Ernie Kovacs is probably best remembered today for his supporting role in the classic James Stewart-Kim Novak comedy, Bell, Book and Candle (1958), playing the goofy author of a tell-all book on witchcraft. But in his day, the offbeat comedian was probably better know for his wacky morning show for NBC, “The Ernie Kovacs Show.”
Episodes from the program as well as his game show, “Take a Good Look,” have been packaged in a three-disc set, “The Ernie Kovacs Collection Vol. 2.” Some of the topical humor will be difficult to for 21st century audiences to decode, but the gist of his ironic performances and his “meta” allusions as a player in the game of network television strikes us a precursor to David Letterman. For much of the “Kovacs Show,” the host (seldom separated from his cigar) joshed with the studio audience, read from make-believe news clips or examined odd gifts sent him by fans in “Television Land.” It was live TV and the occasional flubs only add to the quirky, improvised quality.
The slightly disheveled Kovacs usually looked as if he had sipped a couple of martinis on the way to the studio; he often seemed to enjoy a joke no one else could quite discern. His career was cut short by his death in a car accident in 1962.
