Knotts was an amazing writer, but it wasn’t his first love like comedy was.
As a talented actor, Don Knotts was already a sought-after performer in the entertainment industry. However, his talents weren’t simply on stage and screen. Knotts was also an incredibly talented comedic writer as well and often contributed to the projects he frequented, like The Andy Griffith Show.
“I’ve done a great deal of writing,” said Knotts. “I don’t take credit for some of the film things, but I worked on them. and I used to sit on a lot of the writing sessions for The Andy Griffith Show.”
Knotts admitted that his writing prowess wasn’t borne out of desire, but rather, a need. “I started it out of necessity,” said Knotts. “You know, you may go on as a guest on some show and the material may not be exactly right. You have to work on it yourself. That’s how it all began.”
Knotts also discussed his writing process on The Andy Griffith Show in his book, Barney Fife, and Other Characters I Have Known. Much of Knotts’ involvement was at the behest of Griffith himself.
“Quite often, when a page or two had been cut out of the script for one reason or another, Andy would turn to me and say, ‘Why don’t you go over there in the corner and write us a comedy bit,'” Knotts wrote.
“Every once in a while I’d come up with a good one and Andy would laugh and clap his hands. There was one thing for sure about Andy, you never had to guess whether or not he was tickled.”
Despite the fact that it wasn’t necessarily his chosen profession at the beginning of his career, no one can deny that Knotts was an incredibly talented comedic writer and that it definitely aided his career.
