Don Knotts suffered a chicken-related prank on the set of The Andy Griffith Show

Don't ever call Don Knotts a chicken!

August 21, 2024, 12:07PM By MeTV Staff

CBS Television Distribution

As a comedian, you should be prepared for anything an audience throws at you. Worse than heckles, some actors have had things like eggs or tomatoes thrown at them. While we can't condone violence, having something thrown at you usually means that you're not as funny as you might have hoped to be.

But during his time as Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, Don Knotts had plenty of things thrown his way. A very physical actor, it was no surprise to see Barney get into a couple of scrapes to the audience's mirth. However, once on set, it seemed that director Bob Sweeney got the last laugh on Knotts.

Sweeney was a director on The Andy Griffith Show and came from an entertainment background when he took up the helm of the series. In his book, Barney Fife and Other Characters I Have Known, Knotts has no shortage of good things to say about Sweeney.

"How fortunate were to get Bob Sweeney," wrote Knotts. "Bob came to the show with experience in almost every field of comedy. He had been an actor, a director, and a comic. As a director, Bob had the ability to reach down and get the very best you had, and he wouldn't settle until you had given him your very best.

"Bob had a wonderful sense of humor and he had a good feel for when Andy and I were right on in a scene," he continued. "When Bob would yell, 'Cut and print!' after a take, we knew we had done it right."

But as hard as Sweeney worked, he also played hard, often at Knotts' expense. In one particular instance, the cast and crew were dealing with live animals, and Sweeney couldn't help but use it as the opportunity to play a joke on the actor.

"Sometimes, Bob's humor had a mischievous streak in it, and he loved to get my goat," wrote Knotts. "We once had a scene in which a bunch of chickens were supposed to fly right into Barney and get him all upset. Bob had a fellow just off-camera to throw the chickens at me. Bob heard me tell the fellow to throw the chickens at me chest-high. I didn't care to get hit in the face. Bob whispered to the fellow, 'No, I want you to hit him right in the face with every chicken,' and that's what the fellow did. I was furious. Bob Sweeney was hysterical, and he also got exactly what he wanted on film."