Archie Campbell (comedian)
Archie Campbell (November 7, 1914 – August 29, 1987)[1] was an American comedian, writer, and star of Hee Haw, a country-flavored network television variety show. He was also a recording artist with several hits for RCA Victor in the 1960s.
Archie Campbell
November 7, 1914
Bulls Gap, Tennessee, U.S.
Knoxville, Tennessee
August 29, 1987 (aged 72)
Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
- Musician
- comedian
- actor
Biography[edit]
Early career[edit]
Born in Bulls Gap, Tennessee, Campbell studied art at Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina, after which he began a radio career at WNOX in Knoxville. After a year alongside Roy Acuff on their Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round,[1] he relocated to WDOD in Chattanooga, where he stayed until joining the U.S. Navy in 1941.[1] At the end of World War II, Campbell returned to WNOX. He left that station for rival WROL, where he helped start Knoxville's first country-music television show (on WROL-TV), Country Playhouse, that premiered in 1952 and ran until 1958.[1]
At the close of that show, he moved to Nashville to replace Rod Brasfield on the nationally-syndicated Prince Albert segment of the Grand Ole Opry.[1] Shortly after, he signed a contract with RCA Victor and one of his early singles, "Trouble in the Amen Corner" reached the 1960 country music Top 25.[1] After an unsuccessful stint with the Starday label, Campbell returned to RCA Victor in 1966 and had three Top 30 singles: "The Men in My Little Girl's Life" (1966), "The Dark End of the Street" (1968), and "Tell It Like It Is" (1968).[1] He was named "Comedian of the Year" in 1969 by the Country Music Association.
Routines[edit]
One of Campbell's "signature" routines was to tell stories in "spoonerism" form, with the first letters of words in some phrases intentionally switched for comic effect. The best-known of these stories was "RinderCella", his re-telling of the fairy tale "Cinderella", about the girl who "slopped her dripper" (dropped her slipper). Campbell once told the "RinderCella" story on an episode of the game show Juvenile Jury. At the conclusion of the story, host Jack Barry said "That's one of the funniest stories Carchie Ampbell tells." All of Campbell's spoonerism routines borrowed heavily from comedy routines performed by Colonel Stoopnagle on the radio show Stoopnagle and Budd in the 1930s. ("Colonel Stoopnagle" was the stage name of F. Chase Taylor, 1897–1950.)
Campbell also performed a routine with various partners generally known as "That's Bad/That's Good." Campbell would state a troublesome occurrence; when the partner would sympathize by saying, "Oh, that's bad," Campbell would quickly counter, "No, that's good!", and then state a good result from the previous occurrence. When the partner would say, "Oh, that's good!", Campbell would immediately counter with "No, that's bad!" and tell the new result, and so on.
Legacy[edit]
Campbell's childhood home on Main Street in Bulls Gap, Tennessee has been preserved as a memorial, and has been expanded into a "tourism complex and museum" which hosts annual "Archie Campbell Days" each September.
Following Campbell's death, U.S. Highway 11E through Bulls Gap was renamed "Archie Campbell Highway" in his memory.