Gomer Pyle - Character

Character

Pyle is a good-natured, naïve single man from Mayberry, North Carolina. The only apparent employee at Wally's Filling Station, he initially lived there in a back room. Wide-eyed and slack jawed, he usually wore a service station uniform and a baseball cap with an upturned bill; a handkerchief dangled from his back pocket. He initially displayed scant knowledge of automotive mechanics: in "The Great Filling Station Robbery", for example, he thought a carburetor was a hood ornament. However, in other episodes he was able to diagnose mechanical problems for the average lay person.

Like his cousin Goober, Gomer provided comic relief, awestruck by the simplest of things, resulting in the exclamation of his catchphrases, "Shazam!", "G-o-l-l-y", "Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!", and "shame, shame, shame!", as appropriate.

Gomer was sometimes deputized by Deputy Barney Fife, when Sheriff Taylor was otherwise occupied. Though always compliant, Gomer's ineptitude usually made him more of a hindrance than a help in the line of duty. However, in the eyes of his friends, especially Sheriff Andy Taylor, his shortcomings were generally outweighed by his gentle, generous spirit.

Gomer's Mayberry roots were evident in the spin-off series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., where his countrified, backward nature served as the keystone for the show's humor, making him a comic foil to the hard-nosed drill instructor, Sgt. Vince Carter, played by Frank Sutton.

At first Sergeant Carter was rankled and extremely irritated by the slow-witted Pyle, and dreamed of ways to rid himself of the private's presence. Over the course of the series, however, Carter began to tolerate Pyle, and even grew to respect him. Pyle, though always unconventional, developed into a good Marine, yet never went an episode without causing some degree of irritation for Carter. In the final episode, Gomer requests a transfer after realizing he is nothing but a source of constant anxiety for Carter. Carter, initially pleased with the request, later arranges for the transfer to be denied; and, the episode ends with Carter insisting the two shake hands, not knowing Gomer's hand is covered in shellac.

Both The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle USMC ended their runs by the late 1960s. While Mayberry RFD continued from 1968–71, where The Andy Griffith Show left off, the concept of returning Gomer to Mayberry was nixed, as the actor was given a CBS variety show of his own (which lasted two seasons). Gomer eventually returned, along with most of the original cast of The Andy Griffith Show, to the 1986 television movie Return to Mayberry. Gomer and Goober Pyle run a gas station/car repair shop called "G & G Garage," implying that Gomer's Marine career had, at some point, ended.

Jim Nabors briefly reprised his role in Cannonball Run II, under the name Homer Lyle.

On an episode of The Lucy Show, "Lucy Gets Caught Up in the Draft," Nabors has a cameo role as "Gomer Pyle".

When both The Carol Burnett Show and GPUSMC were running on CBS first-run, there would be an annual crossover between the series – with a character played by Burnett appearing on GPUSMC, and Nabors appearing on Burnett's variety show on the first episode of every season.