[Northern Alliance]

Do you remember that Allen used to read the letters to the editor with expression,as if they were spoken? He would use gestures also.

Honestly, I don't remember specifically that, no. I think the thing that impressed me most about Allen was the off-the-cuff (and frequently muttered) ad-lib quips he would make. Of course this was live TV - unexpected things would happen and he was so quick, funny, creative and sharp in his responses.

[HHFi]

I was fortunate enough to meet Steve Allen twice and correspond with him, and I can attest that he and Tony Randall were the most amazingly nice and decent people I've met in 30 years of working around showbiz. Both went way out of their way to help me, even though I was just a kid from the country who wanted to be a comedy writer, had no contacts, and asked them for help out of the blue. Both of them bent over backwards to help me, simply out of the kindness of their hearts. Believe me, that is incredibly rare.

BTW, someone asked if Barney and Andy were cousins. I believe that in very early episodes of the show, Barney called Andy "Cousin Andy," but they quickly dropped it. You'll also notice that in earlier episodes, Andy has a much thicker accent and is more clownish, but he quickly settled down. As someone earlier noted, he realized the show worked better with Don and the other Mayberry eccentrics as the comics and him as the straight man.