Ernie Kovacs (b. Ernest Edward Kovacs, January 23, 1919, Trenton, New Jersey; d. January 13, 1962, Los Angeles, California), was an American comedian whose uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his tragic, early death in an automobile accident. Such later, iconoclastic shows as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In , Monty Python's Flying Circus , The Uncle Floyd Show , and Saturday Night Live and TV hosts like David Letterman are seen as bearing Kovacs's influence.
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