Henry Winkler’s resurgence has been wonderful to watch.
The actor who rose to prominence playing Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on Happy Days has re-entered the public consciousness over the past two decades thanks to his Hank Zipser books, as well as roles in Adam Sandler-adjacent films (The Waterboy, Here Comes the Boom) and as the iconic “worst [expletive] attorney” Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development.
As good as he’s been, the defining piece of his renaissance is his role as acting coach Gene Cousineau in HBO’s Barry, a dark comedy that has aggressively favored the former word in that descriptor over the latter as it has gone on. Winkler has been Emmy-worthy throughout the show’s third season, but there was no better display of his talent and range than in the season finale, which was broadcast Sunday night.
But when he went on Rich Eisen’s show as part of a promotional tour to discuss his work, Winkler was more interested in the NFL than talking about himself.
Things we weren't expecting today: @hwinkler4real interrupting us promoting the season 3 finale of #BarryHBO to ask @richeisen if he knew @PatrickMahomes?
Yes, yes he does:#NFL #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/382CFKBzAo
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) June 10, 2022
“Have you met Patrick Mahomes?” Winkler asked a surprised Eisen, who’d launched into a plug for Barry moments before being kindly interrupted. “He’s one of my heroes. That’s true. I root for that team, even though I have never lived there. I think he is just phenomenal to watch.”
“Apropos of?” asked Eisen.
“Nothing!” responded Winkler, who then went on to ask about Aaron Donald’s contract status — and then earnestly congratulate the three-time defensive player of the year — as the host and his production crew laughed in the background. The legendary actor then went on to riff about the durability of football players and Sandler’s inability to dress himself properly before finally getting back to the show he was ostensibly there to talk up.
This is all massively on-brand for Winkler, who remains a cultural icon but constantly comes across as a guy who genuinely wants to swap stories with whomever he’s lucky enough to talk with. He began a pre-finale interview with Vulture by dissecting his experiences with Frank Sinatra. He ended it by talking about all the dogs he hugged on the set of Barry:
“I made friends with all of them. They were all in a pen in the backyard where it took place. There were 32 in total, and I hugged every one of them. I’m a dog lover. I have three dogs. A Labradoodle, a goldendoodle, and a one-legged, idiosyncratic German shepherd.”
This is all to say Patrick Mahomes should absolutely carve out a spot on his schedule to meet Winkler and possibly visit a dog shelter together. If Winkler’s latest round of interviews is any indication, they’ll have plenty to talk about.
