Ed the Sock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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, a cigar sticking out of his mouth and a low, rough, guttural voice. Some fans believe that he inspired the creation of his American counterpart Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. The controversy surrounding this dates back to when Ed had agreed to appear on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. It is said that the appearance was suddenly cancelled, and one month to three months later, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog came into existence. Ed afterwards displayed great anger towards Triumph, to the point where NBC stated that they "Didn't want Ed anywhere near Triumph" when Conan visited Canada. There is evidence to suggest that Triumph has more in common with Don Rickles and Milton Berle, two of many famous comedians from decades earlier than either Ed or Triumph, which sported bow ties and chomped cigars. Jim Henson himself had a hip sock puppet on a late-night program which smoked a real cigarette back in 1955, over 10 years before Ed's Gen-X creator was even born in the 1960s.
Ed was based on a mixture of two real-life people, whose names have never been revealed. Despite Ed's harsh personality, he gave former VJ Amanda Walsh a kiss on her last day.
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 provincial election. A fiscal and foreign-policy conservative, Kerzner's political heroes at the time included Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. In recent years, however, he has moved to the left and become a liberal,[citation needed] arguing in favour of rights for same-sex couples, care for the homeless and other causes.
Besides Ed's Night Party, which is now seen in countries around the world, and in the United States, late night on the G4 Network, Ed was a fixture on MuchMusic. It should be noted that the show is in the late-night slot because of its overt depictions of sexuality, primarily involving sexualized women and Ed's off-colour remarks. Among Ed's shows were Ed's Big Wham Bam, a weekly live 2-hour program; the annual Fromage, a program which highlights the cheesiest videos released in the year, which Ed began hosting in the late 1990s, following former host and Fromage creator, MuchMusic VJ Christopher Ward. The current Muchmusic program that Ed fronts is called Smartass: The Ed the Sock Report where Ed gives his take on the current state of pop culture and celebrities.
Ed was joined last year on Ed's Night Party! by Liana K, a buxom redhead who became Ed's first female co-host and his most popular one, and who also is featured in a pin-up calendar, offered on Ed's official website. What viewers may not know is that Liana has been pulling the strings behind-the-scenes for years, as the senior producer and writer of all Ed's projects. Much to the chagrin of Liana's male fans, she is actually married to Ed the Sock's actor (Steve Kerzner). The K in Liana K stands for Kerzner and she is credited as Liana Kerzner in the show's credits.
