Knotts often appeared on The Steve Allen Show, an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen. He would mostly appear in Allen’s mock “man on the street” interviews in his usual awkward personality and behavior and remained with the show from 1959 until 1960. The actor was one of the audience’s favorite actors on the show, and his appearances helped dramatically boost his popularity with audiences at home.
The show aired for six seasons with 167 episodes and was essentially the predecessor to popular shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Knotts helped popularise the show due to its popular “Man on the street” sketches, which ended up becoming the show’s best and longest-running gags. The Steve Allen Show won a Peabody Award in 1958 and was critically acclaimed for its genuine sense of humor.
"Don Juan"
Don Knotts' 1969 feature film, The Love God? was another one of his goofy comedies where his character ends up in a series of unplanned and unintended events that end up producing some hilarious results. The reason for the question mark in the film’s title is that Don Knotts wasn’t exactly known as one of Hollywood’s sexiest men. In fact, he was often portrayed as the exact opposite of that, starring as the butt of countless jokes. In The Love God? Knotts takes the role of a playboy who becomes an unwitting male celebrity that women all across the world chase after.
This was the star's fourth Universal Pictures feature film and was rated as a G-rated family comedy. It was the studio's attempt at integrating the actor into the more mature and adult-related films of the late '60s and early '70s. The film was called one of the funniest films in years by Kevin Thomas and was well received by many critiques for its parody of popular culture at the time, although some critics disagreed and called it a poorly made attempt at satirizing pornography.
How to Frame a Figg
In yet another Universal Pictures production, Don Knotts reprises his role as an unwitting goofball assistant in the 1971 comedy, How to Frame a Figg. In the movie, Knotts plays Hollis Alexander Figg, a bookkeeper's assistant in the Dalton city hall who is framed for embezzlement. This film is definitely a return to the odd and socially inept role he often plays, as opposed to the poor attempt at making him suave in "The Love God?". The film did moderately well with viewers and currently holds a 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 743 user reviews. After all, it's another Don Knotts comedy mixed with some juvenile humor.
By this point, the actor's five-film contract with Universal Pictures was up, and he did not appear in any more slapstick comedy films for the next 4 years. This hiatus from comedies was probably a good decision since the goofy reluctant-hero comedy formula was starting to wear off and it was time go for something new.
The Andy Griffith Sequel - Matlock
Matlock was a popular legal drama show starring Andy Griffith as the lead character, with Don Knotts also appearing occasionally on the show before being cut in the last few seasons. Knotts and Griffith were happy for the chance to act together again after a long time apart, this was a welcome surprise for the two since their acting relationship was cut short while they were co-acting in The Andy Griffith Show. Both actors later commented that every day they got to work together was an absolute pleasure. Knott played as his typical awkward, annoying and unintentionally funny persona as Les "Ace" Calhoun, Matlock's annoying next-door neighbor.
Knotts and Griffith worked fantastically together and their joint actions resulted in some amazing scenes together. It was immediately evident that the duo had great chemistry and truly enjoyed working together. Luckily, this would not be the last time that the two talented actors got to perform together on the same set, as they later came together one more time for the filming of the popular Andy Griffith Show Reunion, Return to Mayberry.
Return to Mayberry
Don Knotts made one last reprisal of his popular character from The Andy Griffith Show, Barney Fife, who was an annoying but hilarious deputy sheriff. His character ended up being ranked in 1999 as TV Guides ninth greatest TV characters of all time. The reunion was a made-for-TV comedy film where sixteen of the original cast members returned to reprise their roles in the hopes of some continuation of the show.
The film ended up becoming a finale to the iconic Andy Griffith Show and was the final official appearance of its popular characters. It was a success in terms of rating but received mixed reviews. Return to Mayberry was criticized for being slow, modestly funny and predictable while nostalgic fans undoubtedly let these issues fall to the wayside, as some of the kinder reviewers called it a "marvelous blast from the past". Unfortunately, the show didn’t age as-well-as the cast had hoped, meaning that this was officially the end of The Andy Griffith Show, although it was quite a dignified one at that.