Back in 2009, we were all introduced to the world’s greatest(?) spy when FX’s Archer premiered with its pilot episode, “Mole Hunt” and it has spent the following ten years as a veritable joke-telling machine. The show’s independent spy organization ISIS has gone through a lot of change over that time, including dropping its name for obvious reasons, but amid all that animated turmoil, the show’s quality has remained shockingly consistent.
It’s no wonder the show has developed such an ardent fan base, and like any other modern group of fans, they’ve celebrated their love of the show with memes. Here are ten of the very best that only true fans will appreciate.
The Agency Formerly Known As ____
As previously mentioned, Archer’s gang of professionally associated weirdos has gone by several names. Before the show took a three-season coma detour, they were incorporated as private investigators under The Figgis Agency.
Before that, they were absorbed into the CIA as contractors. Before that, they tried their hands at selling some… illicit materials. But before any of those misadventures, they worked as the Independent Secret Intelligence Service whose acronym served as a reference to an Egyptian goddess. But now… that name carries a very different connotation. It’s easy to see why the writers were eager to leave it behind.
What Is This? A Crossover Episode?
To put it simply, yes. Yes it is. Archer and Bob from Bob’s Burgers are both voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, something Archer has some fun with in the season 4 premiere, “Fugue and Riffs.” In the episode, Archer has lost his memory and ends up living Bob Belcher’s life in one of the most inspired crossover jokes ever shown on television.
Things quickly spiral out of control per the Archer usual, and to the horror of the Belcher family, but that hasn’t stopped fans from looking back on the bizarre memory fondly.
A Classic Love Triangle
In typical “gentleman” spy fashion, Archer goes through several love interests over the course of the series. One of the most notable though is his almost-bride, former KGB agent Katya Kazanova.
To summarize a long story, Archer has a nemesis named Barry Dylan (more on him later) who loses his fiance when Archer sleeps with her. Barry, now a cyborg, kills Katya, who is later resurrected as a cyborg herself. He and Katya then bond over their shared mechanical states and fall in love, much to Archer’s dismay.
They Done Killed Old Rando
For all his many skills, coming up with aliases is not an area where Archer excels. His fake identity is always some variation on a mustached man named Randy or at the height of his creativity: Rando. As you would expect, these disguises often don’t work out so well for the self-described high functioning alcoholic.
One notable occasion occurs in season 5, episode 9 “On the Carpet” where Archer sustains some heavy damage while trying to return home with a plane full of weapons and drugs, which prompts the line, “They done killed Old Rando.”
Are We Not Doing Phrasing Anymore?
One of the show’s most iconic running gags is the use of “phrasing.” The line is deployed to admonish any member of the cast careless enough to use words that could be construed as dirty. Basically, it’s a harsher “that’s what she said” and the characters uses it to hilarious effect.
The gag, however, falls out of favor with the rest of the gang leading to Archer’s confusion when it isn’t called out and his repeated attempts to bring it back into the office lexicon.
SUPPRESSING FIRE
Despite being (sort of) trained and often forced into the field, Chris Parnell’s Cyril Figgis is not much of a secret agent. This is particularly true when it comes to opportunities for marksmanship.
If Cyril is put into any combat situation, his one and only move is firing off his weapon haphazardly and loudly announce his suppressing intentions. As you can imagine, this rarely serves a purpose and often puts the gang into even more dire straits before Lana and/or Archer come up with a way to save the day.
It’s Just Like That Old Gypsy Woman Said!
One of the show’s most colorful characters is Mallory’s glue-sniffing assistant, Cheryl (aka Carol aka Cristal aka Cherlene) Tunt, an unhinged railway heiress who often makes prophetic visits to an old gypsy woman. Cheryl has a habit of loudly announcing when the Old Gypsy Woman’s predictions come true.
The predictions range from Cheryl dying in a toilet (foretelling some Krieger induced food poisoning) to some genuine life-saving advice for Archer and his father-in-law Ron. In general, the rest of the character’s reactions are fairly mixed, including everything from ambivalence to disturbed curiosity in what the Gypsy Woman might predict next.
Mawp. Mawp.
Despite the bizarro world that Archer takes place in, one that contains both the KGB and smartphones, one of their most realistic gags involves the effect gunfire has on eardrums.
Archer himself has been in so many close-quarters gunfights that he now suffers from tinnitus (a persistent ringing in one’s ears) and has to take special care to re-balance his hearing after one the show’s many eardrum bursting explosions. As such, he’s quick to admonish anyone who is less than sensitive to his issue such as the furry friend on display here.
M as in Mancy. What Did You Think I Said?
As is the case in many other aspects of his job, Archer’s understanding of the NATO phonetic alphabet is pretty uninspired. This causes a particular problem when he has to read the serial number of a bomb over a crackly radio to save an airship.
Things go about as well as you’d expect. After stumbling over the use of OK as an affirmative rather than a reading for Oscar Kilo, Archer manages to escalate the situation by using the easily misunderstood “Mancy” as the substitute for M leading to the inadvertent bombing of Wales.
That’s Right, Other Barry
Barry shifts allegiances throughout the series, but even when the rogue spy is working for someone other than himself, he tends to work alone. This leads Barry to spend a great deal of time talking to himself in the form of Other Barry, which usually goes something like, “Isn’t that right, Barry?” “Yes it is, Other Barry. Yes it is.”
That time alone is typically spent trying to kill Archer even as his robotic body deteriorates. Barry’s latest appearance was as the psychotic android, Barry-6, in the coma-dream-world of season 10 aka Archer: 1999.
