# Barry on HBO **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723 "2018-09-04T02:01:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/21 "2019-05-08T00:39:36Z")
If “ronny/lily” doesn’t get every Emmy it’s sure to be nominated for, I’ll be extremely surprised. This show keeps going from strength to strength. Before the second season began I heard Hader saying it’s very dark, and that can mean a variety of things…so I was wondering if I’d still love it. Definitely still do. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/22 "2019-05-08T00:52:39Z")
Absolutely brilliant show. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/23 "2019-05-10T12:56:38Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m about one episode behind. > > Did you guys see the “hit gone wrong” episode? “ronny/lily” is the title and I am not kidding, it is an all-time classic for comedy half-hour shows. > > Everything goes completely wrong in Barry’s hit, but does so in a hilariously crazy way. Bizarre, strange, no way to explain it. > > An amazing episode. I find Barry to be a good show, but not quite as great as some people think. This one, though, was laugh-out-loud hilarious and kind of painful, too. That was one of the funniest things I’ve seen a long time. I kept wondering why Ronny looked so familiar. The actor (Daniel Bernhardt) is probably best known as Agent Johnson (hmm, upgrades) from _The Matrix Reloaded_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/24 "2019-05-10T13:35:10Z")
This is one of only two shows that I watch weekly. I enjoy it so much that I have accidentally invented reverse binging, or maybe anti-binging, to enhance my enjoyment. When I sat down to watch the second episode of this season, the little potted summary of the previous episode made me realise that my memory of it was fairly vague. So I watched episode 1 before watching episode 2. And I have followed this practice every week since. The re-watch gives a whole different perspective partly from having seen _Inside The Episode_ the week before. If I had my way it would be the law that every TV show have a segment, just as brief and informative, after the credits. I couldn’t imagine going back to “normal” watching, it would stunt my watching pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/25 "2019-05-10T14:06:54Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m about one episode behind. > > Did you guys see the “hit gone wrong” episode? “ronny/lily” is the title and I am not kidding, it is an all-time classic for comedy half-hour shows. > > Everything goes completely wrong in Barry’s hit, but does so in a hilariously crazy way. Bizarre, strange, no way to explain it. > > An amazing episode. I find Barry to be a good show, but not quite as great as some people think. This one, though, was laugh-out-loud hilarious and kind of painful, too. I saw that immediately after The Long Night episode of Game of Thrones and it was weirdly a release from the tension while also being tense in a different way. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/26 "2019-05-10T15:56:45Z")
Wow, that feral mongoose Lily is one crazy bad ass kid! ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/27 "2019-05-10T16:32:20Z")
I really like Sally, but I don’t think she’s shallow, exactly. A little self absorbed, but very sweet. She reminds me a lot of a former girlfriend, so I guess I have a soft spot for the character. But for pure laughs on this show, it’s NoHo Hank. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/28 "2019-05-20T22:28:23Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > …But for pure laughs on this show, it’s NoHo Hank. Laughable—and lucky. (In the season two finale.) I have no idea how accurate Anthony Carrigan’s Chechen accent is, but I do always “hear” the name of the show in his voice—BAH-ree! ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/29 "2019-05-21T02:51:15Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > I really like Sally, but I don’t think she’s shallow, exactly. A little self absorbed, but very sweet. Yeah, a good example was that fantastic monologue in the season finale during which she wondered aloud “am I the voice of a movement?” > [@Alex\_from\_CB](#): > > Yea, love this show. A mix of humor and great intensity. Agree with MsWhatsit, above. Barry’s love interest, Sally Reed, played by Sarah Goldberg, plays a woman who is C- quality actress. Tricky, I’m sure. I think she might be just a bit better than that, as we’ve seen demonstrated in the past couple episodes. This was an interesting conclusion to her profile in Vanity Fair: > **[Inside Barry’s Wretchedly Self-Absorbed Female Lead](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/05/barry-hbo-sally-sarah-goldberg)** > > Sarah Goldberg wouldn’t call Sally Reed “unlikable.” > [@](#): > > The role can still surprise her. Goldberg did not anticipate that Sally would turn down the TV job: “I can’t imagine she’s having an easy time paying her rent. But then I thought, ‘O.K., I think this is where the evolution begins with her.’” > > That plot point made the actress think about an incident several years ago, in which she turned down a role because it seemed like “soft porn.” > > “I was going in for a casting director I really like, but the scene was like—‘she rides the horse bareback, she takes his cock in her hand,’” Goldberg recalled. > > “I was like, ‘what the fuck is this?’” she said. “Anyway, it was Game of Thrones.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/30 "2019-06-19T13:22:17Z")
My wife and I started watching this show a few weeks ago and we just watched “Ronny/Lily” last night, which was in my opinion one of the ten or twenty greatest episodes of television ever created. I was crying with laughter. I just love this show. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s funny but serious, ridiculous but dark. The main character is sympathetic and objectively evil. Bill Hader, a comedian, is the straight man and delivers a performance I never in ten billion years would have thought him capable of. Henry Winkler is a scream. Stephen Root and Sarah Goldberg are just perfect. Good Lord, what a show. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/31 "2019-06-19T13:37:37Z")
I saw that episode of Barry, ronny/lily, when it first aired on April 28, immediately after the third episode of the final season of Game of Thrones. That was a particularly tense episode of Game of Thrones, so watching Barry was great as a kind of tension reliever. (It was tense in its own way, but also very weird and hilarious.) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/32 "2019-06-19T14:50:42Z")
I should add that I do a near-perfect Hank impression and can crack my wife up saying “Baaaaarry?” God, what a show. Anthony Carrigan is a scream. He must think he’s died and gone to actor heaven playing that role. The scenes with the actors are wonderful, too; it’s both absurd and yet realistic. (My wife, with no dramatic training at all, struggles to believe the shit they do is realistic. I keep assuring her it is.) I find it endlessly impressive how the real life actors, playing fake actors, can shift from appearing shitty to being amazing - Sarah Goldberg is particularly adept at this. Something I noticed early on is that Bill Hader clearly had a very good instructor teach him how to handle weapons. He looks like a professional soldier. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/33 "2019-06-19T15:05:58Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > My wife and I started watching this show a few weeks ago and we just watched “Ronny/Lily” last night, which was in my opinion one of the ten or twenty greatest episodes of television ever created. Ooooh, top 20? I’m not sure. It certainly would make that list for the last decade. Top 50 of all time? Maybe. It was certainly great and will probably be the best episode of TV I saw this year. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/34 "2019-06-19T22:33:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > … I find it endlessly impressive how the real life actors, playing fake actors, can shift from appearing shitty to being amazing - Sarah Goldberg is particularly adept at this. … Yes, the cast deserves enormous credit for this hard-to-pull-off achievement. It’s sort of like a skilled singer trying to sound tone-deaf—very easy to overdo the effort, or otherwise be unconvincing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/35 "2019-06-20T00:32:08Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I should add that I do a near-perfect Hank impression and can crack my wife up saying “Baaaaarry?” God, what a show. Anthony Carrigan is a scream. He must think he’s died and gone to actor heaven playing that role. According to [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bill-ted-3-is-anthony-carrigan-playing-death-jr-1219823), Carrigan was cast in the upcoming Bill & Ted film, which will star Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as older versions of their characters from the earlier films. If you remember, William Sadler played Death in the second film, so the article speculates that Carrigan might be playing Death Jr here. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/36 "2019-06-20T00:33:48Z")
I don’t get that at all. Of all the characters in the world these people have had close contact with, it’s bad actors. They’ve probably had bad actor roomates, coworkers or friends their entire career. I get the juxtaposition you guys are seeing but playing a bad actor is probably a million times easier than playing someone with autism or something. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/37 "2019-06-20T00:40:23Z")
Eta: they are doing a good job though! I love the show. I just don’t think playing a bad actor is a particularly incredible feat. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/38 "2019-07-19T00:46:48Z")
Just finished bingeing this in like two days, amazing show. One question though, how did the chechen pin get on the crime scene? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/39 "2019-07-19T00:52:53Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Just finished bingeing this in like two days, amazing show. One question though, how did the chechen pin get on the crime scene? Barry tossed it in there when he got to the scene. (He’d been given it as a mark of honor, earlier, by Hank, as I recall.) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-on-hbo/820723/40 "2019-07-19T01:07:33Z")
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