Ed the Sock

Ed the Sock is a fictional character who became a Canadian television personality in the 1990s, best known for his appearances hosting programming on MuchMusic and for hosting his own talk show, Ed's Night Party. Ed is a sock puppet with a perpetual scowl and a cigar sticking out of his mouth. Fans believe that he inspired the similar American character Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.

Related Topics:
Fictional character - Canadian - MuchMusic - Ed's Night Party - Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog

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The truth is that Ed was inspired by Harry the Hipster, a cigarette-smoking character from Jim Henson's 1950s program Sam and Friends which appeared regularly in almost every one of the numerous documentaries about Henson throughout the 80s. Ed was also further inspired by the hard-drinking, womanizing late-night adult Henson characters from the Land of Gorch, a recurring sketch which appeared on Saturday Night Lives first season.

Related Topics:
Jim Henson - Sam and Friends - Saturday Night Live

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Triumph, meanwhile, was based upon Milton Berle, who was often seen with a bow tie and a cigar, which were the staples of many of the Borscht Belt comedians from that era. Triumph's short joke style is also based upon Berle's own style, though the types of jokes more closely approximates the insult style of Don Rickles.

Related Topics:
Milton Berle - Borscht Belt - Don Rickles

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Ed the Sock was created by Steven Joel Kerzner, who also plays the character. Kerzner was a producer at Newton Cable, then a small cable system in Downsview, Ontario, and launched a cable show featuring the character. Kerzner was also a political aspirant, running unsuccessfully as a candidate for school trustee and for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in the 1990 Ontario election. A fiscal and foreign-policy conservative, Kerzner's political heroes include Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. He is a social liberal, however, and has argued in favour of rights for same-sex couples.

Related Topics:
Steven Joel Kerzner - Downsview, Ontario - School trustee - Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario - 1990 Ontario election - Margaret Thatcher - Ronald Reagan

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Ed has been on many MuchMusic shows but has two of his very own. The first is Fromage, a program which highlights the cheesiest videos released in the year, which Ed began hosting in the late 1990s, following former host and pioneering MuchMusic VJ Christopher Ward. Britney Spears has taken the #1 spot several times in recent years. The other is more recent and is called where Ed gives his take on the current state of pop culture and celebrities.

Related Topics:
MuchMusic - Fromage - Christopher Ward - Britney Spears

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