Tag: Shout Factory

  • Kovacs and Kapusta Puppets by Larry Berthelson

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    Ben Model
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    Ernie Kovacs must have had an inkling that his viewership on the half-hour comedy-variety show he did late mornings on NBC in 1955-1956 would include children. Why else would a puppet show have been a staple of the program’s regular sketches right from the start? Kovacs had certainly been no stranger to the mid-morning time…

  • “The Best of Ernie Kovacs” – EEFMS, the Next Generation

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    Ben Model
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    My parents were Ernie Kovacs fans, and when they learned that Channel Thirteen, our PBS station, was going to air a series called “The Best of Ernie Kovacs”, they made sure I knew. My interest in visual comedy, almost an obsession, had started when I discovered Chaplin comedies on TV when I was a toddler. …

  • Live, From My Living Room, It’s…Me!

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    Ben Model
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    I think one of my favorite introductions was at a show I did at the Redford Theater in Detroit in 2017. Organist John Lauter welcomed the audience, and gave them a snapshot of my bio — mentioning I’d come in from NYC, that I played at LoC and MoMA, my DVDs, etc — then wound…