What do you think?
I'm thinking Genius...
2007-03-09 04:06:13 · 6 answers · asked by bpgveg14 5 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television
How about the whole tilted table/tilted tv camera skit?
2007-03-09 04:33:31 · update #1
Dude...Phil Silvers...I HAD forgotten about him...watching "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" brings tears to my eyes!
2007-03-09 04:34:54 · update #2
And Ernie Kovacs made Letterman's Velcro Suit a possibility.
Kovacs started it with a Tea Bag Suit!
And Bill Wendell, who was Letterman's announcer, was ALSO the announcer for Kovacs!
...and you wonder how Letterman came up with that stuff...
2007-03-09 04:36:47 · update #3
It is easy to do a show once somebody shows you how.
It takes work to figure how to make a skit funny when you have nothing else to go by.
Johnny Carson patterned much of his show after Kovacs and you see how big a success Carson became. Every talk show out there is basically a rip off of Carson's old set up. But, no one has figured out that Carson stole many of his sketch ideas from Kovacs. He was just building on a proven product and he knew it.
In comedy, plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery, though I'm sure Carson sought Kovac's approval before he did his sketches the first time.
I think if it had not been for his personal problems, Kovacs would have done even better and lasted longer than he did. Sadly, his marital difficulties marred an otherwise promising career.
2007-03-09 08:55:12 · answer #1 · answered by LORD Z 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ernie Kovacs was a true genius, there can be no doubt about that. Nobody could ever match him in his timing, his writing, his sheer magnetic personality. I think that without him being there first I don't know if we would have a lot of the comedy we have today.
2007-03-10 10:03:05 · answer #2 · answered by lochmessy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ernie Kovacs was a genius, which is why he was the first to do certain things on TV. He was ahead of his time.
2007-03-09 04:17:28 · answer #3 · answered by Deus Luminarium 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ernie Kovacs was both of the things you mentioned.
2007-03-09 04:14:40 · answer #4 · answered by hillaryc59bc 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes, very important. Pity that, like the great Phil Silvers, he is all but forgotten. Now we have Chris Rock (yawn) and Eddie Murphy (coma)...go figure...
2007-03-09 04:12:03 · answer #5 · answered by Superdog 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Genius, for sure. Who else would have thought of "The Nairobi Trio" skit?
2007-03-09 04:11:51 · answer #6 · answered by Jolly 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋