Barry is whatever show Bill Hader decides it should be

polygon.com:

In the series premiere of HBO’s Barry, the title character (Bill Hader) delivers what Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) thinks is an improvised monologue about a soldier returning home from Afghanistan and killing people for money. The specifics he conjures — about a family friend who’s like an uncle lining up this job where he only kills “pieces of shit” — are vivid, and the performance feels almost uncomfortably authentic. It should be; after all, it’s really a confession. But it impresses Cousineau so much that he invites Barry to join his acting class. Each subsequent time that Barry gives a competent performance onstage, the reaction is similar — stunned silence that gives way to effusive praise. The subtext is always the same: How did he do that?

Early in Barry’s run, the same could have been asked of Hader, who is still probably best known as Stefon, the giggling nightclub guru from Saturday Night Live. But as Barry enters its third season, it’s no longer surprising to see Hader carry an emotionally nuanced scene on his back. The Barry character is his multidimensional masterpiece as an actor. Hader’s infused him with gallows humor, deep pathos, and a seemingly limitless capacity for violence. And best of all, it works. Hader has come into his own as one of the finest actors on TV over Barry’s run, and he’s done it by using the character to push his own limits.

If watching Hader flex that kind of range was somewhat astonishing at first, it’s because his pre-Barry resume didn’t really indicate he could handle it. Hader joined the cast of SNL in 2005 with very little previous on-screen experience. He quickly settled into a kind of utility-man role, lending a pliable toolkit of solid impressions and infectious