Ernie Kovacs at the Television Academy
Another comic genius who saw the potential of television as something more than selling soap. Kovacs' "Nairobi Trio" remains one of the all-time classic sketches ever put on television. He experimented with the new medium in the same way Picasso experimented with form, or how Dali experimented with objects, or how Pollock experimented with colors. It was more than just radio with pictures for Kovacs. More avant-garde than Caesar, Kovacs was ahead of his time, finding his real audience with the Baby Boomers and flower children of the '60s, inspiring future TV programs like "Laugh-In" and comics like Chevy Chase and the other SNL Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-Players. Tragically, Kovacs' life and career was cut short when he died in a car crash in 1962. He was cast by Stanley Kramer to appear with his wife Edie Adams in Kramer's classic comedy epic, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Adams almost dropped out of the movie, but was persuaded by Kramer and others to stay in, both as a form of therapy in dealing with her husband's untimely death, and in the spirit of "Ernie would have wanted that way." Kovacs' role was taken over by... Sid Caesar, playing Adams' husband.
Ernie Kovacs at the Television Academy
Another comic genius who saw the potential of television as something more than selling soap. Kovacs' "Nairobi Trio" remains one of the all-time classic sketches ever put on television. He experimented with the new medium in the same way Picasso experimented with form, or how Dali experimented with objects, or how Pollock experimented with colors. It was more than just radio with pictures for Kovacs. More avant-garde than Caesar, Kovacs was ahead of his time, finding his real audience with the Baby Boomers and flower children of the '60s, inspiring future TV programs like "Laugh-In" and comics like Chevy Chase and the other SNL Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-Players. Tragically, Kovacs' life and career was cut short when he died in a car crash in 1962. He was cast by Stanley Kramer to appear with his wife Edie Adams in Kramer's classic comedy epic, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Adams almost dropped out of the movie, but was persuaded by Kramer and others to stay in, both as a form of therapy in dealing with her husband's untimely death, and in the spirit of "Ernie would have wanted that way." Kovacs' role was taken over by... Sid Caesar, playing Adams' husband.