Any Ernst Fans?

[minor muppetz]

This might be a coincidence, but two of the duos Bobby was part of include a name that went with another duo involving a Bob.

First, there's Chuck and Bobby, Soap had Chuck and Bob. Though a contrast is that of the Soap duo, Bob was the more talkative one while Chuck was still relatively quiet (though not near-completely-silent).

Then in Ernest Scared Stupid, Bobby is paired with a man named Tom, and there's a radio show called The Bob and Tom Show (I had been thinking that duo was Tom and Bob, I just checked online to make sure it wasn't local and found otherwise).

Ernest Goes to School has Bobby paired with Gerta. I don't know if there's any other notable Bob/Bobby and Gerta duos out there, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[minor muppetz]

Many of the same supporting actors have shown up in multiple Ernest movies, in different roles (these last few weeks I have been finding out about a few more actors who returned to later films). I feel like many of them frequently appeared in John Cherry’s works (Ernest and non-Ernest).

And many of them don’t seem to be particularly famous (most of them I did not know were in other Ernest films until I decided to look at their filmographies, in some cases I watched one that I hadn’t seen in a while and suddenly noticed a familiar name that I then looked up and found out).

Many of the theatrical Ernest films were shot in Tennessee (and then most of the made for video ones were shot in Canada). Makes me wonder they kept getting cast because they were friends with John Cherry or somebody in the crew, or if it’s more because they were based in Tennessee or Canada and therefore easily accessible to the crew (though after they started doing the films in Canada, they would have had to send for them).

 

[D'Snowth]

I think it's most likely because of the latter. For example, Bill Byrge who played Bobby is a native Tennessean from Nashville, so he it was probably easy to get him to play Bobby in those movies and such that were filmed in Tennessee; meanwhile, Linda Kash is Canadian, so likewise, it makes sense to cast someone like her in the movies filmed in Canada.

Also, for a lot of movies, it's easier on the budget to film them up in Canada rather than the US because it's cheaper, more cost-efficient, and there are less taxes involved, so as the budgets continued to dwindle in those later TV and straight-to-video movies, I suppose it was much easier to produce and film them up in Canada as opposed to in the US.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think it's most likely because of the latter. For example, Bill Byrge who played Bobby is a native Tennessean from Nashville, so he it was probably easy to get him to play Bobby in those movies and such that were filmed in Tennessee; meanwhile, Linda Kash is Canadian, so likewise, it makes sense to cast someone like her in the movies filmed in Canada.

I wonder if that’s why Bill Byrne stopped appearing in the films after Ernest Goes to School, though that one was shot in Canada (and Ernest Saves Christmas was shot in Florida).

Linda Kash’s first role in an Ernest film was Ernest Rides Again, which I thought was shot in Tennessee. If I am right, then Ernest Goes to School would be the only one she was in that was shot in Canada (since Ernest Goes to Africa was shot in Africa, I think I recently read that applied even to the non-Africa scenes).

long ago I read that the movies were made on small budgets (which made it possible for them to be really profitable), recently I’ve been hearing things that imply the Touchstone ones had big budgets that dropped significantly after (and I would believe that - maybe a bigger Disney budget would still be small).
Recently I have noticed that while many movies have had multiple posters and different home video covers from the posters and many video releases have different cover images, the Ernest films usually seem to only have one such image (of course, the DVD and Blue-Ray releases of the films - ones that aren’t multi-film releases - tend to have the exact same packaging as the VHS releases, with the only difference being technical listings, that seems to be the case with most Touchstone releases that do not have bonus features). The only exceptions I can think of being Ernest Rides Again and Slam Dunk Ernest.

 

[minor muppetz]

Been thinking about how Daniel Butler had a bit of a vocal range and looked a little different in all the Ernest films he was in. Of course he had featured roles as Eddie from Ernest Goes to Camp and Cliff (Kenny’s dad) in Ernest Scared Stupid, but he also had scenes as a waiter in Ernest Goes to Jail and an animal control officer in Ernest Saves Christmas, and I’d say I wouldn’t tell they were the same actor if I didn’t look at his filmography (I think I figured out he was both Eddie and Cliff when I first saw him as Earl the Barber on Hey Vern It’s Ernest).

Recently I watched his scene in Ernest Goes to Jail, and I briefly wondered if it was the wrong waiter. His character is credited as “waiter” but it sounds like he says his name is Vinnie (which is also the name of a prisoner in the movie - and the credits just list one Vinnie). But I noticed the restaurant staff member seen at the very beginning of the scene, the one pushing a cart, his face looks more like Butler’s face looked to me in Ernest Scared Stupid, which had me wonder if I misunderstood which waiter it was (but then why credit the actor with a role that’s not really notable but credit the one who does at least have a line?).

Listening to how his characters sound, from Willie the Robot to Eddie to Cliff to Earl…. I wonder which is his natural voice (I’m guessing Cliff’s voice is his own). I wish he had become a bigger actor.

And yesterday I was watching some Earl the Barber clips… was he trying to impersonate/sound like Floyd the Barber from The Andy Griffith Show?

 

[minor muppetz]

With the exception of Rimshot, who I think debuted in Ernest Goes to Jail, seems the only characters who could appear in multiple movies or appear in the movies after being on the series are those from John R. Cherry's commercials and stuff. We get Ernest as well as Chuck and Bobby who were all in commercials, Ernest sometimes appears as Autnie Nelda who I believe was in commercials first, Sergent Glory was in commercials before being on the saturday morning series, I think Dr. Otto and Willie the robot first appeared in the Dr. Otto film as opposed to any commercials but were part of the series. Was there some kind of rule that characters who first appeared in movies could not return (especially considering so many actors appeared in multiple films)?

I wonder if people who saw the Chuck and Bobby commercials would have picked up on them being the same characters in Ernest Saves Christmas and Ernest Goes to Jail, or if they would have just thought they were the same actors. Yeah, Bobby would have still been mostly silent, but I don't think Chuck is the motormouth he was in the commercials and Saturday morning series. And maybe it's because in the films he gets to interact with other characters besides Bobby and the viewer. In fact, I don't think Chuck is ever mentioned by name at all in Ernest Saves Christmas. Was he mentioned by name in the "me and my brother Bobby" spots? And as I think about it, the Ernest commercials usually just have Ernest, since Vern doesn't talk, did the public know he was named Ernest before he started getting his own films (well, the Ernest Film Festival video came before Ernest Goes to Camp)?

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Do we have any Ernest fans in the house? I'm talking great movies like: Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Goes to Africa, and many more.
I myself have always been an Ernest fan, and now my kids love Ernest. I think my fav movie would be Ernest Goes to Jail It just really shows Jim Varney's true talent.

I have been watching my "Hey Vern" DVD pretty regularly and I definitely recall "Ernest Saves Christmas."

 

[minor muppetz]

Last night I watched Ernest Saves Christmas for the first time in a few years. A few thoughts and questions I have:

* I used to think that Santa Claus was the one who was going to drive the reindeer from the airport, and that Ernest was concerned about Santa driving to the airport in rush hour, not the elves.

* The credits say it was shot in Florida and Tennessee. I thought the whole film was shot in Florida. I wonder what parts were done in Tennessee. One guess would be scenes at Ernest's house. Another guess - which seems more likely - would be the scenes with Chuck and Bobby. What with Bill Byrge being a resident of Tennessee (not sure about Gailard Sartain), the animal control officers were played by actors who also showed up in other Ernest films (are they plus Chuck, Bobby, and Ernest the only such actors to show up in this one?) so for just one scene it'd be easier to pick local actors than flying them in to Florida. The only actors they'd have to send to both Florida and Tennessee would be Jim Varney and maybe the actors who play the elves (or were the final scenes, with everybody in downtown Florida, actually shot in Tennessee?).

* I like how Billie Bird and Bill Byrge are credited back to back, as the two have similar first names (and they have alliterative stage names), especially in the opening credits where both names are shown at once. Still, I am a little bothered that Billie Bird is credited between Gailard Sartain and Bill Byrge, since they were playing a duo, but I guess Billie Bird was a bigger name than Bill Byrge.

* Is the scene where Santa talks about Ernest and says "he had this friend, I think his name was Vern" supposed to be funny? At least it does maintain a little continuity with the commercials (and we get a scene with Vern later). I wish I could go back in time and see this in the theater when it was new and see if the audience laughed or cheered at the mention of Vern.

* Thinking about how this is the only one to have a scene involving Vern, I wonder if they decided it didn't work in a movie or something, as none of the others do that. I feel it would have been cool to have Vern "appear" in Ernest Goes to Jail, if only to show a different dynamic of Vern "interacting" with Nash.

* Ernest gets fired for letting Santa ride without paying, and his boss complains that Ernest keeps doing that (I guess he wasn't going to charge Harmony for the ride, though he was saving her). And I just realized: He didn't charge that passenger at the beginning, the one who seemed to die on the way to the airport without Ernest noticing.

* When Ernest goes to get the reindeer, Chuck tells Ernest he has to ask a series of questions. Of course he's asking if Ernest has any proper forms that allow him to pick up the reindeer, but until recently I thought he was asking for an explanation for why the reindeer had been flying.

 

[dwayne1115]

Hey guys!
After taking a long break from the fourm I have returned! Early in this thread there was mentioned that Jim Henson was credited in Ernest goes to camp,but no one could figure out where he was. Well I've done it! In the final battle scene Ernest and the boys play a sound effects record,and if you listen very closely you can hear Jim as Kermit say "Hi Ho" it's really quick and very easy to miss.

 

[minor muppetz]

Just today I learned that after Jim Varney died, they actually considered recasting Ernest and shot a demo reel with a different actor, before deciding not to air them.

New Ernest Demo Reel - YouTube