"As Andy Horton amply demonstrates, Ernie Kovacs not only played a significant role in the development of TV comedy, but he has also had a lasting impact on several generations of comedians to follow. Horton's study of Kovacs illuminates the development of TV comedy and shows how Kovacs evolved as a performer throughout not only his TV career, but also through his work in movies. This is an important subject and Horton is well qualified to tackle it. He understands comedy (its history and development) and has a sympathetic understanding of his subject. His work is thoughtful and persuasive."

—Stuart Y. McDougal, DeWitt Wallace Professor of English, Macalester College

"To my knowledge, this is the first serious (non-biographical) study of the comic vision of one of America's funniest television comedians. It fills a crucial gap in scholarship on Kovacs and television comedy in the 1950s. The book is very readable and will also be of interest to the general public. . . . Horton writes in an engaging and lucid way. This is a very entertaining book."

—John Belton, Professor of English and Film, Rutgers University

Among the pioneers of television, Ernie Kovacs was one of the most original and imaginative comedians. His zany, irreverent, and surprising humor not only entertained audiences throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, but also inspired a host of later comedies and comedians, including Monty Python, David Letterman, much of Saturday Night Live, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Captain Kangaroo, and even Sesame Street. Kovacs created laughter through wildly creative comic jokes, playful characterizations, hilarious insights, and wacky experiments. "Nothing in moderation," his motto and epitaph, sums up well Kovacs's wholehearted approach to comedy and life.

In this book, Andrew Horton offers the first sustained look at Ernie Kovacs's wide-ranging and lasting contributions to the development of TV comedy. He discusses in detail Kovacs's work in New York, which included The Ernie Kovacs Show (CBS prime time 1952–1953), The Ernie Kovacs Show (NBC daytime variety 1956–1957), Tonight (NBC late-night comedy/variety 1956-1957), and a number of quiz shows. Horton also looks at Kovacs's work in Los Angeles and in feature film comedy. He vividly describes how Kovacs and his comic co-conspirators created offbeat characters and zany situations that subverted expectations and upended the status quo. Most of all, Horton demonstrates that Kovacs grasped the possibility for creating a fresh genre of comedy through the new medium of television and exploited it to the fullest.