Though people used to poke fun, Griffith was able to get the last laugh.
For a man who spent the majority of his career entertaining people, you might be surprised to know that Andy Griffith wasn’t always as grateful for the laughter as he was in his adult life.
In an interview with the News and Observer, Griffith revealed that when he was young, people were often laughing at his expense to make fun of him. There’s never a good reason to poke fun at someone else, but it seems that those laughing at Griffith had the strangest reasons to do so. One incident he recalled included others laughing because he wanted to take a class during high school.
Griffith said, “I remember I started to take a college prep course in high school but didn’t because everybody laughed at me for it.” Often those insecure with their own lives are the ones to make jokes about others trying to further themselves, and this was most likely why those around him were teasing Griffith. Still, just because their derision wasn’t grounded in logic doesn’t mean it hurt the actor any less.
The Andy Griffith Show actor said, “People laughed at me a lot and I hated it.”
Griffith’s fear of failure followed him into young adulthood. The actor said, “I was petrified in college. It’s a good thing I never studied drama because I would’ve failed miserably. It would’ve frightened me too badly.”
But after he gained confidence in his performing ability, Griffith realized that he could turn those negative emotions into something more useful, and twice as rewarding.
He said, “I discovered I could use it [laughter] to make a living. It was less painful when I could create it rather than being the butt of it.” Of course, his love of comedy led him to become a wonderful actor, producer, and comedian, which just goes to show you that through perseverance, you can achieve practically anything!
