The Best of Ernie Kovacs
by James Harper
This two DVD set came out a couple of years ago, but it missed my radar so maybe it missed yours as well. Ernie Kovacs was an early television comedy pioneer in the late 50s and early 60s. There was a TV movie, which you may have seen, Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter, made about his fight to find his children from his first marriage after his first wife, who had not been awarded custody of the children after their divorce, kidnapped them. This set, of some of his TV shows, is relatively cheap (18 bucks on Amazon currently), and is a goldmine if you are a serious comedy fan. The set is almost five hours long, and it gives you a very good feel for Kovac's particular brand of humor. Most of the material comes from the PBS series that ran a long time ago, and hasn't seen much since then.
Watching these shows, it actually reminded me of how much I love Bob and Ray, the NY radio comedians. Many of the targets which Ernie took aim at were the same as Bob and Ray. He took potshots at the commercials, westerns, and TV shows of the day. Ernie had a really good aim. Watching these shows by Ernie Kovacs is almost like watching the early 60s Mad magazines come to life. In fact Ernie wrote for Mad Magazine from time to time. The quality of the image is variable, these are early 60s black and white TV shows, but very acceptable and doesn't distract too much.
Read the whole review at UnRatedMagazine.com
This two DVD set came out a couple of years ago, but it missed my radar so maybe it missed yours as well. Ernie Kovacs was an early television comedy pioneer in the late 50s and early 60s. There was a TV movie, which you may have seen, Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter, made about his fight to find his children from his first marriage after his first wife, who had not been awarded custody of the children after their divorce, kidnapped them. This set, of some of his TV shows, is relatively cheap (18 bucks on Amazon currently), and is a goldmine if you are a serious comedy fan. The set is almost five hours long, and it gives you a very good feel for Kovac's particular brand of humor. Most of the material comes from the PBS series that ran a long time ago, and hasn't seen much since then. Watching these shows, it actually reminded me of how much I love Bob and Ray, the NY radio comedians. Many of the targets which Ernie took aim at were the same as Bob and Ray. He took potshots at the commercials, westerns, and TV shows of the day. Ernie had a really good aim. Watching these shows by Ernie Kovacs is almost like watching the early 60s Mad magazines come to life. In fact Ernie wrote for Mad Magazine from time to time. The quality of the image is variable, these are early 60s black and white TV shows, but very acceptable and doesn't distract too much.
Read the whole review at UnRatedMagazine.com
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