Topic: Ernest ... Our fill in Stooge for the Rest of Century 20

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIewTXCAqzA
Ernest P. Warhol ... The OTHER fourth Stooge.

[Dunrobin]

Sorry, Giff, but my immediate gut-reaction to reading that was, "Dear God, nooo!! Not Ernest!"   

Maybe it's just me, but I find Jim Varney very irritating rather than funny.  The original ads featuring Ernest were mildly amusing at first, but they quickly got old, and to me the TV show and films (what little I saw of them) were just excruciating.  I'm worse than Curly when it comes to going to the dentist, but I'd rather report for a root canal than sit through an "Ernest" movie.

But to each his own.  I definitely have weirder quirks than liking Jim Varney, so I'm not going to judge.   

[Umbrella Sam]

Sorry, Giff, but my immediate gut-reaction to reading that was, "Dear God, nooo!! Not Ernest!"   

Maybe it's just me, but I find Jim Varney very irritating rather than funny.  The original ads featuring Ernest were mildly amusing at first, but they quickly got old, and to me the TV show and films (what little I saw of them) were just excruciating.  I'm worse than Curly when it comes to going to the dentist, but I'd rather report for a root canal than sit through an "Ernest" movie.

But to each his own.  I definitely have weirder quirks than liking Jim Varney, so I'm not going to judge.   

I think the problem wasn’t so much Varney himself as it was the direction he was given. After all, a lot of these were directed by the same guy that insulted Laurel and Hardy’s legacy with THE ALL NEW ADVENTURES OF LAUREL AND HARDY IN FOR LOVE OF MUMMY (shudders). I’ve seen a few of the Ernest films and while I do consider ERNEST GOES TO JAIL to be a bit of a guilty pleasure, I do have to agree that they’re a bit too over the top. Varney was the voice of Slinky Dog, who was my favorite character in the TOY STORY films (yes, I’m young enough to have grown up with those), so maybe it’s just the nostalgia from that that makes me not want to blame Varney for the problems with Ernest.

[Dunrobin]

I think the problem wasn’t so much Varney himself as it was the direction he was given.

That's a fair point.  To be honest, I know nothing about Jim Varney outside of the "Ernest" character, so let me clarify that I find "Ernest P. Warhol" to be very irritating rather than funny.  I'll reserve judgment regarding Mr. Varney. 

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Talk about guilty pleasures, I was supposed to be in Ernest Saves Christmas.  In the part where Ernest is in jail, one of the cons says something to the effect of "he is too Santa Claus".  That was supposed to be me.  I was working for Disney at the time, and that con was supposed to play jailhouse-type harmonica, which I could do.  Problem was, at the final call-back, I had been sent to Germany on a target market tour.  That's my movie career in its own extremely small nutshell.

[Umbrella Sam]

Talk about guilty pleasures, I was supposed to be in Ernest Saves Christmas.  In the part where Ernest is in jail, one of the cons says something to the effect of "he is too Santa Claus".  That was supposed to be me.  I was working for Disney at the time, and that con was supposed to play jailhouse-type harmonica, which I could do.  Problem was, at the final call-back, I had been sent to Germany on a target market tour.  That's my movie career in its own extremely small nutshell.

Sad to hear you missed out on that, Big Chief. I actually remember that scene. Santa had just taught the prisoners Christmas carols and that part was both funny and heartwarming at the same time...at least, for an Ernest movie.

[CarterD]

Oh that sucks, man. It would have been an awesome thing to talk about for you. But your story is almost more interesting because you didn't get the role in a weird way.

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

No offense taken, all. It was an alchohol induced post, you kniw, when your clarity is at its peak.
 . Jim did Ernest well, but his humor was repeated in subsequent films, making his shtick worrisome
at times. I can't remember the movie, but Jim was a supporting actor in a serious movie where he played
a prison inmate (I think) and did marginably. His role as Jed Clampett in the Beverly Hillbillies movie was
probably his best work.

(BTW, thanks to Dunrobin for getting the avatars back up!)