Summary
NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) is my favorite character in Bill Hader’s HBO seriesBarry, and his death hits me hard every time I watch it for one big reason. When I first startedBarryI wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d known and grown to loveBill Hader for his characters onSNLand the too few movies he would make tantalizingly brief appearances in.Barrywas pitched as a black comedy, but when the first episode started, it was much more black than comedy, and I was a little uneasy about this new tone Hader was operating in.
“Where are the completely over-the-top characters?”, I wondered. Why does everyone look like normal, everyday people? Why — Oh, there’s NoHo Hank. Now I get it.Barryquickly became one of my favorite shows, andNoHo Hank provided the funniest quoteswhile also having some truly gut-wrenching and terrifying moments. I’ve loved NoHo Hank,whose name comes from the abbreviation for North Hollywood, a reference to his home and his personal “Hollywood” aesthetic. While there are a lot of reasons I was sad Hank had to die, there’s one that depresses me more than any.
Barry: 10 NoHo Hank Quotes That Prove He’s a Good Guy
While NoHo Hank may be expected to be a hard as nails gangster, these quotes prove underneath all that he’s really just a good guy.
NoHo Hank Was The Best Barry Character Because He Kept The Show Funny
Even with the hilarious Bill Hader as the lead character,Barrybecame an increasingly grim show episode by episode. It got to the point where I could feel my stomach turning into knots whenever Barry even came on screen. Fortunately, Noho Hank was always there to provide the laughs and break the tension at critical points.Hank is just about the happiest violent gangster there is, and the juxtaposition never fails to get a laugh from me.
He’s a ruthless killer who has no problem being surrounded by murderers and drug runners, but he also has his mind on the latest fad food crazes in LA.
When Barry asks Hank if he’s evil, Hank’s proud response, “I mean absolutely! Do I not tell you that enough? You are like the most evil guy I know, man. All this talking has made me hungry. You know what I could really go for? Yoshinoya beef bowl.” It’s the perfect summation of the two halves of Hank. He’s a ruthless killer who has no problem being surrounded by murderers and drug runners, but he also has his mind on the latest fad food crazes in LA.
The sequence of NoHo Hank trying to get his “guys” to shoot Barry and failing miserably may never leave my head. My friends and I, still to this day, will say, “Fifty-fifty with Cristobal” whenever we land on a decision that everyone’s content with. Up until the end of the show, I could always count on Hank to cool down a white-knuckling episode.
I Knew NoHo Hank Should Have Picked Cristobal Over The Chechen Mob — And His Death Proves It
Hank Would Not Stop His Criminal Work Leading To Cristobal’s Death
Unfortunately, NoHo Hank’s sense of humor doesn’t protect him for long, and when he develops a loving relationship with Cristobal (Michael Irby), the show’s utter darkness finally touches Hank’s story. In season 4, episode 4, “it takes a psycho”, Cristobal, horrified by Hank betraying his promise to go legitimate and stop killing, walks out of their life, only to be killed by Hank’s Chechen associates, acting with his approval.
NoHo Hank was only supposed to be in the pilot episode and then killed off by Barry, but Hader and the other showrunners were so impressed with Carrigan’s performance, that they kept him around (viaUproxx).
At the beginning ofBarry, Hank and Cristobal’s relationship is a rom-com in the middle of the brutality. As the series went on, it grew into one of my favorite relationships on the show, with it clear how much they cared for one another. In the finale, after being teased too much by Fuches (Stephen Root), Hank throws everything away to defend his ex-lover’s memory and guns down Fuches' men, dying in the process, with his hand clasping the bronze hand of the statue he made of Cristobal. Had he chosen more wisely, he could’ve been holding Cristobal’s actual hand.
Barry
Cast
A hitman becomes captivated by an acting class and seeks to abandon his criminal past for a life on stage. As he struggles to balance his new aspirations with his violent profession, the series delves into his internal conflict and unexpected encounters within the world of theatre.
