Created byBill Haderand Alec Berg, few TV shows have been able to strike the perfect balance between dark humor and violent action like HBO’sBarry. The series follows Barry Berkman (Hader), a professional assassin from the Midwest who takes a job in Los Angeles, where he begins moonlighting as an amateur actor in the local theater scene. The highly amusing show won 9 Primetime Emmy Awards throughout its 4-season, 32-episode run, with the last season ending ona solid perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.
WithBarrycompleting its dramatic arc in May 2023, plenty of time has passed to reflect on the series and single out the all-time most quotable moments. Between Barry himself and his colorfully sordid associates like Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) and Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root), there’s no shortage of hilarious and unforgettably poignant character quotes in the HBO original series.
10"Now Is Not the Time to Grow a Heart, Dipsh*t." — Monroe Fuches
As Barry grapples with his existential crisis between being an assassin and becoming an actor, his high-strung mentor,Monroe Fuches, tries his best to support Barry’s desires. Between giving bad acting advice and ensuring Barry completes his killing assignments, Fuches always delivers absurdly pithy lines at the most inappropriate times. In Season 2, an unforgettable example occurs inside a car as Fuches has his face bitten by Lily.
As Lily lunges over the back seat and sinks her teeth into Fuches' cheeks, he pleads for Barry to help him from the passenger seat. Despite being a cold-blooded killer whose job it is to murder people, Barry suddenly has a striking moment of conscience that disallows him from helping his mentor out. With Lily’s teeth firmly buried in his face, Fuches furiously bemoans,“Now is not the time to grow a heart, dipsh*t.“The line brilliantly captures the mix of humor and violence that defines the series.
9"She Was Like a Feral Mongoose!” — Barry Berkman
Taking out Lily definitely presented a memorable and hilariously difficult time forBarryand Fuches onthe HBO comedy show. After Lily, the 11-year old rabid tween daughter of a mark they were assigned to kill, leaves Barry and Fuches bloodied and bruised, the two stop for a moment to rethink their strategy and pour peroxide on their wounds. Barry warns Fuches that the girl is highly dangerous, like an animal.
While the phrase"She was like a feral mongoose!“is funny on its own, Hader’s droll delivery takes it over the top. Keeled over the car seat with his head near the window, Barry looks physically ill and on the verge of vomiting as he states the line. If that wasn’t funny enough, the camera quickly cuts to the back of Fuches, who futilely drops his head out of sheer terror and despair. “I get it, why you don’t want to do this work, anymore,” Fuches laments as the little girl gets away scot-free.
8"The Raven Lives in the Shadow, My Friends.” — NoHo Hank
NoHo Hank has many of the best quotes inBarry. The lighthearted Chechen assassin is both absurdly childish and mortifying at once, which leads to some of the most amusing scenarios on the show. During a police interrogation in which he’s forced to name Fuches, Hank tells the police that Fuches is a killer known as “The Raven,” a nickname that causes the cops to roll their eyes and shrug their shoulders in disbelief for how silly it is.
Despite the silliness, Hank doubles down on the description of Fuches as a mysterious criminal known as The Raven. When the police ask Hank where they can find the criminal, Hank delivers the devilishly ominous line,“The Raven lives…in the shadows, my friends.”
The pregnant pause, dramatic musical sting, and slow zoom into Hank’s face as he states the quote are hilariously self-aware, making Hank appear like a Marvel villain. Beyond the humor, the quote proves that Hank is willing to protect Barry and Fuches even after the former attempted to frame Hank for the murder of Moss.
7"If There’s One Thing I’ve Learned in My Life, You Can’t Control What Other People Are Going to Do.” — Gene Cousineau
Barry’s acting teacherGene Cousineauhas several funny rants, monologues, and hysterical zingers that push the assassin to become a better stage performer inthe acclaimed HBO crime show. Yet, in between the amusing asides and colorful anecdotes, Cousineau is known to let a pearl of wisdom and a nugget of truth slip through here and there. Deep down, he cares for Barry and supports his growth as a budding artist.
Case in point: during a candid confession, Cousineau tells Barry that life experience has taught him that it’s illogical to worry about what other people are going to do.“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, you’re able to’t control what other people are going to do.”
Cousineau sacrificed his home life to become a successful actor and instructor, which resulted in his wife leaving him and his son resenting his choices. Through his past trials and tribulations, Cousineau communicates to Barry that a person can only control their own actions, and it’s best not to overstep the boundaries and try to do too much.
6"I Didn’t Feel Like I Deserved a Good Life." — Barry Berkman
At the heart of the show,Barryis torn between his past transgressions and future atonement. The more time he spends in Los Angeles consorting with actors, the more he desires to leave his violent past behind and start life anew. In one candidly vulnerable moment that speaks to Barry’s internal battle, he states that he never felt like he deserved a good life to begin with, which is why he felt the need to go into a life of crime as a contract killer.
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By confessing,“I didn’t feel like I deserved a good life,“Barry is recognizing and directly confronting the existential dilemma that informs his entire storyline. As Barry tries to evolve from a nihilistic, morally bankrupt criminal to an artist able to express the human condition, he articulates that his upbringing led him down the wrong path. Had Barry felt more deserving of a happier life, he almost certainly never would have become an assassin. The quote sheds trenchant insight into Barry’s evolving character.
5"You Just Fed This Moment, This Beautiful, Tender Moment With Your Accordion. You Just Whipped Out Your Accordion, and Fed It, Man.” — NoHo Hank
The brilliance ofBarryis how it balances salient dramatic quotes with side-splitting levity.NoHo Hankperfectly embodies this contradiction, with one of the funniest moments in the show coming when Hank and Barry train a bunch of assassins in the desert. After a ludicrous song and dance number, Hank gives Barry a gift as a token of appreciation for all he’s done for him.
Just as Hank expresses his gratitude in an incredibly warm and vulnerable moment, a joyous accordion player randomly interrupts the exchange with a frilly musical cue that causes Hank to abruptly erupt with anger. “Are you f***ng serious?!” Hank begins before launching into a profane diatribe that is so funny that Bill Hader can be seen trying not to laugh onscreen.
“You just fed this moment, this beautiful, tender moment with your accordion. You just whipped out your accordion, and fed it, man.“Beyond shading Hank’s character, the quote captures the heart ofthe highly rewatchable HBO series' absurdity.
4"You Want to Know What I’m Good at? I’m Good at Killing People!” — Barry Berkman
Before overhauling his image and taking a new life path in Los Angeles,Barryutters one of the coolest and most badass self-descriptions in the show’s pilot episode. Arriving in Hollywood to complete a new job given to him by his mentor, Fuches, it doesn’t take Barry long to adapt to his new surroundings. However, when he misses acting class, Cousineau wonders what Barry is up to.
Responding with a bone-chilling monologue that establishes the arc of the character, Barry looks Cousineau dead in the eye and tells him,“You want to know what I’m good at? I’m good at killing people!”
The best part about the exchange is that Cousineau thinks it’s an improvised monologue that Barry has been working on as part of his acting class. Rather, Barry tells the truth and gains invaluable experience as a performer at once, which gives him the courage to leave his old life behind andstart anew as an actor.
3"I Know There’s More to Me Than That.” — Barry Berkman
As if a direct response to the previous quotation,Barry’sevolution from an amoral murderer to a moral thespian comes to light directly through speech. With Fuches pulling him toward the past and Cousineau pushing him toward the future, Barry begins to see a clearer picture of where he stands in the world. Clinging to his last shred of humanity, deep down, Barry knows there’s much more in his heart, mind, and soul than to continue as a killer for hire.
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The first step in rectifying a problem is recognizing a problem exists to begin with. The quote"I know there’s more to me than that"proves that Barry is beginning to see the folly of his ways and that all hope is not lost. Deep down, Barry knows that he has more to give to the world than an escalating body count, and by being honest with himself, he can take the proper steps to find a healing path and make sweeping life changes for the better.
2"You Know I Take No Pleasure in Killing People.” — Barry Berkman
With a bit of time to plot his next move,Barrydoes some restful soul-searching as he takes a break from killing. In rediscovering his identity during the downtime, Barry asks Hank if he thinks that Barry is evil. Hank tells him that Barry is the most evil person he knows, prompting Barry to voice his displeasure about his violent vocation, indicating yet another step in his redemptive character arc.
Shocked by Hank telling him that Barry is “evil incarnate,” Barry responds with the equally surprising admission,“You know I take no pleaseure in killing people.“While it’s hard to reconcile the statement after such quotes as “I’m good at killing people,” it shows how conflicted and contradictory Barry is in the series and how hard he works to shed his past to forge a brighter future. The scene also proves why Barry ranks amongHader’s best acting performancesto date.
1"Can You Say It? Can You Say It, Again?” — Barry Berkman
If nothing else,Barryis a wayward soul who severely lacks love in his life. As a professional assassin, he is unable to get close to anyone, including his romantic partners and mentors alike. Yet, all that changes when Barry is tasked with killing Cousineau before Cousineau kills Barry out of revenge for the death of Moss. Just when death is expected, an incredibly tender and heartfelt moment dashes storytelling conventions.
When Barry hunts Cousineau down and promises to kill his family, Barry also tells his acting instructor that he loves him. Cousineau doesn’t respond, prompting Barry to ask him if he loves him too. Broken, tearful, and at his width’s end, all Barry wants to hear is that someone in his life loves him.
When Cousineau finally says to him, “I love you Barry,” the assassin painfully asks,“Can you say it again?“as if he can’t believe it unless it is said twice. It’s a heartbreaking moment played brilliantly by Hader that makes viewers relate to him and root for his success even after allthe terrible things he’s done on the show.
