The 2024 Kovacs Recipient- DEVO’s Gerry Casale

Dallas VideoFest presented the Ernie Kovacs Award to the musician/director/artist extraordinaire to DEVO’s Gerald Casale at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, at the Texas Theatre. View photos from the event below.

About The Ernie Kovacs Award

The Ernie Kovacs Award recognizes the careers and talents of some of television’s greatest visionaries. Kovacs’ work in the 1950s and early 1960s summed up the spirit of innovation and the development of the language of television as art. 

The Dallas VideoFest and the Video Association of Dallas announced the first Ernie Kovacs Award at the 1997 festival. Comedian Joel Hodgson of “Mystery Science 3000” was the first recipient and subsequent honorees have included – our last recipient in 2022 – Al Franken; Terry Gilliam and John Cleese, both of “Monty Python;” Robert Smigel, writer/performer of “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien;” Paul “Pee-wee Herman” Reubens; Martin Mull; Mike Judge; George Schlatter, creator of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In;” Harry Shearer, “This is Spinal Tap” and “The Simpsons;” Michael Nesmith; Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald of “The Kids in the Hall,” in 2017; and Amy Sedaris, the first woman to receive the Ernie Kovacs Award in 2018.

Actress Edie Adams (edieadams.com), Kovacs’ widow, came to Dallas to host the awards program annually until her death in 2008. Today, Edie’s son, Joshua Mills runs Ediad Productions the video and audio archive of both Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams. As the official archivist for the Ernie Kovacs/Edie Adams (Ediad) Collection, Ben Model curated the “Ernie Kovacs Collection” DVD box sets for Shout! Factory, as well as the box set of “Here’s Edie” shows for MVD. The 284-page coffeetable book “Ernie in Kovacsland” celebrates the cockeyed genius and prolific career, life and creative output of never-before-seen material from the Ernie Kovacs archive