Hey Vern, It's Ernest!

Hey Vern, It's Ernest!
Genre	Family-oriented Comedy
Directed by	John R. Cherry III Coke Sams
Starring	Jim Varney Gailard Sartain Bruce Arntson Mac Bennett Daniel Butler Bill Byrge Debi Derryberry Mark Goldman Denice Hicks Jackie Welch
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	John R. Cherry III Andy Heyward Robby London
Producer(s)	Coke Sams Stacy Williams
Running time	18-22 minutes (Not including commercials)
Production company(s)	Emshell Producers Group DIC Entertainment, L.P.
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 17, 1988 – December 24, 1988

Hey Vern, It's Ernest! is a short lived American children's television program. It aired on Saturday mornings on CBS for one season in 1988. Each episode involved short sketches based around a certain theme or scenario (much like You Can't Do That on Television), featuring the popular fictional character Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney), his unseen friend Vern, and various others. The series was a production of Ernest creator John Cherry's production company, The Emshell Producers' Group, in association with CBS, and was distributed by DIC Entertainment.

Cast

Actor	Role
Jim Varney	Ernest P. Worrell, Auntie Nelda, Dr. Otto, Sergeant Glory, Baby Ernest, Astor Clement
Gailard Sartain	Chuck, Lonnie Don, Matt Finish
Bruce Arntson	Existo the Magician, Mike the Clown, Bill, various singers
Mac Bennett	Mac
Daniel Butler	Willie the Homemade Robot, Earl the Barber, Ernest's Tongue
Bill Byrge	Bobby
Debi Derryberry	Skeeter, various
Mark Goldman	Eddie, various
Denice Hicks	Mrs. Clown, various singers
Jackie Welch	Mrs. Simon Simmons, Coo, various singers

Recurring sketches and characters

• Lonnie Don's School of Hollywood Sound Effects: A fictional sound effects wizard demonstrates how to make a sound from one of his movies. The procedure is always the same: he places his hand over his mouth and blows a raspberry.

• Haircut: Ernest walks into Earl the Barber's shop and asks him to make him look like a "Wall Street tycoon." However, the barber always misunderstands him, and instead fanatically styles his hair into something that rhymes with "tycoon" (e.g., a "baby baboon," a "clock set on noon," "large feet in a cartoon," a "deadbeat racoon", etc.) Whatever the hairstyle, Ernest stares thoughtfully at it in the mirror and says, "It could work."

• Sergeant Glory: Varney plays an aloof, fast-talking military Sergeant teaching a class of recruits about the subject of the day. He gives them two rules to remember, the second of which is almost always "Obey all rules." The character originated in an ad for Purity milk a short while before the character of Ernest was created. (In Hobbies, the rules were both "They seldom stand.")

• My Father the Clown: A spoof on family-friendly sitcoms which featured a professional clown, his stay-at-home wife, and two kids: an aspiring clown (Skeeter) and his straight-laced brother (Eddie).

• Existo the Magician: A clumsy magician who attempts to perform tricks that always go awry.

• Matt Finish: A self-described "photographer at large" who loves taking pictures of everything. His name is a pun on matte finish, a type of non-glossy photo paper.

• Mrs. Simon Simmons' Mind Your Manners: A parody of Emily Post, Mrs. Simon Simmons teaches the ways of proper etiquette to her TV audience.

• Ernest's Tongue: Ernest's tongue inside his mouth gets sprayed with different kinds of food.

• Mac and George: Mac and his "roommate" George, a lizard (Iguana) who can do many of the same things a person can.

• Chuck and Bobby: Chuck and his brother Bobby, who get into adventures like Ernest. The characters made appearances in the various Ernest films as well.

• Willie the Robot: A homemade robot with a bucket head and a '70s "Have a nice day" smiley face. Originally appeared in Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam.

• Baby Ernest: Ernest as a baby would talk about a situation involving his parents and end by saying "Boy, grownups sure talk funny. KnowhatImean?"

• Woody: A ventriloquist dummy who looks like Ernest.

• Dust Bunny: A dusty rabbit, named after dust bunnies, who appears to live under dusty furniture, and always gets in and out of the picture by sneezing.

• Dr. Otto: The main character from Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam would sometimes be featured in his lab creating new things. When he feels he has a great idea, he would sometimes exclaim "Viola!" ("Voila!") or "Eureka, California!" ("Eureka!")

• Bill and Coo: A country music duo who sing sad but funny songs. They only appeared in two episodes, Pets and School.

Episodes

#	Title	Airdate
1.	"Hey Vern, It's Outer Space"- Ernest tries to get rid of a strange, bomb-like device that he thinks is an alien weapon.	September 17, 1988
2.	"Hey Vern, It's Clothing" - Ernest and Vern throw a costume party for their neighbors, but Ernest can't decide what to go as.	September 24, 1988
3.	"Hey Vern, It's Scary Things" - Ernest braves the dark corners of Vern's house in search of the Boogeyman on Halloween.	October 1, 1988
4.	"Hey Vern, It's Movies" - Ernest enters a home movie contest.	October 8, 1988
5.	"Hey Vern, It's Magic" - Ernest makes Vern's dog Shorty disappear...and can't bring him back!	October 15, 1988
6.	"Hey Vern, It's Sports" - "Ernest the Furnace" makes the mistake of challenging the pro wrestler "Chainsaw Chester" to a match.	October 22, 1988
7.	"Hey Vern, It's Pets" - Ernest opens a pet day care center in Vern's house in order to save up $100.00 for his own puppy.	October 29, 1988
8.	"Hey Vern, It's Hobbies" - Ernest tries to help Vern capture the rare Orange Honey-Woney butterfly for his collection.	November 5, 1988
9.	"Hey Vern, It's Food" - Ernest enters the town bake off with his own personal recipe.	November 12, 1988
10.	"Hey Vern, It's Holidays" - Ernest sets the world record for celebrating every major holiday of the year in one day.	December 3, 1988
11.	"Hey Vern, It's School" - Ernest tries to finish his classes in school in order to earn a flashy wrist watch.	December 10, 1988
12.	"Hey Vern, It's Lost & Found" - Ernest searches for a treasure that is buried under Vern's house.	December 17, 1988
13.	"Hey Vern, It's Talent" - Ernest enters the neighborhood talent show, but what is his hidden talent?	December 24, 1988

Releases

Various episodes were released on home video—some on DIC Entertainment's own label—in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

DIC streamed several episodes for free viewing on their KEWL Cartoons website until KewlCartoons became Jaroo.

DVD Releases

Mill Creek Entertainment released a two disc DVD set containing the complete series on January 18, 2011.

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Recipient
1989	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series	Jim Varney
		Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Title Design	Joel Anderson and Barbara Laszewski

External links

• Hey Vern, It's Ernest at the Internet Movie Database
• Hey Vern, It's Ernest at TV.com