On Television

Ernest conquered the commercial break and the cineplex — and Saturday mornings, too.

Hey Vern, It’s Ernest! (1988)

Ernest headlined his own live-action children’s variety show, Hey Vern, It’s Ernest!, on CBS Saturday mornings beginning in 1988. The sketch-and-segment format was a perfect playground for Jim Varney to unleash his whole gallery of characters — not just Ernest, but Auntie Nelda, Dr. Otto, Astor Clement and more. The show won a Daytime Emmy Award.

Dr. Otto and the rest of the gang

Varney’s mad-scientist alter ego Dr. Otto headlined the 1986 feature Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam and turned up across Ernest’s screen world — proof that the man under the cap had a deep bench of personalities. See his full story »