Barry Goldberg

Barry is the excitable middle child of the Goldberg clan, a teenager in 1980s Pennsylvania who is loud, easily wounded, and endlessly convinced that stardom is one scheme away. He obsesses over sneakers, wrestling, and whatever pop-culture fad has seized him this week, narrating his own life like it's already legendary.

Troy Gentile plays every overreaction at full volume and somehow makes it endearing rather than exhausting — Barry's tantrums are so specific and so committed that the show wrings comedy and real tenderness out of a kid who feels everything enormously. His sincerity, even when misguided, keeps him lovable instead of grating.