Barry is an American dark comedy–crime television series created by comedy writers Alec Berg and Bill Hader for HBO, premiering on March 25, 2018.

The entire series, so far, was made avaliable at launch.

Premise

Barry follows Barry Berkman, a former Marine from Ohio who works as a hitman. Lonely and dissatisfied with life, he travels to Los Angeles to kill a target and ends up "finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the L.A. theater scene".

Characters

Main

• Barry Berkman/Barry Block -- A former Marine turned hitman who finds himself drawn towards human connection among a community of aspiring actors. He longs to put his criminal history behind him to become a full-time performer, but can't seem to stop his bloody past from creeping into the new life he tries to build for himself.
• Monroe Fuches -- An old family friend of Barry's who groomed him for a career as a hitman after Barry left the Marines. Fuches is cowardly and self-centered, often dragging Barry back into a life of crime to serve his own personal interest, be it money, power, or revenge.
• Sally Reed -- An aspiring actress in Barry's acting class who also serves as his primary love interest. Sally is focused on becoming a famous actress.
• Goran Pazar -- The leader of the Chechen mafia who employs Barry to take out a man who has been sleeping with his wife.NoHo Hank -- An effusively positive and naive member of the Chechen mafia and Goran's right-hand man. He later becomes the leader of the Chechen mafia himself, but struggles with the responsibility of running an organized crime ring when he is not an inherently violent person.
• Gene Cousineau -- An acting coach and Barry's mentor. Cousineau serves as a father figure to Barry, helping him come to terms with some of the atrocities he has committed throughout his life. However, Cousineau is also incredibly self-obsessed, and rarely seems to help out his students unless there is something of value in it for him.

Cast

• Bill Hader as Barry Berman/Barry Block
• Stephen Root as Monroe Funches
• Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed
• Glen Fleshlr as Goran Pazar
• Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank
• Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau

Reception

Critical

Barry has received critical acclaim, with most praise going towards its writing, humor, characters, and performances (particularly Hader's). The first season of Barry received critical acclaim. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a 98% "certified fresh" rating with an average rating of 8.09/10, based on 81 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "PTSD and comedy make strangely endearing bedfellows in Barry, which proves more poignant than its sketch show premise."

Awards

The series received various accolades, including 30 Primetime Emmy Award nominations; Hader won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series twice, while Winkler won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance in the first season. For the second season, Winkler, Root and Carrigan all received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor, while Goldberg received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.