The Nairobi Trio
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The Nairobi Trio was a skit Ernie Kovacs performed several times for his shows. It combined many existing concepts and visuals in a new and novel way.
People in gorilla suits was already a comedy staple. Well known or predictable music pieces gone awry is still funny, whether Stan Freberg, Spike Jones or P. D. Q. Bach. The "slow burn" of one character annoying another resulting in eventual retaliation was not new. But the combination of all those ingredients was amazing. It was allegedly inspired by a children's animatronic music box: the three gorillas (wearing derby hats, yet) are robots playing the instruments but when one uses the other's head and hat as a drum, the conflict begins. But being robots, they're all slow and limited in action (Shields and Yarnell did similar skits) which clearly plays on the viewer's anticipation of the conclusion.
Jack Lemmon and Frank Sinatra are known to have performed in the skit. It was performed to the tune "Solfeggio". Kovacs always played the ape sitting at the keyboard of a small piano or celesta, taking the hits in the head and wearing as perplexed and hurt a look as it is possible to portray from inside a gorilla suit.
External links
- Reference to the "Nairobi Trio" (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/KovacsErnie/kovacsErnie.htm)