Appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show"), with his partner in comedy, Eric Morecambe, numerous times during the 1960s.
Ernie Wise's wife, Doreen Blythe, was a former dancer.
He began a comedy partnership with Eric Bartholomew when he was 16. "Wiseman and Bartholomew" was too long for theater marquees, so they changed it to "Morecambe and Wise". They became comedy legends in the UK, with a mix of self-deprecating charm and schoolboy humor. Their Christmas specials became a national institution. They were both awarded OBE (Officers of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1976 Queen's Honours List for their services to comedy.
He made the first mobile phone call in the UK on 1 January 1985, from St Katherine's Dock, near Tower Bridge in London, to Vodafone's headquarters in Newbury.