How about some down-home humour from the master?

Back in 1958, this guest appearance by Andy Griffith made audiences laugh. Nobody had heard of Mayberry, the fictional town full of bucolic nuts, back then, so why were they laughing? Griffith had a hit movie playing down the street in Radio City Music Hall. The hit comedy was called No Time for Sergeants, and it featured this unforgettable scene. The film was based on a best-selling novel by Mac Hyman, a farce about a Georgia bumpkin who gets drafted into the peace-time Air Force. The humour is broad and the satire subtle, in the direction of anti-militaristic. Worth a chuckle or two.

Griffith, a promising young actor from the North Carolina mountains, came to New York City and got his breakthrough on the strength of his ability to deliver anecdotes. His stand-up work resulted in spoken-word records that sold well. His biggest hit was the classic 'What It Was, Was Football'. That routine is both brilliant satire and a priceless documentation of a dialect narrative style that is spot-on true-to-life.

Now to the Freebie Film. In 1955, the 'US Steel Hour', a TV programme, ran a 50-minute version of No Time for Sergeants, adapted for the small screen (back then, it was positively tiny) by Ira Levin. You know Ira Levin, the novelist? He wrote Rosemary's Baby. No horror here, though, unless you count Andy's haircut: just laughs. No Time for Sergeants is a clever TV adaptation, using a combination of stage and screen effects to fit the story into the time slot, the medium, and the limitations of the sound stage. The acting's impressive for what it does. Notice how they managed to work the credits and opening score in over Griffith's performance on the 'juice harp'.

Anyway, you might get a chuckle out of this bit from yesteryear, and ponder what readers liked in 1954 and TV audiences enjoyed in 1955. Later in 1955, an expanded version by Levin appeared on Broadway, winning a Tony for best set design (they must have enjoyed those toilet seats) and a nomination for Griffith. The film version came along later.

Homespun humour need not be either retrograde or simple-minded. There's quite a lot to like here. And it's not unlike Carry On, Sergeant, which came out in the UK in 1958. Different uniforms and accents, but similar jokes. Great minds think alike.

Carry on.