Daughter’s one-woman show celebrates comic Don Knotts

The Historic State Theater is welcoming the daughter of one of Mayberry’s most famous residents.

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Karen Knotts, daughter of the late actor Don Knotts, performs her one-woman show, "Tied Up in Knotts."

Karen Knotts, daughter of Don Knotts, will perform a one-woman show, “Tied Up in Knotts,” about her father at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Historic State Theater.

Don Knotts is best known for portraying Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “Tied Up in Knotts” is part of the State Theater’s The Best of Andy Griffith week, which includes showing episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” and films that feature Griffith.

The veteran comic appeared in numerous movies and also was featured in the television series “Three’s Company,” and “Matlock,” among others.

Tickets are $20 for preferred, $15 for general admission and $12 for the balcony and are available at the door.

Karen Knotts began creating her show in 2005, and after her father died in 2006, she was driven to bring to audiences a full depiction of her father. The show includes photos, memories and stories about her father, and her portrayals of family members and their relationship with the late Knotts.

“He was such a dimensional person, you know?” Karen Knotts said.

Knotts said she wanted people to become familiar with his full body of work, “his life, which was incredible,” as well as “the fun guy that he was.”

Knotts said the show is a work in progress and changes each time she performs it. The show includes stories about “The Andy Griffith Show,” but also features many stories about Don Knotts’ work with actor Tim Conway and performances with Griffith at Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada, she said.

“I never do the exact same show twice,” she said.

There will be a question-and-answer session after the show, and Knotts said she enjoys hearing the audience’s questions and their own personal tales of meeting her father, which she sometimes encounters. The show keeps her father’s memory with her.

“It makes me feel very connected to my father when I’m doing it,” she said.

The Historic State Theater can be reached at (270) 234-8258.

Some of Don Knotts’ best known roles, according to www.imdb.com:

TELEVISION

 “Matlock,” TV series, 1988-92

 “Three’s Company,” TV series, Ralph Furley, 1979-84

 “The Steve Allen Plymouth Show,” 1957-60

 “The Andy Griffith Show," 1960-68

FILMS

 “Pleasantville,” 1997

 “Hot Lead and Cold Feet,” 1978

 “The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again,” 1978

 “The Apple Dumpling Gang,” 1975

“The Shakiest Gun in the West,” 1968

“The Reluctant Astronaut,” 1967

“The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” 1966

“The Incredible Mr. Limpet,” 1964

“It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World,” 1963

“No Time for Sergeants,” 1958 

Reach Kelly Cantrall at (270) 505-1747 or kcantrall@ thenewsenterprise.com.