an avid fisherman and is friends with an African savage named Quee-Kway.
- Rev. Phineas Worrel: An early ancestor of Ernest, possibly his great, great, great grandfather and apparently the first Worrell to step foot in America. He helped banish an evil troll named Trantor, who had followed the Reverend and his people to the "new world" which resulted in a wide spread hunt for the beast. Once captured Rev. Worrell had Trantor imprisioned beneath the roots a twisted oak tree for which the troll cursed the entire Worrel family. This curse was passed through the generations, making every future descendant increasingly dumber than the last (which kind of explains a few things) and also stated that one with the Reverend's blood in their veins would someday release Trantor. These events had rubbed off on Ernest over one hundred years later when he accidentally released Trantor, just as the troll's curse had prophesied, and was forced into a final battle with him.(See Ernest Scared Stupid).
Ernest feature films
- Knowhutimean? Hey Vern, It's My Family Album (1983) (direct-to-video)
- The Ernest Film Festival (1986) (direct-to-video)
- Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam (1986) - character only has a cameo role
- Ernest Goes to Camp (1987)
- Hey Vern, Win $10,000...Or Just Count On Having Fun! (1987) (direct-to-video)
- Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
- Ernest Goes to Jail (1990)
- Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)
- Ernest Rides Again (1993)
- Your World As I See It (1994) (direct-to-video)
- Ernest Goes to School (1994) (direct-to-video)
- Slam Dunk Ernest (1995) (direct-to-video)
- Ernest Goes to Africa (1997) (direct-to-video)
- Ernest in the Army (1998) (direct-to-video)
Parodies
Ernest has been parodied in numerous TV shows, including Beavis & Butt-head, Family Guy and The Simpsons.
Ernest commercials on VHS tapes/DVD box sets
Most of Ernest's commercials have been seen most often on VHS tapes from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Touchstone Home Video, and Hollywood Pictures Home Video. Many are also available on DVD. Mill Creek Entertainment released Essential Ernest Collection, Maximum Ernest, and Ultimate Ernest on October 31, 2006.[citation needed]
External links
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