Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond

Winkler saw a therapist for two years. Despite his optimism, the early 2010s were difficult. Even though he was doing steady voice work on Clifford’s Puppy Days, Rugrats, and Monsters at Work, he was struggling to get live-action roles. He realized this was due in large part to his age. Even after he got plastic surgery to remove fat from his neck, he still struggled to find work. Max, Zoe, and Stacey encouraged him to find a new agent, but Winkler doubted he would have luck with one. Eventually, he started working with Leigh Brillstein, but then he was without an agent for a while. He describes the chaos of caring for his children’s dogs while they were away along with his and Stacey’s dogs. He shares that Jed married his wife Amanda in 2008 and had two daughters, Indya and Lulu. They had a dog named Ringo who initially avoided Winkler until he endeared Ringo to him with deli turkey.

In 2013, Max introduced him to his manager Cliff Murray, who gave him career advice. Soon after, Winkler was hired to play Dr. Lu Saperstein on a couple of episodes of Parks and Recreation before staying on the show for three years, which he believes was lead actress Amy Poehler’s decision. Winkler and Lin Oliver decided to get the Hank Zipzer books adapted into a television series. They pitched the idea to Disney, who liked the idea but felt that the stories needed to be more aspirational. Winkler felt differently, writing that readers liked the books’ candor and openness about the challenges of dyslexia. Eventually, he and Oliver sent the pitch to BBC in the UK, who made it into a successful television series with actors whose talent Winkler praised. Winkler tried to get a series about his family made, which never got picked up. Though disappointed, Winkler wondered if it was as well that it did not succeed, as he might not have gotten on the show Barry.

Winkler reveals that he met Robert De Niro while filming Happy Days and praised his use of the word “fuck” in Mean Streets (178). Years later, he saw De Niro again at the premiere party for The Intern. De Niro remembered his praise of him and smiled. Winkler thought that he finally seemed to be getting in with the cool kids. However, he soon realized he needed to stop pursuing validation from others. He was aware that his childhood insecurities were impacting his marriage to Stacey and that he needed to confront them. Winkler started seeing another therapist, who resisted his attempts to charm her and deflect. He slowly began to remove the insecure boy inside his psyche. In 2016, he got a call that he was on the waitlist to be in Bill Hader’s HBO series Barry as the acting teacher Gene Cousineau. During his audition, he made Bill laugh. After a weeks-long agonizing wait, Bill called him for a second audition for another scene. He made Bill laugh again throughout and co-creator and executive producer Alec Berg smile. Feeling hopeful, he left and befriended actress Sarah Goldberg before finding his car.

Winkler turned down a fried chicken commercial due to getting a gut feeling against it. After, he received a call from Hader asking if he wanted to play Gene. Winkler says he did and began reading for the pilot episode. His performance, which includes him slamming a table, impressed HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. Bill and Alec told Winkler that they based Gene off of a known acting teacher in Los Angeles who was infamous and disliked by many. The three got the idea to have Gene, like the teacher, try to sell his art to his students. After filming the pilot, they waited for HBO to pick up the series.

Winkler describes how Zoe started the charity This Is About Humanity (TIAH) after seeing news coverage of detained immigrant children at the Mexican border and thinking about what would happen if her children were separated from her. Winkler continued to do voice work and wrote other books including the Ghost Buddy series and Alien Superstar. He continued to work on tackling his childhood issues with insecurity and perfectionism.

HBO picked up Barry, and the crew filmed eight episodes for the first season. Winkler did acting exercises as his character and, while memorizing his lines, marveled at Bill’s writing. He also admired some of the episodes’ direction by Hiro Murai, who had gone to Max’s film class and directed and produced episodes of Atlanta. In 2018, Barry was nominated for multiple primetime Emmys, including Winkler as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. To his even greater amazement, presenter Claire Foy called his name for the award. On the stage, Winkler made a speech thanking Bill and the crew, his agent, his family, and others. Later, in person, he thanked his therapist for the progress he made, believing he would not have won the award without her help.

Winkler recalls traveling with Bob Daly and his second wife Carole Bayer Sager alongside Stacey and eating at fine restaurants around the world in the 1990s. He taught acting classes soon after the success of Barry, having taught acting before at Northwestern, the Burbank campus of New York Film Academy, and his alma mater Emerson College in the past. He committed to listening to his students and was amazed by their talent. Winning his first primetime Emmy award gave him more confidence and made him finally feel like he was as good as his peers.

Winkler mentions that Max had married British actress Jessica Barden in an at-home ceremony during the pandemic and soon after had a daughter named Frances Joan. He writes that Barry was given a second season and that his character Gene was given a romantic plot with Paula Newsome’s Janice Moss. Winkler won a Critic’s Choice Award for the role. They started reading for season 3, but production was halted by the pandemic. During this time, Winkler connected with his family and close friends, for which he was thankful.

In 2021, production continued and Barry’s third season was filmed. Winkler was astounded by both the humor of the later seasons and the progressively dark turns. He liked taking his performances as Gene in a more dramatic direction. He notes that he was still working on removing his little boy self. Stacey talks about Winkler’s fear of being past his peak and a “[H]as-been” (201). She loves the progress he has made during therapy and finding satisfaction and pride in himself.

Winkler says he loved nearly every crew he was in. Although he had struggled to find an acting identity outside the Fonz, he is joyful about the delight the character gave to so many people, including children with disabilities and celebrities such as Joaquin Phoenix. He recalls Michael Eisner’s skepticism about his genuineness. He says he likes to think he is nice and reflects on the collective human desires for love and security. He concludes by stating that fly-fishing is his form of meditation, which connects to a world far bigger than him and gives him peace.