Best known for his performance as "The Mayberry Deputy," Barney Fife, Browning has been impersonating the character since 1988.
Then a friend of Browning hired the Dillards, known to watchers of "The Andy Griffith Show" as the "Darling boys", to play bluegrass music in Bristol, Tenn., Browning, who started out in community theater, put together a "Barney Fife" type act based on his sense of recall (since Browning said he'd seen all the Andy Griffith shows at one time or another).
His first performance was a hit.
Browning thinks people enjoy the "Fife" character because it reminds them of a time gone by.
"The character is funny and it's clean entertainment. In the world we live in today, people are searching for their own Mayberry," he says.
"I value this character for what it gives to people today. Laughter and memories." As a minister with the Baptist Ministerial Association told Browning, "You are ministering to people with your corny jokes and clean humor."
"The Mayberry Deputy", "Abe Lincoln", and "Ebenezer Scrooge" are just a few of the Bristol, Va., native's acts.
Tickets can be purchased from any chamber board member or picked up at the Bell County Chamber of Commerce Office on North 20th Street in Middlesboro.
The meeting will be conducted April 7 at 6 p.m. at the Pine Mountain State Resort Park. Price of admission is $35 per person. A reception and dinner is included.
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