WATCH: Don Knotts’ (aka Barney Fife) Daughter Karen Knotts Talks With Friday Night Locker Room’s Steve Wilson

Karen Knotts is an actress, standup comedian, and author

WATCH: Don Knotts (left) and his daughter Karen Knotts (right) are pictured during the Don Knotts Show in the early 1970s. Don Knotts most famously played Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. The Friday Night Locker Room’s Steve Wilson recently talked with Karen Knotts.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – I was born in the 1950s but really started to grow up in the 60s. Television was coming into its own and a few shows stand out to me.

I remember Friday night boxing; Saturday afternoon baseball games on TV, usually the Yankees; and the Andy Griffith Show, which aired October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. It was then that I was introduced to Don Knotts, as Barney Fife, who in my estimation, is the funniest comedic actor of all time!

I recently had the opportunity to interview Don Knotts’ daughter, Karen Knotts. What a special interview it was for me! I could have talked with her for hours, but I told her it would be in the15 minute range. It ended up being approximately 20 minutes.

We talked a good bit about her dad. She told me that he knew at a very early age that he wanted to go into the entertainment industry. He and his brother used to team up and do skits together. Karen said, “He got a lot of training from watching movies. He studied Stan Laurel.” She continued, “Stan Laurel was his first great comedic influence in the movies.”

Karen loved going on the set of the Andy Griffith Show to watch her dad work. She said it was interesting to watch the actors after the scene was shot. They were so different in real life than what you see on TV. She said Betty Lynn, who played Thelma Lou, was “so kind to me. She was incredibly sweet.” She went on to say that “everybody on the set was very nice.”

I asked Karen if she and her dad had a favorite episode. Karen liked the episode “Convicts at Large.”  She smiled and said, “I loved it when they got Barney dancing.” Karen said her dad’s two favorite episodes were ”Barney and the Choir,” and ”Barney’s First Car.” In my opinion all three of those episodes are classics!

I asked Karen what her dad enjoyed doing during his down time. She said, “He loved to play golf. He was a big golf fan and enjoyed watching golf on television as well.”

Karen was also bitten by the ‘entertainment bug.’ She is an actress, standup comedian, and author. She does multiple shows throughout the year, including a bit called “Tied Up in Knotts.”

Karen has written a book about her dad entitled “Tied Up in Knotts: My Dad and Me.” As with the show with the same name, the book was written to honor her dad.

It is easy for someone with famous parents to grow up spoiled. Often, they are given anything and everything they want. Karen Knotts is anything but spoiled. She is a hard-working individual, funny, personable, and incredibly polite. She is successful because of who she is, not because of who her father was. Karen will continue to make her dad, Don Knotts, AKA Barney Fife, very proud.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Steve Wilson was born in DeRidder, Louisiana and grew up in both New Orleans and Macon, Georgia.  He moved to Brevard County in 1984 and retired from local government as the Community Advocate/Assistant to the City Manager with the City of Rockledge in 2018.

Among the awards and accolades Steve has received over the years are 15 + year Rockledge Little League volunteer, Brevard Public School Jefferson Award Recipient, Rockledge High School Raider Booster Award 2001, 2006, City of Rockledge Employee of the Year 2006, Rockledge Kiwanian of the Year 2006-2007, City of Rockledge Quality Public Service Award 2008, 2012, 2017, Rockledge Kiwanis Citizen of the Year 2012-2013, Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame – Sportscasting 2015, Rockledge High School Leadership and Service Award 2016, Central Florida Humanitarian Award 2017, Space Coast Inspiration Award – 2018,  Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame – Lifetime Achievement – 2020, Ecofest Achievement Award – 2022, Quality Floridian Award – 2022, presented by U.S. Congressman Bill Posey.

Wilson is especially proud of his chairing two fundraisers in support of pediatric cancer research through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation in honor of Merritt Island resident Julie Spurlock that raised over $25,000.00.

He has been a partner, along with Orville Susong, for the past 24 years with the Friday Night Locker Room, a broadcasting team that covers and reports on a wide variety of local events that are of significance to the residents of the Space Coast and beyond. Their mission is to promote youth sports, support first responders and law enforcement personnel, and showcase community and charitable events that are produced by our nonprofit partners in central Florida.

The Friday Night Locker Room has awarded hundreds of sports achievement plaques to Brevard County student-athletes over the years. They have also awarded more than $18,000 in academic scholarships to Brevard County high school seniors.

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