He is best known for his comedic role as Ernest P. Worrell, for which he won an Emmy Award, as well as appearing in films and numerous television commercial advertising campaigns.

As a child, he displayed the ability to memorize long poems and significant portions of the material from books, which he used to entertain family and friends.

His mother discovered that Varney quickly began to imitate the cartoon characters, so she started him in children's theater when he was eight years old.

Varney began his interest in theater as a teenager, winning state titles in drama competitions while a student at Lafayette High School[6] (class of 1968) in Lexington.

At the age of 15, he portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in a local theater production; by 17, he was performing professionally in nightclubs and coffee houses.

Varney studied Shakespeare at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia,[7] and performed in an Opryland folk show in its first year of operation, in the 1970s.

Varney's best-known character is Ernest P. Worrell, who would address the camera as if speaking to a friend, using his trademarked catchphrase "KnoWhutImean, Vern?"

Glory character also appeared in an advertisement for a Southern grocery chain, Pruett's Food Town, in which he drilled the checkout clerks on proper behavior: "Bread on top.

Varney also starred as Ernest in a series of commercials that ran in the New Orleans area (and throughout the Gulf South) as a spokesman for natural gas utilities.

[10] Varney also appeared as Ernest in on-air promos for local TV stations in several markets, talking about their news and weather personalities.

Hey Vern, It's My Family Album; Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam; and the direct-to-video feature Your World as I See It, all of which showcased him in a wide variety of characters and accents.

Varney also voiced Slinky Dog in the first two films of the Toy Story franchise, with his friend Blake Clark replacing him following his death.

Varney played numerous other characters, including "Cookie" Farnsworth, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, released the year after his death (Steven Barr replaced Varney for the sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return), the carny character Cooder in the "Bart Carny" episode of The Simpsons, the character Walt Evergreen in the Duckman episode "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby", Prince Carlos Charmaine (a royal suitor Jackie dates) for a few episodes of the final season of the 1990s television series Roseanne, and Lothar Zogg in the 1998 film 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain, also starring Hulk Hogan and Loni Anderson.

Varney had a brief role as an incestuous, abusive father in an independent film, 100 Proof, for which he received good reviews from critics.

He also played a rebel in the midnight movie Existo, as well as an old mariner in a low-budget horror film, Blood, Friends, and Money.

One of Varney's final films was Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them, in which he played Uncle Hazel, who had been arrested for murder.

According to an interview, one of his final projects was writing a screenplay about the legendary Hatfield–McCoy feud, stating that his grandfather hunted squirrel with the Hatfields.

[15][16] Both marriages ended in divorce, although he remained friends with his ex-wife Jane until his death; she became Varney's spokeswoman and accompanied him in Pixar's 1999 film Toy Story 2.

[19] Varney was an accomplished mountain dulcimer player and played the instrument on the last episode of The Chevy Chase Show.

During the filming of Treehouse Hostage in August 1998,[21] Varney developed a nagging cough, which he initially believed to be caused by a cold.