Classic Comedy: Ernie Kovacs’ Final Show’s Opening Credits

In our final look at television comedy pioneer Ernie Kovacs, here’s a piece of tape that I alluded to in my first post this week. I noted that he died in a car crash in January 1962 but a few weeks later ABC aired his final comedy special, taped a month earlier, with an advisory at the beginning that Ernie would have wanted it to be enjoyed.

Here is the beginning of that show.

And, once again, note how Kovacs was so far ahead of his time in his use of television not just a camera to transmit someone delivering one liners, but as a medium that could be used to create comedy out of the medium itself. Kovacs was the human epitome of great comedy timing. And when he died, it took many years for television comedy to get back to where he had begun to lead it.

PS: If you buy the DVD, remember that, like Jack Benny, Kovacs had no problem taking his time in getting to either a punch line or a bit of irony that was the joke’s pay-off. And some of his stuff will appear baffling. But he saw television as something more than radio with pictures, or vaudeville without the musty old theater.

You can learn more about Kovacs online at the Encyclopedia of Television. His official website is here. Kovacsland (unofficial site) is HERE. The Ernie Kovacs blog is HERE. And you can buy a collection of his best bits below: