When Barney bemoans the cost of keeping the house since Blanche left, Archie & Harry suggest Barney take in lodger to make ends meet.
Archie's choice of housemate?: Al Snyder ("semi-retired from the shoe business but very well heeled"), a first-order curmudgeon, played by Don Rickles.
It had to happen: Rickles's insult humor meets Archie's cockeyed political correctness. When Barney finds that Al's taken his steak from the fridge, Al assures him it's no loss: "It tasted like carpet!" But even Al's fatalism is no match for Archie's unpolished sincerity:
Al: You're always on the scene whenever ... there's a world disaster ...and you follow me to the ends of the earth!
Archie: I just met you!
This is an unheralded gem: when Barney implies that he wants the exacerbating Snyder out of his house ("I'm sorry."), Al fires back, "Why be sorry, Barney? I'm not going anywhere! ... I have a rental agreement!" But Rickles's Al is great just arguing with a TV games show:
Emcee (to blonde contestant): Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Rickles: What's to tell: she's an imbecile!
Contestant: I have six beautiful children and one on the way!
Rickles: She's also a nymphomaniac!
Emcee: Do you have any hobbies?
Rickles: We know her hobby; let's start the game!
It's priceless!
Archie's choice of housemate?: Al Snyder ("semi-retired from the shoe business but very well heeled"), a first-order curmudgeon, played by Don Rickles.
It had to happen: Rickles's insult humor meets Archie's cockeyed political correctness. When Barney finds that Al's taken his steak from the fridge, Al assures him it's no loss: "It tasted like carpet!" But even Al's fatalism is no match for Archie's unpolished sincerity:
Al: You're always on the scene whenever ... there's a world disaster ...and you follow me to the ends of the earth!
Archie: I just met you!
This is an unheralded gem: when Barney implies that he wants the exacerbating Snyder out of his house ("I'm sorry."), Al fires back, "Why be sorry, Barney? I'm not going anywhere! ... I have a rental agreement!" But Rickles's Al is great just arguing with a TV games show:
Emcee (to blonde contestant): Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Rickles: What's to tell: she's an imbecile!
Contestant: I have six beautiful children and one on the way!
Rickles: She's also a nymphomaniac!
Emcee: Do you have any hobbies?
Rickles: We know her hobby; let's start the game!
It's priceless!
