Ricken Lazlo Hale

Ricken is Devon's husband, a self-styled philosopher and self-help author whose book, "The You You Are," he considers a work of quiet genius. He's warm, well-meaning, and completely unaware of how ridiculous he sounds, holding forth on autonomy and authenticity to anyone who'll listen.

Michael Chernus plays pompousness without cruelty, so Ricken lands as endearing even when he's insufferable. The joke is that his half-baked manifesto, written for laughs, ends up mattering enormously inside Lumon's walls — a sly bit of writing that turns a punchline into something unexpectedly consequential.