ERNEST P. WORRELL
Ernest P. Worrell is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Jim Varney in a series of television commercials, primarily shot on digital video (a novelty at the time), and later in a television series (Hey Vern, It's Ernest!) as well as a series of feature films. Ernest was created by the Nashville advertising agency Carden & Cherry and was used in various local television ad campaigns. The rubber-faced Ernest, almost always dressed in a denim vest and baseball cap, appeared at the door of an unseen and unheard but seemingly unwilling neighbor named Vern. Ernest's seemingly pointless conversations with Vern – which were actually a monologue due to Vern never responding – inevitably rambled around to a favorable description of the sponsor's product, followed by his signature close, "KnowhutImean?" (More from Wikipedia)
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen took "Hot Rod Lincoln" to #9 in 1972 (it was the #69 song for the entire year of 1972 in fact according to Billboard). Other covers include those by the Western swing revival band Asleep at the Wheel, Pat Travers, the punk rock band ALL, Roger Miller, Les Claypool (for the 2003 album NASCAR: Crank it Up), and Jim Varney (recorded for the soundtrack of the 1993 film The Beverly Hillbillies in which he starred as Jed Clampett). Varney is best known for his character Ernest P. Worrell and his unseen friend Vern; he made innumerable commercials in the early years of his career for the Raleigh dairy Pine State Creamery.
(December 2014)
