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| “ | KnowhutImean? | „ |
| ~ Ernest's catchphrase |
| “ | You’re right. I never been a quitter. Why, I never knew when to quit. Just ask my 4th grade teacher. | „ |
| ~ Ernest in Ernest Scared Stupid. |
Ernest Powertools Worrell is a fictional character in a series of television commercials, and later in a television series (Hey Vern, It's Ernest!), as well as a series of feature films, played by the late Jim Varney, who also voiced Slinky Dog in Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and Jedidiah Allardyce Farnsworth in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and in the 2000s cartoon had Ernest being voiced by John C. Hudgens.
Biography[]
Ernest was created by the Nashville advertising agency Carden and Cherry and was used in various local television ad campaigns. The only national products he promoted were The Coca-Cola Company's Sprite and Mello Yello soda brands.
The first Ernest commercial, filmed in 1980, advertised an appearance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders at Beech Bend Park, an amusement park located near Bowling Green, Kentucky. The format of the commercials seldom varied. The rubber-faced Ernest, almost always dressed in a denim vest and baseball cap, appeared at the door of a unseen and unheard but seemingly-unwilling neighbor named Vern. The spots were structured in a way to allow the viewer to be "Vern", as Varney looked directly in the camera whenever Vern was addressed. Ernest's seemingly pointless conversations with Vern; which were actually a soliloquy due to Vern never responding; inevitably rambled around to a favorable description of the sponsor's product, followed by his signature close, "KnoWhutImean?".
Personality[]
While Ernest is a Southern hillbilly who's not really bright, isn't very smart, is childish, silly and extremely goofy beyond belief, but he is nevertheless a friendly, well-meaning Southerner that helps when he can and usually comes off as very optimistic, enthusiastic and good-hearted. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body and tries his best to do right by others, even if he doesn't understand how to do it, which is only helped by his endlessly positive attitude or lust for life, no matter how badly he's treated.
While he is well-intentioned, he's completely oblivious to the harm he does to both himself and others with his high spirited and bungling tendencies, and he never admits fault due to being oblivious and unknowing, even when another character would really like him to (much like Disney's Goofy).
He also has a thing for making weird facial expressions into the camera and making weird sounds such as his "Eeeww!" sound. This either charms or annoys people, Dr. Abner Melon being someone Ernest considers a friend while Melon finds him to be nothing but an annoyance.
Since he's barely grounded in reality, he has his own particular, strange brand of logic that he tends to follow on his own (whether if it helps him stay safe or cause trouble), and for as much of a dope as he is, Ernest is (surprisingly) capable of being an effective hero.
External Links[]
- Ernest P. Worrell on the Disney Wiki
- Ernest P. Worrell on the Ernest Wiki