Ernest (full name 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. 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?".
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