Ernie Kovacs & Early TV Comedy : Nothing in Moderation / Andrew Horton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Horton, Andrew, 1944- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kovacs, Ernie, 1919-1962.

Kovacs, Ernie.

Comedians--United States--Biography.

Comedians.

Motion picture actors and actresses--United States--Biography.

Motion picture actors and actresses.

Television comedies--United States.

Television comedies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (141 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Ernie Kovacs and Early TV Comedy

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, [2010]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Among the pioneers of television, Ernie Kovacs was one of the most original and imaginative comedians. His zany, irreverent, and surprising humor not only entertained audiences throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, but also inspired a host of later comedies and comedians, including Monty Python, David Letterman, much of Saturday Night Live, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Captain Kangaroo, and even Sesame Street. Kovacs created laughter through wildly creative comic jokes, playful characterizations, hilarious insights, and wacky experiments. "Nothing in moderation," his motto and epitaph, sums up well Kovacs's wholehearted approach to comedy and life. In this book, Andrew Horton offers the first sustained look at Ernie Kovacs's wide-ranging and lasting contributions to the development of TV comedy. He discusses in detail Kovacs's work in New York, which included The Ernie Kovacs Show (CBS prime time 1952–1953), The Ernie Kovacs Show (NBC daytime variety 1956–1957), Tonight (NBC late-night comedy/variety 1956-1957), and a number of quiz shows. Horton also looks at Kovacs's work in Los Angeles and in feature film comedy. He vividly describes how Kovacs and his comic co-conspirators created offbeat characters and zany situations that subverted expectations and upended the status quo. Most of all, Horton demonstrates that Kovacs grasped the possibility for creating a fresh genre of comedy through the new medium of television and exploited it to the fullest.

Contents:

Introduction: Nothing in moderation. An overview of the postwar era and the Ernie Kovacs shows in the context of American television comedy

The flow of the Philadelphia and New York Kovacs shows: comic surrealism, verbal and visual

Silents please! Ernie, California, and working with music, sound, and surrealistic visuals on his specials

Ernie in the movies: from comic director to supporting character actor

The Kovacs legacy: I don't know. I just do it!.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780292792975

0292792972

OCLC:

610031582