From a Fark Photoshop 10 years ago...

I know Jim Varney died 12 years ago, but who is this "great comedian" you're talking about?

But seriously, he was great as the carny on The Simpsons.

I always forget he was the voice of the slinky dog.

I'll always remember him for the local TV promos where he's talking to Vern about an upcoming show.

ebell: I can't help but wonder if Vern actually knew what Ernest P. Worrell meant.

I like to think that he did.

A quick google search turned up nothing. Please tell me,or I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Interesting. My father is a graduate of the same high school. He identified Mr. Varney in one of his yearbooks.

Andrew Wiggin: ged != graduated

Shhh...Drew doesn't like it when anyone reminds him of that!

Phoenix_M: Jim Varney was a classically trained Shakespearean actor

Many great comedians have been classically trained Shakespearean actors.

In addition to Jim Varney, there's Bruno Gerusi, William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, and perhaps the most hilarious of them all, Sir Laurence Olivier. If you haven't seen his Hamlet, you haven't seen comedy. Well, one of his Hamlets, at least. The one I saw was a really camped-up production which would make great MST3K or RiffTrax fodder if they hadn't already done Hamlet.

I always say that dramatic actors make the best comic straight men. They do dead pan like nobody's business. Take Leslie Nielsen ... please! And Tommy Lee Jones and Gene Hackman (the hermit in Young Frankenstein).

Most Shakespearean actors are funny, as a matter of fact. If you saw the historical greats today you'd be rolling in the aisles. Acting styles have changed greatly since Barrymore, let alone Booth, Kemble, Garrick, etc. Over time, Lovies teaching Lovies to act produces increasing ham levels in Hamlet. You can call that the Brantgoose Law of Increasing Ham, if you like.




A classically-trained Shakespearean Actor contemplating a Joe Miller jest

Mr. Cat Poop: Varney was perfect as Uncle Jed in the Beverly Hillbillies movie.

Varney's movies were often corny, sometimes even bad, but he was a first rate rubber-faced goon and very nearly unique, perhaps a once-in-a-century performer.

His strength was in mimicry, fast banter, and comic grotesques. It was like his real face was a rubber mask with robotic machinery behind it to turn him into his various outlandish characters. Burlesque may be the lowest of the classical art forms but he was a master of the art.

I'd be interested to see him in a classical performance. Lon Chaney, Sr., might be one of the few actors of the XXth century who could match him for mugging and Lon Chaney, Sr. was a master of make-up and physical contrivances.

I don't have a lot of his movies but I have a couple of collections (his fast-paced, manic children's TV show, some odds and ends) and Ernest Scared Stupid, which is a fun Halloween comedy on the borderline between his "adult" movies and his children's entertainment. Makes a nice companion piece to Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler, etc. Throw in Young Frankenstein, The Seventh Seal, etc., and you have yourself a comic horror film festival ranging from the grotesque to the sublime. All of these movies are worth watching every year or two at Halloween if you don't care for blood, gore and gross-out movies.

He was a pro as well, putting real thought and effort into his clowning. Very Old School.

Varney movies make a good secret vice, and even when they're bad, you can always riff off of them.

Scared Stupid was my favourite. I can't believe it's been 12 years.

James Scameron: Dear subby,

i like the way you used the words "world", "lost" and "comedian" to attribute more significance to someone who was nothing but small a blip on the cultural radar of the world.

we "lost" an advertising company creation.
he wasn't getting aborted Jethros and spent shotgun shells thrown at him in two table joke joints across middle America while busting his nut "learning his trade" and "plying his well honed comedic craft "...

no, he was a guy who answered a casting call to be a brand shill for Coke.

Jeeze subby , I would hate to seer you morn the loss of a "great" cartoon character like Tony the Tiger or the Jolly Green Giant..
God forbid they lose a brand shill of such cultural significance..

I frown on these shenanigans, I really do.

In the large scheme of things, he was a nobody, we lost nothing and he was never a comedian...

subby, get a life.

/post your box office gold stories here
//know how i know he wasn't a replicant?
// yes i like those floating double comma things

You seem like an absolutely delightful person to be around.

According to his Wikipedia article, his dream role was "Hamlet".

Speak of the Devil and he shall appear ....