Don Knotts what the white America's Amos and Andy, Chesterfield, and somebody from within the race to look down on, pretty much only because of how he looked . Jerry Lewis saw it and moved out of that kind of comedy, becoming an asshole in the process (even if he does help those kids).
What Don Knotts did all his career is capitalize on how the rest of the world sees him: weak and stupid. The dumb-jock part of us laughs at people who don't look as good as we do, aren't as tough, aren't as competent. It's how we feel better about our own cowardice. It's what made clowns funny to cruder people, and what makes slapstick funny.
It's the Roman-Arena part of us.
Of Jerry Lewis and Don Knotts, Knotts did the smarter thing. He stayed in the game, and rode what he had till he didn't look that much different from other old people and therefore wasn't as funny anymore. The thing is, we all kind of look the same in the end.
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