It's a sitcom tradition to have guest characters that are just as iconic as the mainstay characters that they support. If there’s any modern sitcom that’s upheld that tradition with gusto, it’s Parks and Recreation. With 7 seasons to experiment with, the creators of the comedy juggernaut managed to pack each season with a guest character more lovable and laughable than the last. But no recurring guest character has warmed viewers' hearts as much as Tilton and Radomski’s very own accounting legend, Barney Varmn.
You may remember Barney as the man who so graciously offered Ben Wyatt a job on multiple occasions, only to be passed over when something a bit more lucrative and less soul-crushing came along. But here are some other lovely qualities that you may have forgotten about Pawnee’s favorite accountant.
His Passion
I think most of us would agree that the accounting business isn’t the most exciting line of work, but Barney finds joy in the mundane, and we love him for that. Accounting was never just a means to an end for Barney like it was for Ben, he’s genuinely exhilarated by numbers. He goes on tangents about QuickBooks Pro, and don’t get him started on how he ranks his accounting software! Whether you call him to your house to entertain your houseguests with a riveting accounting class, or he’s presenting that same class on your local telethon, Barney’s going to be giving you 110%!
His Puns
Who doesn’t love a good pun? One of the things we miss most about Barney is his knack for witty puns, specifically jokes about accounting. With zingers like “the only thing that's taxing is deciding what software to buy” and “then it comes to accounting software, there's no accounting for taste,” it’s hard not to appreciate Barney’s extremely niche sense of humor. Honorable mention for best puns in Parks and Recreation go to Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt, but for us, Barney takes home the gold.
His Nerdy Nature
Barney is a man of few pleasures, most of them being nerdy. He loves accounting which means he must love math, he has an arsenal of puns ready to go at all times, and he understood the rules to Cones of Dunshire almost instantaneously.
And while pizza parties may not be considered nerdy in grade school, it definitely reaches that territory once you’re a group of grown men and women throwing one in the office break room. But don’t take this observation as an insult, it’s the nerdy parts of Barney that we love most, and we’d most definitely want to be invited to his next pizza party.
His Love For Ben Wyatt
Barney is one of the only characters in all of Parks and Recreation history whose love for Ben rivals Leslie Knope’s. Ben is all Barney can talk about whenever we see him, and he takes note of all of the things that Ben loves so that he can surprise him with them later on. After Ben returned to Tilton and Radomski for the second time, Barney threw him a party to celebrate with Ben’s favorite food -- calzones! And later on in the series when Tom opens Tom’s Bistro, Barney and his gang of accountants show up to support Ben in his latest business endeavor, even if it doesn’t involve them.
His Zero Tolerance Policy For Harassment
The very first time that Ben applied to Tilton and Radomski and then quit, our fan-favorite character, Jean-Ralphio, applied for the position and actually got it. It’s made clear by Jean-Ralphio himself that he tricked the temp agency into believing that he was qualified for the job and that his resume “might not be accurate.” Even after Jean-Ralphio admits that he has no idea what QuickBooks Pro is, perhaps one of the greatest sins in Barney’s opinion, Barney doesn’t fire Jean-Ralphio. It isn’t until Jean-Ralphio starts sexually harassing one of the female office employees that Barney immediately fires him. And for that, we say, respect.
His Forgiving Nature
Some bosses may hire you after you’ve quit the business if you were good enough at your job and pleasant enough to be around. Most bosses wouldn’t hire you after you quit a second time, and absolutely no boss would rehire you after quitting a third -- but Barney’s not your typical boss. Ben worked at Tilton and Radomski for no more than one workday.
He was employed by Barney a total of three times on the spot and spent less time there than most people spend on their couches binge-watching The Great British Baking Show. Barney has never had a bad thing to say about Ben despite this, and has shown on more than one occasion that he’d love to have Ben back at the firm whenever he’s ready!
His Sunny Disposition
We can’t think of any guest character that has provided more wholesome, pure moments than Barney Varmn. He takes everything in stride and loves what he does and who he works with. He never plays it cool and wants to share every little pleasure he encounters throughout the day with the people around him ("Ted, come in here!"). He doesn’t get discouraged easily and though his disappointment shows whenever Ben decides to leave, Barney always finds a way to smile through it and appreciate what once was. Be more like Barney.
His Leadership
If how Barney treats Ben is any indicator of how he treats the rest of his employees, then he’s a stellar boss. Barney is constantly praising Ben for his good work and innovative thinking, which shows that he opts for the positive reinforcement method as opposed to the rigid callous methods that most other bosses use. Plus from what we’ve seen on-screen, his employees love him and enjoy spending time joking around with him. I think most of us would agree that even the most boring job can be made enjoyable if your boss is a good guy. And for that, we thank Barney.
His Thoughtfulness
We briefly touched on this in one of the previous points, but Barney is incredibly thoughtful. Ben quit three separate times and spent maybe a total of 10 hours with Barney, but Barney remembered all of the things that Ben loved and used them to surprise him on multiple occasions. When Ben came back to work for Barney the second time, he threw him a calzone party because he knew how much he loved them.
When they showed up to the grand opening of Tom’s Bistro, they brought along a gift for Ben. The patent to ‘Cones of Dunshire,’ copyrighted in Ben’s name. Smart and sentimental.
Himself
It may seem redundant, but what we miss most about Barney is just having him around. It was always a pleasure when he popped up in an episode, and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of him in the series. Any time we saw Barney enter the room, we knew it was going to be a funny episode with plenty of cheesy accounting humor and lots of smiles. He’s awkward, he’s monotone, and he’s blissfully unaware of it all. He may not be the highlight of the Pawnee Cares Telethon, but he’s the favorite around his office and in our hearts.