The humor that stuck (week 9): Don Knotts
“Well, I guess to sum it up, you could say, there's three reasons why there's so little crime in Mayberry. There's Andy, and there's me, and [patting gun] baby makes three.” – Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife, The Andy Griffith Show
Don Knotts died this past Friday at the age of 81. Knotts earned five emmys for his character Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith show. Five emmys for a self-deprecating, hapless, bug-eyed, 98 pound weakling deputy sheriff! And what a great character it was.The show ran from 1960-1968.
This IMDB plotline pretty much sums up The Andy Griffith show: “Widower Sheriff Andy and his son Opie live with Andy's Aunt Bee in Mayberry NC. With virtually no crimes to solve, most of Andy's time is spent philosophizing and calming down his cousin Deputy Barney.”
It was a warm and friendly program with endearing characters, respectable values, calming story lines and, yeah, yeah, yeah, all that 60s stuff. Let the record show that Aunt Bee was a pain in the ass. Everybody knew that; I knew that – at the ripe old age of five. Sometimes, when I watch the reruns on TV Land, I think to myself, “Bee, you need to get gussied up, walk into town, drink a few too many mint juleps and do the dirty deed with Otis Campbell, the town drunk.
The other thought that comes to mind now when I watch the reruns is that without Barney Fife, the Andy Griffith show would be about as exciting as watching Floyd the barber cut hair. Don Knotts was one uniquely funny man.
Sure, Don Knotts worked on a lot of other movies and TV shows – he had a long career spanning 55 years – but Barnie Fife was the character that will live on in my mind. That and Knott’s role in the movie “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.”
I love that stupid movie without apology.
Of course, we will just have to forgive Don Knotts for his role of the landlord on the brain-numbing sitcom Three’s Company (1979-1984). Hey, it was the early 80s. People had to work. But with John Ritter and Suzanne Somers?
Just two days after his death, the IMDB had already updated the profile on Don Knotts to include the date of his death. The same at deadoraliveinfo.com. So, that’s that. Or as Barney Fife once said:
“Boys, when that steel door slams shut, that's the end of the happy days. No more fishin', no more ball playin', no more peanut butter sandwiches.”
9:22:21 PM 
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