LIFE, LOVE, AND A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

Knotts’ style of comedy is a mixture of storytelling with characters and sound effects that bring her issues to life. Her amazing ability to cross over with her clean animated style has made her a universal demand in all markets.

A veteran of stage comedy, Knotts has performed in several productions, including, “Lend Me A Tenor,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” “Snaps Shots,” “Mind with the Dirty Man,” “Norman Is that You?, and You Can’t Take It With You, ” all of which has earned her national recognition as one of the most gifted and versatile comedic actors to date.

Knotts has played a variety of zany and off-the-wall characters, including a weed smoking suicidal hitchhiker, demented prison guard, sexually frustrated French artist and a jealous Italian wife, a portrayal that won her the prestigious Artist Director Achievement Award (ADA) for the hit comedy “Lend Me a Tenor.”

Knotts has also appeared in a number of films including, “Occurrence at Black Canyon,” “A Lousy Ten Grand,” “Exorcism, The Movie,” “Misery,” and New Line Cinema’s “Hobgoblins II.” In addition to her film career, Karen has been featured on many hit television shows including, Return to Mayberry, A&E Biography, Headliners & Legends, Bold and the Beautiful and Days of Our Lives.

Most recently, Knotts appeared on the CNN Larry King Live tribute to her legendary father, actor and comedian Don Knotts, who recently died Feb. 24, 2006 at age 81 from respiratory complications related to lung cancer. The world will forever remember Don Knotts for playing the role of Barney Fife on the long-running hit sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show.

“I was with my father when he died, if anybody ever has an opportunity to share a death bed experience with a loved one it is an extraordinary experience… I said everything I ever wanted to tell him. He was an awesome father, he treated me like a friend more than a parent. He talked to me about his love life and everything. I use to sit outside the bedroom door and listen while he would take every line and practice it about 30 different ways, like a concert pianist learning different keys, he was a comedic genius,” Knotts said to King.

But growing up was not always a barrel of laughs said Knotts. “Not everything about life as the daughter of a famous celebrity has been positive. My father suffered from severe anxiety and when my parents divorced, it was very difficult for him. There was much time apart, from both parents, which was just one of the contributing factors that led to my own nervous breakdown.” Well, I survived the nervous breakdown and found spiritual freedom. I begin to find my own identity, apart from being my father’s daughter and with that came the freedom to make comedy out of my own struggles.”

Knotts is currently in the studio perfecting her one-woman show where she talks about herself so candidly that you can’t tell if she is the most vulnerable woman in the world or the most psychotically well defended. Following the performance, Knotts will participate in a question and answer session with the audience, who will be invited to submit questions on index cards prior to the show.

Stepping out of the shadows of a famous father, Knotts said, “People know the name so there’s definitely a certain amount of expectation, but in reality, it really depends upon who I am, making people laugh the way I know how and doing the best that I can. I certainly look and aspire to accomplish at least some of what my father has done and that is to make people laugh out loud.”

In addition to acting, Knotts wrote and produce the comedy, “But We Open Tonight!,” and the musical comedy “Date from Hell.” She has also written and produced a documentary about illiteracy, and Twinkles & Friends a television pilot for children.

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