One of television’s greatest comedian/innovators was Ernie Kovacs, and one his most famous characters was poet Percy Dovetonsils. A Youtube commenter refers to Percy as a ‘coded gay character’ but I don’t see what’s terribly coded about it. Percy’s lisp, his mincing expressions, the general aura of louche period-gay decor and dress (to say nothing of the hilariously florid strings and choir music) should be, to our current day eyes, highly offensive. But Kovacs gives a gentle civility to the stereotype and the loose vibe on he set (the laughter you hear in the background isn’t an audience–there wasn’t any–it’s the crew) gives you an insiders feel that takes away any edge that might still exist. You are present as a comedic riff is happening live. It feels to me somehow like the end of a long taping session–Kovacs worked notoriously long hours and was always overbudget and overschedule–and this has a very 3AM/everyone-on-overtime vibe to it. (Only SCTV’s brilliant late night network show from the early 80s approximated this sort of meta-comedic viewing experience). Kovacs was always too experimental and strange to be a major star, yet had a strong enough cult following to allow him to always have some TV presence, more often than not in the form of specials. He died young (42) in a car accident after leaving Billy Wilder’s apartment on Wilshire Blvd where a party celebrating Dean Martin’s birthday had been in progress. His Corvair skidded in the rain and crashed into a street-lamp on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Beverly Glen. The site of the crash later became a lot that sold Christmas trees and every Xmas I would buy our tree from that lot in some sort of bleak tribute to Kovacs. More Ernie to come this week…