I’ve found that fans of Young Frankenstein tend to be also fans of the classic 1930’s Universal horror movies — YF is almost an homage to that group of films.
As for Don Knotts, I thought that his Barney Fife was pure comedic genius, but the only movie of his I ever liked was “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.”
That is an interesting hypothesis.
Back when I was in junior high, there was an independent station (now Fox) in San Francisco that had a Saturday night show, "Creature Features." It would play two B movies back to back, and between them include an episode of one of the old serials like Flash Gordon. On Monday, in school, the movies played on "Creature Features" were all anyone talked about.
According to Wikipedia, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the local show "Creature Features" beat out Saturday Night Live in that time slot. SNL was the number one show in the country at that time. I didn't even know about SNL, but I wouldn't miss Creature Features.
I love Young Frankenstein. I also love The Addams Family movie (but not the sequels--they lost the charm and became pure slapstick).