Monday, August 21, 2006

The Nairobi Trio

Ernie Kovacs died the year I was born, but I was fortunate enough to see reruns of his show on PBS when I was in high school. Kovacs was a true pioneer of television of the absurd. Without his work, there would be no Laugh-In, no SNL. David Letterman lists Kovacs (as well as Steve Allen's work on the 1st Tonight Show) as his main influence.

This is one of Kovacs' most well-known bit, The Nairobi Trio. Kovacs is in the middle, his wife Edie is on piano. The monkey on the left is probably Jack Lemmon.