Bill Hader Deserves An Emmy

My 84-year-old mother has a crush on Bill Hader. This is surprising; she’s more of a Tom Hardy girl. But when she watched HBO’s Barry, the edgy comedy Hader co-created with Alec Berg, she became a little obsessed. She hadn’t watched the comedian during his eight seasons on Saturday Night Live or seen the films Trainwreck or Superbad. She did not, in other words, decide to watch Barry because of Hader; she watched because it was about a contract killer. (She’s also a crime and murder girl.)

At the end of the pilot, as Hader and Berg broke down the episode for viewers, my mother finally heard the high-pitched voice and giggle familiar to his fans. She burst into laughter, delighted by the disparity between the deep-voiced former Marine he plays and the outright nerd he is in real