Andy Griffith Football Story from 1953

Andy Griffith's famous 1953 stand-up monologue about college football. It has become one of the most beloved comedy recordings of all time.

The illustrations used in this video were drawn by George Woodbridge, a Mad Magazine artist. The comic illustration appear in Mad Magazine in 1958. You can view the illustration at http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversit...

We edited the illustrations to match the story line. We then used this clip for illustrative purposes during one of our church services here at Cornerstone City Church. http://www.CornerstoneIndy.com

• Category

  Comedy

[Tracy Clough]

why must people of today hate people that are like this or were raised in the south?

[deanofdiscipline]

How in the world did this man never even get nominated for an Emmy? What a travesty. Star of the best show ever made!!

[Melinda Allen]

He is not mocking he is telling his first experience with football, he had never seen it

[mrbeaverstate]

Not one single curse word, still funny throughout.

[MRO1102]

Well said...I agree with that.

[iwpoe]

Though consider that Andy (the character) being one of the most put together and competent of the characters on the show has, relatively, the most muted Southern accent whereas the more bumbling and incompetent the characters- e.g. Barney and Gomer -would have very pronounced accents. Again, Griffith accepts that the south is *simple* and naive in a charming kind of way, and the heart of his early comedy is making loving mockery of that. Insofar as that naivete is in him, he is mocking himself.

[MRO1102]

That is not necessarily true. It is very probable that he did talk like this especially when he was younger. He talked like this through out the "Andy Griffith" show. You must not know that he was born and grew up in Mt. Airy, NC which is where my relatives live as well. He was not making a mockery about the south or people with southern accents. The southern dialect and culture was what he knew very well and was very much a part of him. This was part of his charm and he was a comedian at heart.

[BlackfaceMandela]

i love vulgar humor and i have no relationship with the american south whatsoever but i still find this extremely funny and well-written. comedy is comedy is comedy.

[iwpoe]

The entire joke of the monologue is that a person who speaks like this is ignorant and simple. Surely you don't think that Griffith said things like "a-sittin" and "a-blowin" in his normal speech. He's mocking this image. His entire early career centered around making comedy out of one version or another of this character. It's clearly a friendly mockery, but it's mockery all the same.