Henry Winkler, who stars in HBO's Barry alongside Bill Hader, got his start as the eternally cool Fonz in Happy Days. Throughout his long and varied career, Winkler has many accomplishments to be proud of, but one stands out above the rest: he's the only actor to have literally jumped the shark...twice.
The phrase "jumped the shark" is often used by fans to refer to the moment a TV show, after a period of popularity, begins to decline in quality. Many of these "jump the shark" moments are large gimmicks that indicate to the audience that the show's writers have run out of plausible, interesting story lines.
One of the first "jump the shark" moments involved jumping over a literal shark: 1977's three-part season premiere of Happy Days culminated in a finale where the Fonz did a ski jump over a live shark. Critics were not fond of the moment and felt it marked the beginning of the end for the beloved sitcom.
Happy Days Fonzie Jumps the Sharkyoutu.be
Winkler, however, is proud of his contribution to television history:
"I jumped the shark in Hollywood. A young man named John Hein was sitting at Michigan University and came up with the phrase."
But that wasn't the end of Winkler's shark-jumping career! Over 20 years later, on Arrested Development, Winkler's inept lawyer character, Barry Zuckercorn, encountered a dead shark on a pier. You can guess how he decided to get past it:
Henry Winkler Jumps the Shark... again...youtu.be
Fans love Winkler's shark-related performance history:
At the SAG awards, Winkler was nominated for Best Male Actor in a comedy series for Barry. His fellow nominees includedBarry co-star Bill Hader, "The Kominsky Method's Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas, plus Tony Shalhoub from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."
Shalhoub would go on to win the award.
Tony Shalhoub: Award Acceptance Speech | 25th Annual SAG Awards | TNTyoutu.be
Shalhoub may have won this year's SAG award, but nothing can ever take away Winkler's repeated shark jumping.
