Henry Winkler’s fish pictures are very good and crisp

People are on edge right now, man. I think this is somewhat understandable, given the sheer number of things going on at once. We have a former president facing multiple indictments who pisses people off by screaming about it on any website he has a password to; We have celebrities being dragged into writing tone-deaf letters of support to their criminal former co-stars; Most of Hollywood is shocked and angry at Drew Barrymore. Spider-Man fought his way out of prison and led to a two-week manhunt that ended with him being arrested wearing a Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt; Everyone was screaming about Martin Short last week because someone was kind of mean to him; Matthew McConaughey went live on TV and rubbed Joy Behar’s bare feet, which isn’t as serious as the other things I mentioned, but it wasn’t something I needed to process in an already chaotic month that’s not half over yet. It was…it was a lot. Especially for the Internet on a chronic basis.

Fortunately, for all of us, but especially for me, Henry Winkler went on a fishing trip this week. He posts pictures of the fish he catches. Tons of them. Yes again. Look how happy this man is.

look at him

Look at his face

A reasonable argument could be made that this is my favorite thing in the entire world. You can tell because I’ve written or assigned articles on this topic almost every year. I can’t get over the amount of joy that jumps out of his body as he shows the hapless Twitter fiends pictures of the fish he catches. Imagine being this happy even for 30 seconds of your entire life.

What a gem. What an absolute gem of a man. I hope he is my grandfather. I hope he is everyone’s grandfather. We should pass a law declaring Henry Winkler the official grandfather of America. I can’t get enough of it. I say this as someone who doesn’t even enjoy fishing, sitting in boats, or even being in the woods or near a river for an extended period of time. I don’t even like looking at pictures of fish usually. I would be in hell if you sat next to me with a photo album and flipped through page after page of pictures of the fish I caught. I’ll be jealous of the fish after about 45 seconds because at least its misery is over. Please don’t show me pictures of your fish. I cannot stress this point strongly enough.

but this?

this?

He shot it directly at my eyeball.

more

Give me more

Well, look. Admittedly, this last photo is not a photo of a fish. But I want you to think about three things here:

• Based on the timestamps of his other tweets, there’s a very good chance he posted this tweet while scrolling through his phone while lying in bed at his fishing cabin after a long day on the river.
• “for him”
• The Fonz is played by Henry Winkler, who for many people has been a poster child for many decades, and is now the most fascinating man alive.

He also posted this before 7:00 AM the next day.

excellent. Just pure and beautiful. A ray of golden sunshine peeks through the storm clouds. And I’m very happy to report that he’s that way in person too, or at least over a Zoom call, and yes, this is where I link it back to the time I interviewed him while he was promoting the final season of Barry And he sat there very gladly and patiently while I was sidetracked by…this.

I’ve followed you on Twitter for years now. I consider you one of my favorite people on this site. You’re a lovely guy, and you’re better at Twitter than most people I know. It seems like almost every summer you go on a fishing trip and post these pictures of yourself with the fish.

Yes.

It’s one of my favorite things that happens on Twitter, because, you know, Twitter is like a stream of “Everyone’s miserable, everyone’s angry, everyone’s upset”…and then, there’s Henry Winkler holding a fish. It makes me so happy.

Thank you.

What a nice guy. What a kind soul. Sometimes I open up Getty Images, type in his name, and scroll through pictures of him with other celebrities and he looks so happy about it. This is probably my favorite. But even Henry Winkler with Julia Roberts and Jennifer Coolidge can’t top fish pictures.

I mean, honestly…

Come here

look at him

Look at Henry Winkler

We must do everything we can to protect this man. You, me, all of us. Starting from today.

We need it.

As a nation.

To heal.