Ernest Goes to Shreveport in Vintage Commercial

Actor Jim Varney took the world by storm in the late 80s with his character "Ernest P. Worrell".

Varney's character was a staple in southern advertising in the 80s. Ernest would address the camera during these commercials as if he was speaking with a neighbor he referred to as "Vern". All these commercials took place long before any of the Ernest movies came to be and seemed to be everywhere in the southern states.

Thankfully, that included Louisiana, and namely Shreveport. Below you can see Varney's work in an old Shreveport Chevyland commercial from 1989.

These later commercials were obviously canned for mass production, but it's neat to see such a cultural icon on a commercial involving Shreveport. The next one seems to be out of Jefferson Louisiana, and is an advertisement for the Louisiana Gas Service Company, and features the classic Ernest trope of speaking with his neighbor "Vern".

After searching, Varney has loads of these vintage commercials on Youtube. Before the success of the Ernest films, Varney recorded hundreds of these commercials, and made quite a living doing it. Jim Varney passed away in 2000, but left behind a treasure trove of content. Some even call him "the first viral video star". It's great to look back at some of these commercials, and if you live in the south, it's very likely that an Ernest commercial aired in your town.