There was a time during my teen years when I got into Ernie Kovacs big time. His shows were packaged on PBS and it was just eye-opening how he utilized the TV medium to create comic bits.
I got nostalgic for Kovacs’ comedy earlier this week when I read that Omnivore Recordings has made a deal with the Kovacs archives to release a treasure trove of audio material. The first release will be a previously unreleased comedy album recorded in 1961 (the year before his premature death) entitled Percy Dovetonsils Thpeaks.
Here is a description of the disc from the Omnivore press release:
The Percy Dovetonsils Thpeaks is a collection featuring bits from Kovacs gentle, martini drinking, lisping, fey poet who became ripe fodder for a comedy album in the late 1950s. A fan favorite on his television shows, this album was recorded for an independent record label before legal entanglements shelved the project until the 1970s. The reel had been mislabeled and was discovered recently by archivist Ben Model. After hearing Kovacs discuss the record in a CBC Canada television interview, Model was able to piece together the mislabeled tape and realized its current value.
It will be interesting to see how the very visual comedy of Kovacs translate to audio.
However, it is great that the Kovacs revival is continuing in the wake of last year’s 6-DVD The Ernie Kovacs Collection boxset that Shout! Factory released.
