2.6K views Apr 2009
An NBC News report profiles Jim Varney's Ernest character, the nerdy neighbor in regional ads whose oddball sales pitch turns him into a cult favorite.
0:03 Thank you very much. Ernie doesn't look like much unless you're fond of nerds, and as Douglas Keiker tells us tonight, it turns out that a lot of people are. 0:13 Oh, that this too too solid flesh would melt, 0:19 thaw, and resolve itself into a dew. 0:23 This is Jim Varney, a trained professional actor. 0:29 God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world. 0:39 Know what I mean? 0:40 This is the role Jim Varney has been playing for 4 years now in regional television commercials seen all over the country. 0:47 So you know what, Vern? That's advertising. 0:52 Ernest the jerk talking to his unseen, long-suffering next door neighbor, Vern. 0:58 Vern. 0:59 He flogs automobiles, 1:00 Machine. 1:01 dairies, local television news broadcast. 1:05 Action News 4, be there or be square. Know what I mean? 1:10 He's somebody everybody knows. You know, everybody has either lived on the same street with Ernest or they're related to him. 1:17 G- get away from it a little bit before you. 1:20 Nashville advertising man John Cherry created the character, writes the scripts, and supervises production. 1:27 We really came up with a guy who, who knew all there was to know about everything, and no matter what you did, he had a better deal. 1:33 164. Action. 1:36 The ads are filmed at Cherry's home in Nashville, as many as 25 a day, with a handheld wide-angle camera lens, which distorts Varney's elastic face. 1:46 Know what I mean? Vernon! 1:52 New clients are warned to expect viewer outrage at first, followed by laughter, then strong positive sponsor identification. 2:00 But not me, Vern. I bought my car at Tyson's Toyota. 2:04 So many times we'll get people walking in and say, I want to buy my car because of Ernest. 2:08 So what you have here is a one-man show, what is being called redneck selling power, a new cult hero, Ernest the Jerk. 2:17 Without Jim, there is no Ernest. 2:19 He's harmless, really. If there's any harm done, it's to himself, and that's... 2:24 He hasn't harmed Jim Varney, has he? 2:26 No. 2:28 No, not in the least. 2:30 Oh God, why she would hang on him as if increase of appetite had grown by what it fed on. 2:36 Lord remain var. 2:38 Douglas Kiker, NBC News, Nashville. 2:42 That's nightly news for this Friday night. I'm Tom Brokaw. Bob Jamison will be here tomorrow night. 2:46 For now, from all the- 
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