The Ernie Kovacs Award will be presented to comedian, writer, producer, and musician Fred Armisen at the Texas Theatre in Dallas at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22. The event is hosted by Dallas VideoFest’s artistic director Bart Weiss and Josh Mills, son of Edie Adams. The celebration coincides with the record release of Armisen’s newest project, 100 Sound Effects. Fans can experience both his fresh creative work and his career-spanning honor in one extraordinary weekend.
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and musician. He is best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002 until 2013.
With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen is the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series Portlandia. For his work on Portlandia, Armisen was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014.
He has also won two Peabody Awards, one in 2008 as part of the Saturday Night Live political satire cast, and one in 2011 for Portlandia. Armisen founded ThunderAnt.com, a website that features comedy sketches created with Brownstein, and is the bandleader and frequent drummer for the Late Night with Seth Meyers house band, The 8G Band. Since 2019, Armisen has co-starred and acted as writer and executive producer on the acclaimed Spanish-language series Los Espookys, which he co-created.
The Cameraman Accompanied by Ben Model
Buster Keaton’s comedy classic THE CAMERAMAN (1928) will kick off the weekend on Nov. 21, shown with live musical accompaniment by Ben Model. Renowned film accompanist Ben Model from NYC is also the archivist/historian for the Ernie Kovacs Television Collection.
THE CAMERAMAN (1928) is arguably Buster Keaton’s last great silent comedy feature, with its popularity among fans growing in recent years thanks to a new digital restoration released in 2019. The film is full of brilliantly executed physical comedy sequences and set pieces, and boasts the production values and style of MGM, where Keaton made this film. Buster plays a tintype photographer who aspires to be a newsreel cameraman to impress a charming young woman who works for MGM’s newsreel department, played by Marceline Day.
One of the standouts in THE CAMERAMAN is a scene at an empty Yankee Stadium in which Keaton pantomimes a baseball game, playing every member of both teams. In 1951, Ernie Kovacs and a small crew from the Philadelphia station, WPTZ, where he was hosting his TV program, created a 5-minute 16mm film in which Kovacs portrayed all the players and fans at a baseball game.
Ernie Kovacs Baseball Film
This short, known simply as “Baseball Film,” will also be screened due to its thematic connection to the Keaton film and in conjunction with the Ernie Kovacs Award ceremony presented on November 22 to Fred Armisen, by the Dallas VideoFest.
“The connection between the two films is a bit ironic,” says silent film historian and Kovacs archivist Ben Model, “since Keaton and Kovacs wound up working together briefly in 1962. We don’t know if Kovacs saw or remembered the Keaton film, although this comedy routine had been around for decades, originating in vaudeville by Frank ‘Slivers’ Oakley, which Keaton would certainly have seen or known of. I’m thrilled that we’ll be bringing this hilarious Buster Keaton film to Dallas, and I’m honored to get to accompany it with my score at the historic Texas Theatre.”
Screenings at Texas Theatre
Tickets for the Friday night screening are $23.50 and can be purchased online directly at the Texas Theatre website (thetexastheatre.com) or at the box office. This event is part of the Dallas VideoFest Ernie Kovacs Weekend package for $75 ($100, including a copy of Armisen’s new 100 Sound Effects record) with recipient, Fred Armisen, ceremony on November 22 at the Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Information and tickets for all events, including a VIP reception before the show on Saturday, are available at VideoFest.org/Kovacs.
ERNIE KOVACS WEEKEND PASSES & PACKAGES
$23.50 — Friday night: THE CAMERAMAN with Ben Model
$28.75 — Saturday night: Fred Armisen’s Ernie Kovacs Award presentation
$30 — Fred Armisen album 100 Sound Effects
$75 — Both nights with VIP reception
$100 — Both nights with VIP reception + Armisen album
For tickets, or more information, please visit VideoFest.org/Kovacs.
