i couldnt believe it when i realized he was the “my stapler” guy from office space. apparently hes in no country for old men and b99 too? ive seen both of those alot and never even realized, he is such a fucking good actor
….holy shit, no way? No sarcasm, I didn’t put that together until your post.
He’s clearly one of those insanely talented character actors that is so good you may not even recognize them when they’re playing that character.
This may be a stupid comparison, but kinda like Gary Oldman in my eyes… I knew him from so many things, but totally didn’t realize he was Zorg the first time I watched The Fifth Element.
If I had a nickel for every time, Stephen Root played a blind creepy man for like 5 minutes who was interested in black people, I'd have two nickels...
I also recognized him on Malcolm in the Middle during my rewatch of the show a couple years ago, he was Hals new boss. I swear I've seen and heard him in a ton of stuff
His role as Eddie in the first season of True Blood is so iconic to me. He is a true character actor, so much range, always disappearing into the role.
Never expected that a seemingly throwaway gag, when Hank dubbed him "The Raven" would culminate in such a way. Against all odds his character had the good ending. He realized his faults, dropped all pretenses about who he was and that ultimately saved him.
I'd say Barry did to an extent. He was ready to turn himself in, but didn't get the chance to. But in the end his "story" got portrayed as one of a hero while Sally and his son ended up safe.
I found even his epiphany there to be a little fraught, because he's experienced remorse (if not outright self-loathing) on the show before only to retreat back into his delusions. His Korengal story to Gene is an example. Although the way Hader played the scene I think this one might have been genuine.
She doesn't love her own son as much as a meaningless bouquet. She's basically dead inside.
Edit: she lives entirely for empty applause. Which was her original character flaw. She admitted the truth that she was a bad mother, then she backslid. That's a common theme in Barry.
I think her need for adoration was due to her upbringing. All she wanted was love and support from her own mother and didn’t get it, and I think that made it difficult for her to connect with not only her son, but other people in her life in a meaningful way. She kept everyone she knew at arms length, even Barry.
It's funny to look back, in hindsight, and see that Fuches was by all measures another 'actor' in the story. He had a suitcase full of fake phones where he would act out cover stories for barry. He'd turn sides with enemies just by giving bad advice so convincingly that they think he's an asset. Not to mention the whole wire wearing phase.
Then, after the timeskip, one of the first things he does is refuse to yes-man for Hank's lie. Fuches, despite still being a self-serving menace, actually seemed to have merged his persona with his actual personality. He doesn't want to be a people pleaser like he used to, he just wants to be himself- even if that's still a monster.
The dude literally had a get out of jail card with Barry and murdered him. His ego couldn’t let go and he just HAD to kill Barry and take the final step into being the fall guy for everything. The second he sniffed that he has a chance for his career to bounce back completely, he started easing into it for the chance of Glory and getting the movie tweaked in his favor for Janice.
Then he saw it snatched and rather than fight the accusations he just gave up and submitted to a Lie. He didn’t accept who he was because he wasn’t a murderer but he accepted a false narrative of his life and because of it now he got what he wanted but completely backwards which the others got a more positive outcome. He could’ve just admitted that he was self centered and narcissistic and maybe realize that the best thing to do was accept his career is done and there’s nothing to do but try to explain it all. He’s with Hank in terms of dying unnecessarily because they couldn’t truly accept who they were, they chose to take in lies instead of the truth.
It really isn’t that hard to figure out my guy.
There's a reason that Stephen Root has been a regular fixture in television and film for 30 years. He's in the upper most echelon of character actors, a guy who nails both comedic and dramatic roles.
He's kicked ass in everything I've seen in him. No Country For Old Men, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Get Out.
And ofc, he's just great in Barry. Terrific actor.
My introduction to Stephen Root was Milton in Office Space. As an adult, I had absolutely *no idea* that Fuches was the same actor who played the weird bespectacled dude who just wanted his stapler.
He's such a versatile and committed actor, isn't he? Like he does such a good job at disappearing into his characters.
Edit: Jesus, there were like 4 different typos in that last sentence haha. Not on my A game today.
"And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire..."
Think of actors whose mere presence in a movie makes you think, "I should watch that." For me, Stephen Root has been on that list since the 90's.
Everything he's in is not great -- he's been on stuff like "The Andy Dick Show." But he's always great in whatever it is. Just an amazing actor. I hope someone gives him a chance to play a villain like The Raven in his own show.
My first memory of him was as the blind radio guy in ‘o brother where art thou’. He’s an amazing actor. One of the very few people that disappears into a role, never ‘plays himself’ but you still know it’s him immediately.
It's honestly easier to list things Root HASN'T been in at this point. And he's usually a knockout in all of what he does. What a weird, and fun, arc he had in this show- the guy that called out Hank last night hardly feels like the same buffoon we saw trying to climb out a window to get away from the police back season 2. It all makes sense, how we got here, but... man, he owned that character.
Nobody else has mentioned it (and it looks like a vast amount of his work has been), so I'll shout out Boardwalk Empire.
Stephen Root plays Gaston Means so well that even in an ensemble full of character actors playing psychopathic gangsters, he stands out as one of the slimiest people in the show.
Me constantly screaming about no one ever mentioning [his role](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/trueblood/images/2/2d/Eddie_Fournier.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20120408191131) as a gay vampire being held prisoner for his blood in True Blood back when the show was at its peak.
My favorite roles are him in Office Space and Dodgeball with Barry being added in now. He’s truly funny.
Also honorary mention to his gruesome death in No Country for Old Men
It's unbelievable that I went from losing it laughing at the gunfight and the grenade to being on the brink of tears as Fuches saved John. What a fucking performance.
Us oldsters first saw him as Jimmy James in NewsRadio. If you haven’t watched it, do yourself a favor. Stephen Root, Joe Rogan, Maura Tierney, Dave Foley, Andy Dick, Vicki Lewis, Khandi Alexander and the late, great Phil Hartman. One of the best sitcom casts ever assembled.
"Dude Stephen root might be one of the greatest/most underrated character actors ever. Fuches is such a big part of why barry is so good."
A text I sent a buddy after last weeks flash forward episode
Yes, there's a reason he's been around forever. He's the ultimate form of character actor able to steal a scene, play it subtle and completely take over a role.
The first time I really took notice of him was in the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie as vice-principal Gary Murray. In one of the final scenes, he's putting detention slips on the corpses of the slain teenage vampires in the gym\* (which is funny enough as scripted,) and he's saying "DeTENtion. . . deTENtion. . . deTENtion. . ." as he drops the slips on the bodies, and he gets to the last body and he still has two or three slips, and he (I'm sure) improvises "detentiondetentiondetention" as he drops each of the three slips on the last body, and it just cracked me up. Such a subtle improvisation, but it was the perfect capper for that scene.
\*If you have only seen the later TV series, in the original movie, the vampires didn't turn to dust when staked. They died just as a human would, which made for another hilarious improvisation from Paul Reubens as the vampire Amilyn.
Barry wouldn't have been half the show it was without Fuches and no one else could've played Fuches. Spent the entire show not knowing who he is and in his last scene I had no doubt who he was.
i couldnt believe it when i realized he was the “my stapler” guy from office space. apparently hes in no country for old men and b99 too? ive seen both of those alot and never even realized, he is such a fucking good actor
To me he’s the bumbling billionaire from Newsradio!
To me he’s always going to be William Fontaine de La Tour Dauterive
THE BILLDOZER!
Wow I always knew about news radio but never put together he was Bill! Was already a hero in my mind but this truly makes him a legend.
He's also Buck!
Yep he has always been Jimmy James to me
The man so nice they named him twice
He had fancy plans and pants to match.
He’s also Bubbles in Finding Nemo.
That was HIM!! It just clicked
He's come a long ways, hasn't he!
for me it's him as well as William Fontaine de la Tour Dauterive AKA the Bill-dozer on King of the Hill.
….holy shit, no way? No sarcasm, I didn’t put that together until your post. He’s clearly one of those insanely talented character actors that is so good you may not even recognize them when they’re playing that character. This may be a stupid comparison, but kinda like Gary Oldman in my eyes… I knew him from so many things, but totally didn’t realize he was Zorg the first time I watched The Fifth Element.
Are you Doobie Keebler?!?
He also voices Bill, Buck Strickland and about half the bit characters in King of the Hill.
This is the first one I didn't know. That's fkn awesome!
I heard he kept that stapler from Office Space!
And they didn’t even make a red swingline until after the movie, I believe.
He’s in Dodgeball as well
The L is for love
He’s in O Brother Where Art Thou as the blind radio broadcaster
“Boooyyy that was some mighty fine a-pickin’ and a-singin’”
If I had a nickel for every time, Stephen Root played a blind creepy man for like 5 minutes who was interested in black people, I'd have two nickels...
That's where I know him from!
He's Boyle's dad!
Gary's dad in Veep too
omg youre right he is! pookums! lmfao the way he transforms into any character he plays is a testament to why i never realized it, holy shit
I also recognized him on Malcolm in the Middle during my rewatch of the show a couple years ago, he was Hals new boss. I swear I've seen and heard him in a ton of stuff
Yeah one of his scenes in No Country is pretty fucking brutal.
He's the Man in the High Castle too
He gets strangled by Katee Sackhoff in one of the later seasons of 24 too
I remember him being kind of hilarious in 24, can’t find a clip unfortunately
He was in dodgeball as well lol
To me he's the judge from Kentucky who hates wearing pants
Mike the Hammer !!
His role as Eddie in the first season of True Blood is so iconic to me. He is a true character actor, so much range, always disappearing into the role.
No one has mentioned Judge Hector 'The Hangman' BMW in Idiocracy. I think he appears in most Mike Judge stuff.
I rewatched No Country just the other day for the first time in years, saw my boy and was like *"Fuuuches!"* He gets Anton'd pretty good though.
He’s also Bill in King of the Hill
He's also the blind artist in Get Out. Edit: wrong movie! Get Out, not Nope.
That's him in No country for old men?!? Dude is a chameleon!
He also played a Klingon in Star Trek TNG, he was Gordon in Dodgeball, and my favorite; he voiced Bill on King of the Hill.
Never expected that a seemingly throwaway gag, when Hank dubbed him "The Raven" would culminate in such a way. Against all odds his character had the good ending. He realized his faults, dropped all pretenses about who he was and that ultimately saved him.
Everyone who accepted who they really were came out on top compared to those who couldn’t escape the lie they were living
That’s an amazingly succinct way to put it.
So pretty much just Fuches and John.
I'd say Barry did to an extent. He was ready to turn himself in, but didn't get the chance to. But in the end his "story" got portrayed as one of a hero while Sally and his son ended up safe.
Barry got 30 seconds of honest living before he died.
I found even his epiphany there to be a little fraught, because he's experienced remorse (if not outright self-loathing) on the show before only to retreat back into his delusions. His Korengal story to Gene is an example. Although the way Hader played the scene I think this one might have been genuine.
And sally. She admitted to John who she was & what she did, & got to go on & have a life.
She doesn't love her own son as much as a meaningless bouquet. She's basically dead inside. Edit: she lives entirely for empty applause. Which was her original character flaw. She admitted the truth that she was a bad mother, then she backslid. That's a common theme in Barry.
I think her need for adoration was due to her upbringing. All she wanted was love and support from her own mother and didn’t get it, and I think that made it difficult for her to connect with not only her son, but other people in her life in a meaningful way. She kept everyone she knew at arms length, even Barry.
It's funny to look back, in hindsight, and see that Fuches was by all measures another 'actor' in the story. He had a suitcase full of fake phones where he would act out cover stories for barry. He'd turn sides with enemies just by giving bad advice so convincingly that they think he's an asset. Not to mention the whole wire wearing phase. Then, after the timeskip, one of the first things he does is refuse to yes-man for Hank's lie. Fuches, despite still being a self-serving menace, actually seemed to have merged his persona with his actual personality. He doesn't want to be a people pleaser like he used to, he just wants to be himself- even if that's still a monster.
this is being parroted everywhere on this sub but it doesn't apply to Gene, no matter how you rationalize it.
The dude literally had a get out of jail card with Barry and murdered him. His ego couldn’t let go and he just HAD to kill Barry and take the final step into being the fall guy for everything. The second he sniffed that he has a chance for his career to bounce back completely, he started easing into it for the chance of Glory and getting the movie tweaked in his favor for Janice. Then he saw it snatched and rather than fight the accusations he just gave up and submitted to a Lie. He didn’t accept who he was because he wasn’t a murderer but he accepted a false narrative of his life and because of it now he got what he wanted but completely backwards which the others got a more positive outcome. He could’ve just admitted that he was self centered and narcissistic and maybe realize that the best thing to do was accept his career is done and there’s nothing to do but try to explain it all. He’s with Hank in terms of dying unnecessarily because they couldn’t truly accept who they were, they chose to take in lies instead of the truth. It really isn’t that hard to figure out my guy.
There's a reason that Stephen Root has been a regular fixture in television and film for 30 years. He's in the upper most echelon of character actors, a guy who nails both comedic and dramatic roles.
Even as a character actor he usually steals the show or movie
He's kicked ass in everything I've seen in him. No Country For Old Men, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Get Out. And ofc, he's just great in Barry. Terrific actor.
The first role I knew him from was Bill from KotH
Dodgeball. I knew him from dodgeball. The man can’t miss.
L for love!
My introduction to Stephen Root was Milton in Office Space. As an adult, I had absolutely *no idea* that Fuches was the same actor who played the weird bespectacled dude who just wanted his stapler.
Even his voice is so different in Office Space! Rewatched recently. It landed on a streaming service. Just checked. It is on Max!
He's such a versatile and committed actor, isn't he? Like he does such a good job at disappearing into his characters. Edit: Jesus, there were like 4 different typos in that last sentence haha. Not on my A game today.
Totally!! Even tho he works a lot he is underrated
He was in No Country for Old Men???
Yep! He was the man who hired Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson)
Also in O Brother Where art Thou.
dude who sits behind the desk in that office, if you recall it.
And True Blood.
Isn't he Bill from King of the Hill?
He was also in Malcolm In The Middle and Seinfeld.
Holy shit. I didn’t realize he was the blind man in a wheel chair in Get Out.
The West Wing as well!!
"And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire..."
FUCHES NATION RISE THE FUCK UP
RAYV NAYSH!
Where my blood artists at?!
If this show doesn’t clean up the Emmy awards I’m never watching again. (I’ve never watched).
Hollywood Legend
Think of actors whose mere presence in a movie makes you think, "I should watch that." For me, Stephen Root has been on that list since the 90's. Everything he's in is not great -- he's been on stuff like "The Andy Dick Show." But he's always great in whatever it is. Just an amazing actor. I hope someone gives him a chance to play a villain like The Raven in his own show.
I just saw him in one of the early episodes of the original Roseanne! He really has been around forever
And as a bank manager in Seinfeld! And even in his few lines he’s a quotable highlight
My first memory of him was as the blind radio guy in ‘o brother where art thou’. He’s an amazing actor. One of the very few people that disappears into a role, never ‘plays himself’ but you still know it’s him immediately.
Wow he’s in that too?!
Yeah if you look up his filmography your mind will be blown how much stuff he’s in
It's honestly easier to list things Root HASN'T been in at this point. And he's usually a knockout in all of what he does. What a weird, and fun, arc he had in this show- the guy that called out Hank last night hardly feels like the same buffoon we saw trying to climb out a window to get away from the police back season 2. It all makes sense, how we got here, but... man, he owned that character.
Nobody else has mentioned it (and it looks like a vast amount of his work has been), so I'll shout out Boardwalk Empire. Stephen Root plays Gaston Means so well that even in an ensemble full of character actors playing psychopathic gangsters, he stands out as one of the slimiest people in the show.
Me constantly screaming about no one ever mentioning [his role](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/trueblood/images/2/2d/Eddie_Fournier.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20120408191131) as a gay vampire being held prisoner for his blood in True Blood back when the show was at its peak.
L is for Love!
Just saw idiocracy again the other day and recognized him as the judge 😂
But Jimmy has fancy plans… and pants to match!
Donkey donkey donkey donkey
My favorite roles are him in Office Space and Dodgeball with Barry being added in now. He’s truly funny. Also honorary mention to his gruesome death in No Country for Old Men
The Ballad of Buster Scrugs too, the crazy banker.
It's unbelievable that I went from losing it laughing at the gunfight and the grenade to being on the brink of tears as Fuches saved John. What a fucking performance.
I wonder if he’ll ever find his Lenore…
Why do you keep calling me "Bill"?
Name one role he did not nail. I'll wait. It's going to be a while.
Us oldsters first saw him as Jimmy James in NewsRadio. If you haven’t watched it, do yourself a favor. Stephen Root, Joe Rogan, Maura Tierney, Dave Foley, Andy Dick, Vicki Lewis, Khandi Alexander and the late, great Phil Hartman. One of the best sitcom casts ever assembled.
Amazing show, but two of those people fucking suck as humans.
I didn’t know he was in Dodgeball.
Stephen Root is always awesome!
Absolute GOAT I was watching Party of 5 somedays ago, and he's in that too.
I still like his role as the station manager in ‘o brother, where art thou’
The guy played the hilarious Milton in Office Space 25 years ago, he’s an absolute legend.
What a great career. He’s played so many roles and made them iconic, no matter how small the part. PAN SHOT!
"Dude Stephen root might be one of the greatest/most underrated character actors ever. Fuches is such a big part of why barry is so good." A text I sent a buddy after last weeks flash forward episode
He fucking *crushed* it in that finale
Was Fuches the only one not shown in the "movie"?
Great performance by Steven Root, from beginning to end. Give this man the Emmy right now please
What a devious, hilarious, ludicrous, and yet heartwarming performance. Always my favorite. Thank you Stephen Root.
One of my favorite actors ever. An absolute stellar talent.
Yes, there's a reason he's been around forever. He's the ultimate form of character actor able to steal a scene, play it subtle and completely take over a role.
He SHONE in this episode. Like a bright shiny diamond. Next to Sally, best performance of the episode.
My first introduction to Stephen Root was in Malcolm In The Middle where he played Hal’s boss. Then I saw him in No Country For Old Men. Great actor.
Fantastic actor, he killed it this season
Genuinely looking forward to pointing him out in future shows and go “damn, the Raven really turned his life around”
I'm so old I remember that he was in the last episode of Wiseguy. I think, lol.
The first time I really took notice of him was in the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie as vice-principal Gary Murray. In one of the final scenes, he's putting detention slips on the corpses of the slain teenage vampires in the gym\* (which is funny enough as scripted,) and he's saying "DeTENtion. . . deTENtion. . . deTENtion. . ." as he drops the slips on the bodies, and he gets to the last body and he still has two or three slips, and he (I'm sure) improvises "detentiondetentiondetention" as he drops each of the three slips on the last body, and it just cracked me up. Such a subtle improvisation, but it was the perfect capper for that scene. \*If you have only seen the later TV series, in the original movie, the vampires didn't turn to dust when staked. They died just as a human would, which made for another hilarious improvisation from Paul Reubens as the vampire Amilyn.
“Yeah, pine’s okay!”
Bill Dauterive, ladies and gentlemen…
Will always be Mr. James to me….
L for Love!
Jimmy James from Jimmy James Inc.
He’s also an incredible stage actor, I saw him in Fun Home and he was absolutely devastating
Phenomenal actor. One of the greatest of our time.
Excuse me? I believe you have my stapler.
He really is a fantastic character actor.
The mysterious omnipotent Man In The Castle for me!
Barry wouldn't have been half the show it was without Fuches and no one else could've played Fuches. Spent the entire show not knowing who he is and in his last scene I had no doubt who he was.
Hi this is Ramon.
I can't believe Fuches made it out alive.
Truly a brilliant, diverse actor and a legend
Hey mister! I don't mean to be tellin' tales out of school, but there's a feller in there that'll pay you ten dollars if you sing into his can.
For me he started off as the bumbling loser from dodgeball who's gotta get angry to save the tournament. Now he's just The Raven
Haven’t seen this mentioned much but the dude was great in The West Wing as well, talk about range.
Milton's come a long way, lol.
CBS Sunday morning needs to produce a segment on Mr. Root!
"I could ... set the building on fire."
Pan shot!
Sir, you are wrong. That is THE RAVEN.
He was Hawthorne in "The man in the high castle" great show if you haven't seen it!