When Jim Varney wasn't pretending to be an idiot, he was a genius.

Yeah, I had never seen this before a few months ago. I had always avoided Ernest but it turned out to be a wide range of homage to old school screwball comedy, which I am pretty all for.

So what else was he doing besides Ernest? (fahgive me ig'nrns govnas.)

He used to do great standup. He mostly did funny impersonations and spoke as characters of his own creation.

Look up, "Hey, Vern, It's My Family Album" to see him in action. Although he plays Ernest P. Worrell, he shows off his talents as Ernest's predecessors.

There's one really awesome segment where, in an attempt to fool a marauding band of Indians, Davy Worrell has to pretend an empty fort is still full of soldiers. He impersonates actors popular for their work in Westerns, such as Walter Brennan and John Wayne, and he plays the part of many archetypal characters from the genre.