Don Adams and Barbara Feldon co-starred on which 1960s TV spy comedy?

Get Smart is the answer. The 1960s TV spy comedy paired Don Adams as Maxwell Smart with Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, using Mel Brooks and Buck Henry’s Cold War spy parody format to send CONTROL agents against KAOS villains in a comic take on secret-agent stories.

Get Smart and the Spy-Comedy Boom

Get Smart premiered in 1965 and arrived during a period when spy dramas and James Bond-style secret-agent stories were highly visible in popular culture. The series turned those serious espionage formulas into comedy by mixing gadgets, missions, disguises, and danger with absurd mistakes and deadpan dialogue. It originally aired on NBC before later moving to CBS.

Don Adams as Maxwell Smart

Don Adams played Maxwell Smart, also known as Agent 86. Smart worked for the spy agency CONTROL, but much of the comedy came from the gap between his confidence and his frequent incompetence. Adams gave the character a clipped delivery and catchphrase-driven style that made Maxwell Smart easy to recognize.

Barbara Feldon as Agent 99

Barbara Feldon played Agent 99, Smart’s capable partner at CONTROL. Agent 99 often appeared calmer, smarter, and more observant than Maxwell Smart, which made their partnership central to the show’s humor. Her role kept the spy stories moving even when Smart misunderstood clues or created problems during missions.

CONTROL, KAOS, and the Parody Format

Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created Get Smart as a parody of Cold War spy fiction. CONTROL served as the good-guy intelligence agency, while KAOS was its enemy organization. That simple setup let the series spoof secret headquarters, enemy plots, spy gadgets, dramatic briefings, and undercover assignments while staying focused on the comic contrast between Maxwell Smart’s confidence and the chaos around him.