Barney Fife is outwardly smug and self-important, covering up his insecurities and low self-confidence with a display of bravado. He presents himself as an expert on such diverse subjects as firearms, martial arts, women, singing, wilderness survival, psychology, and American history. He frequently tries to impress others with his knowledge or skill in areas where his expertise is quite limited. He wishes to be perceived as "a man of the world", but he is quite naïve, and his fear of appearing ignorant leaves him easily duped. This gullibility is evident when, for example, he is conned into buying a
lemon from a crafty old widow ("Barney's First Car"). Although he believes himself a skilled singer, he has a
tin ear, as highlighted in "Barney and the Choir" and "The Song Festers", although at other times, when he is not trying to show off, he has a pleasant singing voice, performing duets with Andy and his guitar. His attempts to impress others sometimes cause him to accidentally reveal both personal and police secrets, often with dire consequences. An emotional powder keg, Barney often overreacts to challenging situations with panic, despair, or bug-eyed fear. As a law enforcement officer, Barney is overly officious and insistent on doing things "by the book" to the point of absurdity. In one case when Andy was briefly summoned away, as acting sheriff, Barney proceeded to book and lock up
everyone in town for various minor infractions ("Andy Saves Barney's Morale"). In at least one case, though, he is commended for his apparent overzealousness, after he tickets the state governor's car for being parked illegally ("Barney and the Governor"). Barney tends to be alarmist and overreacts to potential dangers. In a case where he believed an ex-convict was coming back to Mayberry to attack Sheriff Taylor, he deputized Goober Pyle and
Otis Campbell (who are even more inept) and attempted to provide 24-hour protection for the sheriff, although in fact no threat existed and the bodyguards did little except interfere with each other ("High Noon in Mayberry"). Barney is often frustrated with the primitive technological tools available to the Mayberry sheriff's department. He sometimes attempts to modernize the department by acquiring equipment of little use in sleepy Mayberry, such as an intercom system for the jailhouse ("The Great Filling Station Robbery"), and a search-and-rescue dog ("Barney's Bloodhound"). On occasion, Barney believes his experience as a long-time deputy qualifies him to be a sheriff. In a second-season episode ("Sheriff Barney"), he is offered the position of sheriff in the nearby town of Greendale, only to learn from Andy the difference between serving as sheriff versus deputy. He runs against Andy, only to later withdraw, in the fifth-season episode "Barney Runs for Sheriff." In
Return to Mayberry, Barney finally holds the position of "acting sheriff" of Mayberry and runs for the office proper, but at the end, encourages the town to
vote for Andy, who has returned to Mayberry. One frequent source of comedy is Barney's incompetence with firearms. After numerous negligent discharges (usually with a
Smith & Wesson or
Colt .38 caliber revolver), Andy restricts Barney to carrying his gun unloaded, with only one bullet in his shirt pocket, "in case of an emergency". However, Barney tends to load his gun unnecessarily, and often ends up firing it into the floor, the ceiling, or his own gun holster. The negligent discharge of Barney's gun becomes a
running gag, usually followed by Barney sheepishly handing his gun to Andy. Another recurring gag has Barney locking himself or both Andy and himself in one of the jail cells, with the keys just out of reach. Another running gag is Barney being captured by escaped criminals twice. A third gag is that even when Barney is competent, the result backfires on him. In the episode "Barney's Sidecar", Barney drives a motorcycle/sidecar quite well on patrol, but Mayberry is so small a town that the motorcycle is practically useless for local law enforcement. Nonetheless, Barney has rare moments of courage and competence, such as when he saves a member of the state police who has been captured by criminals, and apprehends the criminals by driving to the jail with the crooks and their hostage trapped in their trailer ("Jailbreak"). This is one of the few occasions when Barney catches the crooks intentionally rather than by accident. When a vindictive newspaper publisher uses a female employee to trick Barney into giving away "dirt" on Andy to get the latter removed as sheriff (as revenge for getting a speeding citation which he neglected to pay) ("Andy on Trial"), Barney redeems Andy and himself with a speech defending Andy and his record as sheriff. He explains how much of a benefit Andy is to Mayberry; then, in a rare display of candor and a departure from his usual insistence on following the letter of the law, he explains what Andy had been trying to teach him from the moment Barney first became a deputy - that a lawman does better in dealing with people when he goes more by the heart than by the book, thereby allowing Andy to remain sheriff. ==Role in
The Andy Griffith Show==