The Appeal of Don Knotts' Comedy Persona: The Last Gets to Be First

Virginia Heffernan writes insightfully of the appeal of Don Knotts' comedy in The New York Times:

One by one, Mr. Knotts mocked the pretenses of the comic actor who often has his eye on nobler pursuits. In the nervous man, he reveled in the discomfort that most comics tend to pass off as indignation or savoir-faire. As Barney, he satirized swagger and self-importance. Finally, on "Three's Company" in the late 70's and 80's, he sent up the comedian's hypersexuality, which is often his pride. Mr. Knotts, over and over, was willing to play the desperate, pathetic low-man-on-every-pole. He did it so well — never forsaking his persona and trying to seize the lead, as nearly all major comedians do these days — that his talent for abasement became a source, paradoxically, of great authority. By revealing but never indulging these pretenses, he enlightened everyone he worked with, and his audiences.

Even in his performance as the TV Repairman in Pleasantville, a character endowed with the inexplicable power of being able to send Toby Maguire and Reese Witherspoon into the faux-world of a 1950s sitcom, Knotts was the "desperate, pathetic low-man-on-every-pole." In the end, he was unable to order Maguire back into the real world or to do anything about the changes which Maguire and Witherspoon wrought in Pleasantville. Barney Fife would have understood.

And so can we all, because in spite of our achievements or our pretenses to the contrary, we must recognize that, in the end, we aren't in control of our lives very often.

For the Christian, about to enter the Lenten Season of spiritual renewal, Heffernan's assertion that Knotts' "talent for abasement became a source, paradoxically, of great authority," displayed in the comedic persona he developed, resonates.

We follow a Savior God, Jesus, Who, "though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus' authority was underscored by His surrender to the will of God and the limitations of humanity.

He shows us and also tells us that the last will be first and the first, last.

I'm not trying to baptize either Knotts or his characters as some models of Christian discipleship. I have no idea where he was at spiritually.

But if you're wondering why anyone would find Jesus' call to put God first, others second, and ourselves last compelling, the enduring appeal of Knotts' comedy persona may help to explain things. Barney et al. were at their worst when they tried, against all reason and common sense, to be masters of the universe. We laughed at the absurdity of it.

It was when these characters accepted their lots and considered what they could do for others that they were at their best. They became heroes not by heroic pretense, but by submission to their own limitations. Think of The Incredible Mr. Limpet, in which Knotts' hapless character was consigned to live the life of a fish, a life for which he initially wished partly to get away from a badgering wife. Yet in his fishiness, improbably, Limpet became a hero.

Or, consider this episode of The Andy Griffith Show, cited by Heffernan:

On "The Loaded Goat," a winning episode of "The Andy Griffith Show," it's Barney who saves the day. Playing an achingly melancholy song on his harmonica, he leads a dangerous goat, which has swallowed dynamite, out of town.

When you think about it, this ultimate acceptance of who they were, a staple of Knotts' characters, mirrored a decision he must have made about himself early in his show business career. He wasn't good-looking. He couldn't sing or dance. His voice could be grating. So, he laid aside pretense and fashioned himself into the best version of himself--at least on screens large and small--that he could be.

It worked. For a decade-and-a-half in the sixties and seventies, the last did become first as Knotts carried off best-supporting-actor Emmys and had a run of successful movies that his friend, Andy Griffith, didn't get.

Good job, Don!

UPDATE: Thanks to those who've come this way via Hugh Hewitt's site and thanks to Hugh for linking! Feel free to...ahem...explore this site. (That's a subtle hint.) You're likely to find some stuff you enjoy or that will at least, I hope, make you think.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Thanks to Pastor Jeff for his link to this piece!

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Thank you to Julana of Life in the Slow Lane for linking to this post!