Funny / The Bear (2022)

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

As much as The Bear is a stressful drama that details the struggles of running (and renovating) a restaurant, it is very much also a slice-of-life comedy that thrives on Bathos and Black Comedy.

Season One

• In "System", Carmy has the staff try his new take on the Italian beef sandwich:
  Carmy: What's goin' on? What do you think?
  Ebraheim: It's redundant and white, just like you.
  Carmy: (unfazed) Heard, Chef.
• In "Brigade", Carmy has Sydney lay out the brigade system. Ebraheim says he was in a brigade once and Sydney asks what happened. Clearly meaning the other kind of brigade, Ebraheim simply says "a lot of people died." His quiet delivery and the fact that no one comments on this is what sells it.
• "Dogs"
  • In the opening scene, Carmy and Richie come to blows over a giant inflatable hot dog that Richie wants to bring to the party they are catering. The camera lingers on a static shot of them physically fighting over it, while Tina appears in the background bringing trash to the dumpster and nonchalantly says "morning" before walking off as they continue to fight. Then the hotdog deflates, but Richie somehow still has another one.
  • In the following car ride, Carmy tells Richie not to bring up a prior disagreement with Cicero. Richie promises he won't. Gilligan Cut to Richie and Cicero arguing with each other on the front door while Carmy resignedly holds the crate of supplies in between them.
  • Turns out Richie doesn't have high opinions of people who put ketchup on hotdogs, and Carmy doesn't have high opinions of Richie:
    Richie: What kind of asshole is gonna put ketchup on a hotdog?
    Carmy: A child, Richie.
    Richie: A child asshole.
    Carmy: (beat) You're a child asshole.
  • Carmy and Pete chat over the homemade Ecto cooler while puzzling over why all the kids in the backyard are on the ground asleep. Pete soon starts getting sleepy himself and walks off to lie down. Carmy then opens the cooler to refill it only to discover the bottle of Xanax that Richie was taking earlier, which has been completely absorbed into the drink. To top it off, Cicero isn't in the least bit upset that Carmy and Richie just drugged a bunch of kids (and Pete) since at least it's quiet now.
• Upon first seeing Richie and Fak's brawl in "Sheridan", Carmy's reaction is nothing more than a stoic "Oh, that's cool" and to toss some water on them.
• "Review" is a pretty stressful episode, but it gets a few moments:
  • Sydney's desperate Hand Signals to stop Ebra from reading the part of the review about the risotto dish she served in the previous episode despite Carmy telling her it was not ready. Her motions do not get through to him.
  • Carmy counts the dishes they have to prepare with the staff.
    Carmy: Tina, chicken!
    Tina: Thirty-two all day, Chef!
    Carmy: Thank you. Ebra, beef all day?
    Ebra: One hundred, Chef!
    Carmy: Thank you. Richie, go fuck yourself.
    Richie: Sixty-nine all day, Chef!
  • When Richie gets stabbed: as he walks over to the dining room so Ebra can bandage him, Carmy (who is too distracted by the chaos to really check in on Richie) calls out that Richie probably deserved it. Instead of fighting him on it, Richie simply gives a resigned, "Eh, maybe."
  • While tending to Richie's injury, Ebraheim distracts him with the story of a major battle, only for Richie to eventually realize he's describing the plot of Black Hawk Down. "Fucking Piven," Richie remarks.
  • Towards the end of the episode, we hear a customer ask if they have risotto. Both Richie and Tina immediately respond, "No!"
• "Braciole"
  • While Carmy's nightmare in the beginning of the episode is Played for Drama, the way that Nightmare!Carmy tells the story of Mikey's death is darkly hilarious.
  • Sydney and Marcus continuously calling Carmy "a little bitch" for his behavior last episode.
  • Ebra finds a thong at his station the morning after the bachelor party:
    Ebra: Chef, this is not respect!
    Carmy: (nonchalant) No Chef, that is not respect.
    (As Ebra stands there annoyed, Sweeps walks along and grabs the thong.)
    Sweeps: Aaayyy! (sniffs it)
    • And then he hands it off to Richie as a gift for getting out of jail. An annoyed Tina gags.
  • Fak has an imaginary conversation with the Ballbreaker main character where he asks if he ever feels sad.
    Ballbreaker: Of course I do, Neil. But I don't talk about it. I keep it all inside. It helps me beat the shit out of people.
    Fak: I get it.

Season Two

• "Beef"
  • Sweeps tries to remove The Beef's menu sign by himself while Ebra is present.
    Sweeps: Oh, don't worry about me. I got it, you know. Just heavy as shit.
    (The sign falls down very loudly.)
    Sweeps: Shit, uh... Well, never mind. That was much easier.
  • The entire office scene in "Beef" is comedy gold. As a result of Mikey's failed insurance fraud scheme, Sydney accidentally falls through a wall, which coincidentally has a poster deemed "Fenway". Richie sees this and instantly starts panicking over it, trying to figure out a way to fix it up. When trying to explain the entire situation, he accidentally says a term that is offensive to Jewish people, which instantly makes Carmy, Sydney, and Natalie cringe, putting in an apparent list of offensive terms that Richie is banned from saying. After circling back to how the hole in the wall got there in the first place, Richie sets off to fix Fenway with tape - tape that is packed up front.
  • Marcus's response to Sydney's accident is hilarious.
    Marcus: Damn, you got strong.
  • Richie trips the alarm while Carmy and Natalie are talking. Carmy's initial, unfazed reaction is a puzzled, "Is that in my head?" The alarm continues as Carmy, Sydney, and Natalie pitch the investment opportunity to Cicero, who is bothered by the alarm and puzzled that none of them are annoyed with it–Natalie and Sydney are shown to be wearing earplugs. Carmy just says he's learned to ignore it.
• "Pasta"
  • Natalie has been dubbed "Mom" by both Fak and Richie, as seen when Fak calls her to tell her about the mold problem.
  • Richie tries to prove to Fak, Natalie, and Marcus that the ceiling is just fine and that the mold isn't an issue. Cue him poking the ceiling, only for it to come crumbling down.
• "Honeydew"
  • Natalie tells Carmy she's pregnant, and how she's kept it a secret for so long...right as the wall behind them collapses.
  Richie: Congrats! I fucking knew it!
• After Mikey repeatedly throws a fork at Lee, Steven is put on the spot and asked to prevent another blow-up by saying grace when Donna arrives, all while Mikey is still fuming at Lee.
  Steven: I'm so grateful, um, for this beautiful meal. And, Donna, um... What an incredible job Donna did. And I-I could, I could hear in there. It sounded very hard and it's just gorgeous, and is he still holding the fork?
  Cicero: Sure is.
  Michelle: Yeah.
  Steven: Okay. Um...
• When Fak realizes Mikey sabotaged the fire suppression system which is why they keep failing the test, he immediately screams the same anti-semitic term Richie used in the premiere, which prompts Sydney to scold him from offscreen. He even says it loudly to Richie just as he's briefing the new wait staff, prompting Richie to scold Fak with, "Let’s just take a quick break while I go address this problematic individual."
• When he's showing Carmy and Sydney the desserts he's come up with for the new menu, Marcus introduces one as "Sydney's Donut (After Carmen destroyed it like a little bitch)" and says he's not sure where the name came from while Carmy visibly tries not to laugh.
• Marcus found the missing line cook, Josh, outside smoking crack. Apparently it makes him work better. Marcus asks Sydney if he can fire him. She gives him a resounding "yes".
• In "Fishes," Fak and his brother corner Stevie and hustle him for $500 for a convoluted get-rich quick scheme involving trading baseball cards. Stevie is so amused by the frenetic eagerness of their pitch that he agrees, on the condition they call him weekly and tell him exactly how they're using the money.