This is the last Ernest movie to have the character Chuck played by Gailard Sartain.
Among the famous eccentric actors whom Ernest imitates in jail when trying out for "Mr. Nash", are James Cagney, Walter Brennan, Humphrey Bogart, Barry Fitzgerald, Sylvester Stallone, and James Mason.
There were a few extended and deleted scenes that were not featured in the original version of the movie, but were in some made-for-TV versions. 1. There was an extended scene where Ernest was washing himself in a washing machine, and was staggering after he stepped out. 2. A scene where Ernest was trying to sneak out of jail and was found by the searchlights. Then, he was making shadow puppets. 3. A scene where Ernest receives a conjugal visit from a "special lady friend" of Nash. 4. An extended scene where Nash (as Ernest) was in Mr. Pendlesmythe's office negotiating the clerk job. 5. A deleted scene where Ernest was working as a bank clerk.
During the scene in prison where Ernest attempts to get into the character of Nash and does all the impressions, he does one impression of Sylvester Stallone. The line that Ernest says is "Hey you, Murdock, you're the guy who shot my brother..." The character of Murdock was played by Charles Napier in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), which starred Stallone. Charles Napier plays Warden Carmichael in Ernest Goes To Jail.
On the first day of shooting, in the scene where Ernest and Charlotte are having dinner, Ernest shakes off a butter knife stuck to his hand, it flies across the room and lodges in the door frame about a foot from a waiter's, played by Daniel Butler, face. The effect was to be done by welding a lead fishing weight to the butter knife and it would slide on the fishing line into the door frame next to his face. The shot then would've been sped up in post production. When they were having trouble setting up the effect, they ended up just launching the knife using a hunting slingshot, it stuck in the wood just inches from Daniel's right ear. There was no acting involved as that, in his words, "scared the shit out of" him. The shot was done in one take.