The Nairobi Trio
Encyclopedia
The Nairobi Trio was a skit
Ernie Kovacs
performed several times for his TV shows. It combined many existing concepts and visuals in a novel and creative way.
People in gorilla suits have always been a comedy staple. The notion of well-known or predictable music pieces gone awry has long been practiced by artists as diverse as 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, combined with impeccable timing, produced a unique and memorable result.
It was a live-action version of a child's animatronic wind-up music box, performed to the tune "Solfeggio" by Robert Maxwell
. Allegedly, when Kovacs first heard a recording of the tune, he immediately came up with a mental image of what would become The Nairobi Trio: three gorillas (wearing derby hats and long overcoats) mechanically miming to the music like wind-up toys. In the middle sat the "head gorilla," always played by Kovacs (with a cigar, of course), conducting with a baton or (sometimes) a banana. To the viewer's left another gorilla stood, holding two oversized timpani
mallets. (The identity of this ape varied, but among Kovacs' celebrity friends both Jack Lemmon
and Frank Sinatra
are known to have performed in the skit.) And seated at screen right at a piano was a female simian (variously played by Barbara Loden
, Jolene Brand
and Kovacs' wife, Edie Adams
), robotically thumping up and down on the keys.
Nearly all skits operated in the same general fashion, involving the gorilla with the mallets, who repeatedly uses the center gorilla's (Kovacs') head as a drum at the end of every phrase, punctuating a sharp "ba-da-BUM" bongo
riff
. Every repeat brings a slightly changed and escalated response from the victim, as he tries to anticipate the mallet assault and outwit the perpetrator. Ultimately staring him down, he is eventually distracted by the third gorilla for one final blow, moving him to smash a prop vase over the percussionist's head.
The bit was repeated several times over the course of Kovacs' career. The definitive version is likely the last, performed for one of Ernie's 1960s ABC specials shortly before his untimely death. The combination of a bigger budget, videotape
, and the luxury of retakes helped him to perfect the timing of the sketch.
But the Nairobi Trio wasn't always confined to silence with "Solfeggio"; they went into outer space and also became safe crackers on a US Steel special, "Private Eye, Private Eye", aired on CBS March 8, 1961.
The Nairobi Trio has entered popular culture beyond the television screen. A popular New Zealand
jazz
group adopted the name, and writer Jim Knipfel
wrote an account of his six-month stay in a psychiatric ward entitled Quitting the Nairobi Trio, using a picture of Kovacs in simian drag on the cover. And a video for Harry Nilsson
's novelty song "Coconut
" features three gorillas playing as a trio.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was a Hungarian American comedian and actor.Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
performed several times for his TV shows. It combined many existing concepts and visuals in a novel and creative way.
People in gorilla suits have always been a comedy staple. The notion of well-known or predictable music pieces gone awry has long been practiced by artists as diverse as Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
, Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
or P. D. Q. Bach
P. D. Q. Bach
P. D. Q. Bach is a fictitious composer invented by musical satirist "Professor" Peter Schickele. In a gag that Schickele has developed over a five-decade-long career, he performs "discovered" works of this forgotten member of the Bach family...
. The "slow burn" of one character annoying another resulting in eventual retaliation was not new. But the combination of all those ingredients, combined with impeccable timing, produced a unique and memorable result.
It was a live-action version of a child's animatronic wind-up music box, performed to the tune "Solfeggio" by Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell (songwriter)
Robert Maxwell is a harpist and songwriter, who wrote the music for two well-known songs: "Ebb Tide" and "Shangri-La ....
. Allegedly, when Kovacs first heard a recording of the tune, he immediately came up with a mental image of what would become The Nairobi Trio: three gorillas (wearing derby hats and long overcoats) mechanically miming to the music like wind-up toys. In the middle sat the "head gorilla," always played by Kovacs (with a cigar, of course), conducting with a baton or (sometimes) a banana. To the viewer's left another gorilla stood, holding two oversized timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
mallets. (The identity of this ape varied, but among Kovacs' celebrity friends both Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
are known to have performed in the skit.) And seated at screen right at a piano was a female simian (variously played by Barbara Loden
Barbara Loden
Barbara Loden was an American film and stage actress and film director....
, Jolene Brand
Jolene Brand
Jolene Brand, also known as Joline Brand, is an American actress, born as Jolene Marie Bufkin on July 31, 1934 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is married to George Schlatter and has two daughters – Andrea Justine Schlatter and Maria S. Schlatter. She acted most in the 50's and 60's...
and Kovacs' wife, Edie Adams
Edie Adams
Edie Adams was an American singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most...
), robotically thumping up and down on the keys.
Nearly all skits operated in the same general fashion, involving the gorilla with the mallets, who repeatedly uses the center gorilla's (Kovacs') head as a drum at the end of every phrase, punctuating a sharp "ba-da-BUM" bongo
Bongo drum
Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
. Every repeat brings a slightly changed and escalated response from the victim, as he tries to anticipate the mallet assault and outwit the perpetrator. Ultimately staring him down, he is eventually distracted by the third gorilla for one final blow, moving him to smash a prop vase over the percussionist's head.
The bit was repeated several times over the course of Kovacs' career. The definitive version is likely the last, performed for one of Ernie's 1960s ABC specials shortly before his untimely death. The combination of a bigger budget, videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
, and the luxury of retakes helped him to perfect the timing of the sketch.
But the Nairobi Trio wasn't always confined to silence with "Solfeggio"; they went into outer space and also became safe crackers on a US Steel special, "Private Eye, Private Eye", aired on CBS March 8, 1961.
The Nairobi Trio has entered popular culture beyond the television screen. A popular New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
group adopted the name, and writer Jim Knipfel
Jim Knipfel
Jim Knipfel , is an American novelist, autobiographer, and journalist.A native of Wisconsin, Knipfel, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, is the author of a series of critically acclaimed memoirs, Slackjaw, Quitting the Nairobi Trio, and Ruining It for Everybody, as well as two novels, The...
wrote an account of his six-month stay in a psychiatric ward entitled Quitting the Nairobi Trio, using a picture of Kovacs in simian drag on the cover. And a video for Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
's novelty song "Coconut
Coconut (song)
"Coconut" is a song written and first recorded by Harry Nilsson.-Original version:The third single from his 1971 album, Nilsson Schmilsson, it reached #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and it features three distinct characters , all sung in different voices by Nilsson...
" features three gorillas playing as a trio.