"Hey Vern, it's me! I'm on TV!"
Hey Vern, It's Ernest! was a Saturday morning sketch comedy series featuring Ernest P. Worrell. Each episode would follow a theme. Thirteen episodes were produced and aired on CBS in 1988.On this series, Jim Varney got to play a variety of characters in addition to Ernest, many of them from older commercials and things. Among those roles include Sergent Glory (whom Varney played in commercials before he started playing Ernest), Dr. Otto (from Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Bean) and Auntie Nelda (who, in later Ernest films, would be Ernest in disguise), as well as a baby version of Ernest.
Includes examples of
- Alliterative Name: Simon Simmonds.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Chuck and Bobby, who, like Ernest, debuted in various commercials and would go on to appear in the Ernest films.
- Character Catchphrase:
- Ernest has his usual "know what I mean?" from the commercials and movies.
- Baby Ernest ends his monologues with "grown ups sure talk funny, know what I mean?"
- After Ernest gets his haircuts and sees that it's what he wanted, Earl says "silly me, I thought you wanted a (term that rhymes with "wall street tycoon")", but after asking Ernest what he thinks, Ernest says "it might work".
- Election Day Episode: In "Holidays," Ernest decides to enter the record books by celebrating all of the major holidays in one day; when it comes time to celebrate Election Day, Ernest heads off to the voting booth... or, rather, step into his shower in lieu of a voting booth.
- Gag Haircut: The haircuts Earl gives Ernest. Ernest always asks to look like a Wall Street tycoon, but Earl always mishears and gives him a very comically exaggerated haircut, which Earl freaks out at first but then decides "it could work".
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode title starts with "Hey, Vern, It's..." and then the theme of the episode.
- Literal-Minded: Baby Ernest talks about expressions adults use and acts confused, ending his monologues with "grown ups sure talk funny, know what I mean?" Justified in that he's a baby (though he does understand the literal meanings of metaphors).
- Mondegreen Gag:
- Every single episode has a sketch where Ernest went to his barber, Earl, and asked him to give him a haircut that made him look like a Wall Street tycoon. The barber always mishears the instruction as something that rhymed which was thematically related to what the episode was about ("I thought you said The Man in the Moon" or "I thought you said a wind-blown sand dune" or something).
- "Holidays" has Ernest setting out to celebrate all the holidays of the year in one day, starting with New Year:
Ernest: (singing) Should old maintenance be real hot, and never hard to find... - Never Bareheaded: While Ernest is often seen without his hat in the films, the only time he's seen without his hat is in the Earl the Barber sketches. And even then, Earl blocks the audience's view of Ernest's head before he gives his comical haircut.
- Non-Ironic Clown: One recurring sketch is "My Father the Clown". The clown family members are annoying, but harmless.
- Punny Name: Lonnie Don, a sound effects man, whose name is a play on the phrase "da tee da".
- Matt Finish, a photgrapher, is named after the photography term "matte finish".
- Shout-Out: When Earl makes Ernest's hair look like a tornado, he points out Dorothy and Toto, while Ernest says "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore".
- Sketch Comedy: With the sketches revolving around a theme of some sort.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: A recurring theme. Ernest is a constantly bothersome neighbor to Vern, who can't seem to get a moment's peace without Ernest showing up and blabbering on about his latest fixation.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In Hey Vern, It's Pets, Ernest spends the episode raising money to buy a dog. After Ernest raises the money but finds the dog he wants has been purchased, he's happy when he learns Vern had bought the dog for him and happily tells him to let him know whenever he needs something... But when it becomes clear that Vern wants the money Ernest earned - likely as compensation for buying the dog - Ernest refuses.
