[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ernest_P__Worrell_5190.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[CatchPhrase Knowhutimean]]?]]

A fictional character created by Nashville, Tennessee-based advertisers Jerry Carden and John Cherry and played by the late Jim Varney, originally for use in television commercials. Ernest was a dim-witted but good-natured Southern man who would address his "ol' buddy" Vern (from whose POV the commercials were seen) and deliver a soliloquy on the product. Ernest advertised just about everything from milk to soft drinks to amusement parks to regional stores.

The Ernest character first appeared on film in 1983 through the direct-to-video release ''Knowhutimean? Hey, Vern, It's My Family Album''. A series of five theatrical releases followed between 1987 and 1993, with four more direct-to-video films after that. Varney died in 2000, but Carden & Cherry [[TheDeadRiseToAdvertise briefly revived the character in CGI form for other commercials]].

!Ernest films:
[[index]]
* ''Film/ErnestGoesToCamp'' (1987)
* ''Film/ErnestSavesChristmas'' (1988)
* ''Film/ErnestGoesToJail'' (1990)
* ''Film/ErnestScaredStupid'' (1991)
* ''Ernest Rides Again'' (1993)
* ''Ernest Goes to School'' (1994)
* ''Slam Dunk Ernest'' (1995)
* ''Ernest Goes to Africa'' (1997)
* ''Ernest in the Army'' (1998)
[[/index]]

!Ernest TV Series:
* ''Hey Vern, It's Ernest!'' (1988) Creator/{{CBS}}, 13 episodes. Jim Varney won an Emmy for his performance on this SaturdayMorningKidsShow produced by Creator/DiCEntertainment, but it's all but completely forgotten today. Despite this relative obscurity, it will be getting a complete series DVD release in 2011.

!Tropes present:
* AudienceSurrogate: Vern.
* BreakoutCharacter: Chuck and Bobby originated as commercial characters (like Ernest), and later went on to appear as supporting fixtures on ''Hey Vern, It's Ernest!''. They were also the only characters from the show to migrate into the movies.
* ButtMonkey: Ernest in the movies, ''Vern'' in the commercials.
* CatchPhrase: Knowhutimean?
** ''Hey, Vern!''
** ''Gaddily-bob-howdy!''
* ChewingTheScenery: Ernest ''loved'' making weird facial expressions into the camera.
** Done literally in ''Jail'' where he chews on an ink pen so much the ink leaks into his mouth.
* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: Jim Varney was an acclaimed Shakespearean stage actor before creating the character of Ernest.
* CoolOldGuy: Arguably Bobby.
* CreepyDoll: When ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' came out, ''Disney Adventures'' interviewed Varney (he played Slinky Dog). When asked if he ever had nightmares about toys, he said: "Never...until they made the Ernest doll. It's eerie to have a doll that looks like you. I have one at my house...I keep him tied up."
** Admittedly, the doll is [[http://images.canadianlisted.com/nlarge/talking-ernest-p-worrell-doll_5173307.jpg not easy on the eyes]], but it did get a Music/KimyaDawson song written about it.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: In the movies. As big of a dope as he is, Ernest is surprisingly capable of being an effective - while still dopey - hero.
* DeepSouth: Where Ernest is apparently from. (Jim Varney himself was a native Kentuckian.)
* DropInCharacter: With the exception of Chuck and Bobby (who already pre-existed in commercials of their own), all of the recurring characters for the TV series fall into this trope for the Ernest universe... then, they're all PutOnABus in the movies.
* EpicFail: The hallmark of Ernest movies; the poor guy is a walking disaster. In ''Ernest Goes To School,'' all he has to do is conduct a marching band, and he winds up getting his head stuck in a tuba and setting much of the football field on fire.
* FishEyeLens: Used to make Ernest look all the more obnoxious.
* TheGhost: Vern.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** In some commercials in which Ernest hawks sweet acidophilus milk, the combination of his accent and mannerisms of speech lead many a viewer to hear him say, "Sweet ass dophilus".
** From ''Ernest Goes to Africa'', Ernest and [[GirlOfTheWeek Rene]] are held captive by a native tribe, and Ernest asks the High Priest to marry them (as part of his supposed escape plan); while the women of the tribe take Rene away, Ernest is pinned down, while the High Priest whips out a machete...
-->'''Ernest:''' What's that for?
-->'''High Priest:''' Fertility rights.
-->'''Ernest:''' (Eye widened) Uh... oh, I already had that operation... when I was really little!
-->'''High Priest:''' Think of it as a booster shot.
** From the same movie, Rene is kidnapped and forced to work in a harem for a secondary villain... Ernest sneaks into the harem, [[PaperThinDisguise in full disguise]], only to find himself the object of desire of said villain, who personally selects "her" to pleasure him; after hand-feeding "her" different pieces of fruit, he becomes aroused, and rips "her" face veil for a kiss, only to discover that this harem woman is actually Ernest.
* GirlOfTheWeek: Invoked in the movies, as most of the movies feature a leading lady, who turns out to be Ernest's current love-interest.
* GoodOlBoy: Ernest is a sympathetic version of this trope. Although he's not real bright, he's so optimistic, enthusiastic, and good-hearted that he's hard to dislike.
* HyperspaceWardrobe: A recurring feature, mostly in the films.
* IronButtmonkey: Ernest wrote the book on this. At least once a movie he endures some ridiculous accident that would kill any living human. In ''Ernest Rides Again'' he [[LampshadeHanging acknowledges this]] by saying that he's "''This'' close to being an actual cartoon."
* NegativeContinuity: Every movie finds Ernest in a new place, with a new job and new friends, and no one acknowledges the (remarkable) events of Ernest's past.
** WordOfGod is that this was intentional so that Ernest, as a character, could easily be sequeled in new movies, similar to James Bond.
* NeverSayDie: From the Billy Boogey Worrell segment from ''Hey, Vern! It's My Family Album'', Billy Boogey coaxes an elderly couple onto the Scrambler, but the lady resists, citing she and especially her husband have heart conditions. When we keep cutting back to the elderly couple, we see at one point the two of them are freaking out during the ride, another cut shows the lady using electric paddles to revive her husband, then finally we see both of them flopping around lifelessly in their seats.
* NiceHat: Ernest always wore a baseball cap in the ads.
* POVCam: The commercials (and certain sections of the TV series) were shot from Vern's POV. Sometimes this was used in the films as well.
* PutOnABus: Chuck disappears after ''Ernest Goes to Jail'', for seemingly no reason, while Bobby continues to be paired with other, somewhat similar, characters for at least two more movies.
** Vern in the movies, with very rare exceptions.
* SeriesContinuityError: As previously mentioned above with NegativeContinuity, however, there are broader examples to be illustrated:
** In the original commercials, as well as the TV series, Ernest is married - his first wife had died young, but there is constant mention of his second wife, Edna, who is often referred to, but never seen (like Vern); in the movies, however, Ernest is apparently single, and has a different crush or love interest with each movie.
** Likewise, in the original commercials and TV series, Ernest lives in a typical ranch-style home ([[RealLife Jim Varney's real home doubled for Ernest's]]), with a only a few toys and childlike items placed on shelves as set decorations; in the movies, Ernest's house seems, as pointed out by Nostalgia Critic, "On loan from Pee-wee".
** In the original commercials, Ernest was occasionally seen with a pet dog named Shorty, who often gave birth to puppies in Vern's pickup trucks (Shorty was always a different breed, and the puppies were never the same breed as Shorty); in some of the movies, Ernest's dog is male, and named Rimshot.
* ShoutOut: To ''[[TheAndyGriffithShow Andy Griffith Show]]'' character Ernest T. Bass (similar names and wardrobes).
* ShowWithinAShow: On ''Hey Vern, It's Ernest!'', several of the recurring skits involved fictional television shows from Ernest's world.
* TheSilentBob: Bobby for the original commercials, and TV series, though he usually gets at least a line or two in the movies.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: On ''Hey Vern, It's Ernest,'' Ernest, who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, ends up playing Chess... [[DoubleSubversion like it was Checkers.]]
** He also did this in a few commercials.
* TheUnseen: Vern, obviously, but also his wife (Vernette) and son (Lil' Vern); both were named in a series of Christmas commercials.
* ThoseTwoGuys: BigGuyLittleGuy Chuck and Bobby in movies with both of them.
* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Chuck (Gailard Sartain) and especially Bobby (Bill Byrge). But even Ernest fits this description, having been a camp maintenance man, a camp counselor, a taxi driver, a bank clerk, a garbage man, the King of England (for several seconds), a basketball player, a golf-ball collector at a country club, and five or six varieties of janitor.
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