In Pop Culture
The character of Floyd the Barber has proved to be a large part of the pop culture as proven by these examples: In two episodes of the comedy sketch program Second City Television, actor Eugene Levy played Floyd the Barber. His first appearance was in a parody of The Godfather, in the opening scene as Amerigo Bonasera, in which he asks the Don to hurt Opie for breaking his barber pole. The last line delivered by Floyd is "Ohh, and would you kill Howard Sprague for me?" referring to Howard Sprague, a character from The Andy Griffith Show. His other appearance was in a parody of The Andy Griffith Show, "The Merv Griffith Show," in which he is in his barber shop cutting hair and at a surprise party for Gomer.
Kurt Cobain wrote a song titled "Floyd the Barber" that was recorded on Nirvana's first album, Bleach. In the song, Floyd, Barney, Opie and Aunt Bee hold him captive after he comes in for a shave, torturing and murdering him. Interestingly, when Cobain's body was found, the television was tuned to a station that aired syndicated re-runs of The Andy Griffith Show. It may have been one of the last images he saw.
St. Elsewhere, which frequently referenced other television programmes, had a barber named Floyd in the series finale (which also referred to Dr. Kimble's one-armed patient being on the loose, Henry Blake (patient no. 4077) being the victim of a helicopter crash, and a re-enactment of the Mary Tyler Moore’s group-hug & shuffle to the tissues).
Floyd Lawson is also referenced in the theme song for the TV series Freakazoid as being the titular hero's barber.
He is also mentioned numerous times on different episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
In the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," there is a scene where Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and guest star Joan Collins are walking down a street supposedly located in New York City, New York during the 1930s. As they are walking down the sidewalk, the glass window clearly marked "Floyd's Barber Shop" is visible briefly. This is because both shows used the outdoor Desilu Studios lot that was originally constructed as "Atlanta" in the 1939 film Gone With The Wind.
In an episode of St. Elsewhere, guest-starring Griffith cast member Jack Dodson, the characters make reference to the hospital's barber also named Floyd. Dodson's character adds, "He may bury us all."
On NBC's sitcom 30 Rock, Liz Lemon's recurring boyfriend, a recovering alcoholic, is named Floyd De Barber and played by SNL cast member Jason Sudeikis.
In Andy Griffith's real hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina, barber Russell Hiatt has cut hair for several decades in his institution called "Floyd's City Barber Shop" while also welcoming streams of tourists including, on one occasion, Oprah Winfrey. George "Goober" Lindsey and John Schneider (of The Dukes of Hazzard and Smallville) both had their hair trimmed by Hiatt himself while visiting Mount Airy.
His voice and mannerisms are sometimes imitated by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.
FX series Sons of Anarchy featured a barber by the name of Floyd, first showing up in season 1.
In the English dub of Digimon: The Movie, Matt and T.K. go to a barber shop where the barber is addressed as "Floyd". In the closing credits, other characters in the barber shop are credited as "Andy", "Barney" and "Aunt Bea".
Read more about this topic: Floyd Lawson
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