The Nairobi Trio was a sketch comedy skit that Ernie Kovacs performed many times for his TV shows. It combined several existing concepts and visuals in a novel and creative way. People in gorilla suits had long been a comedy staple. The ploy of well-known, predictable music pieces gone awry had been practiced by artists as diverse as Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, and P. D. Q. Bach. The "slow burn" of one character being annoyed by another, resulting in eventual retaliation, was not new. But the combination of all of those ingredients, combined with impeccable timing, produced a unique and memorable result.