The Ernie Kovacs Show
by
Abstract: Ernie Kovacs was a one-of-a-kind television comedian who enjoys cult status today, though he died at the height of his popularity in the early 1960s. In this essay, Ethan Thompson models how to historicize television, drawing upon articles in the press, as well as archival production materials and fan letters, to make sense of how Kovacs made comedy and how viewers made sense of him.
This essay may be found on page 241 of the printed volume.