Here Are the Five Comedies Where You Know Carmy’s New Love Interest on ‘The Bear’ From
In its first season last year, The Bear was a buzzy hit for (the annoyingly named) FX on Hulu, for perfectly balancing its legitimate emotional beats (showing how Jeremy Allen White’s elite chef Carmy adjusts to his new life running the family’s sandwich joint after the suicide of the brother who bequeathed it to him) and wildly meme-able vibe (every “yes chef!” you see on social media is a tribute). In the brand-new second season, the characters adjust to their new normal, as Carmy and his team transform The Original Beef of Chicagoland into possible Michelin star candidate The Bear. And since Carmy no longer has to spend every minute either cooking or panicking that he’s about to lose everything, he has time to linger at the supermarket — where he runs into Molly Gordon’s Claire.
A friend (and maybe more?) who seems to have known Carmy and his entire family all her life, Claire is now wrapping up her residency in emergency medicine — possibly the only career as punishing as Carmy’s. And while the first season of The Bear was notable for how horny it wasn’t, Carmy and Claire start flirting immediately, and by that I mean give each other looks so smoldering hot it’s surprising they don’t spoil all the food in the freezer cases they’re leaning on.
Gordon is not a household name, but you’ve probably seen her comedy performances before. Here’s a list of some of the best, including what elements of those roles or productions she may draw on for this one…
Booksmart
With their senior year of high school drawing to a close, best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) feel that grinding to get into good colleges at the expense of their social lives was a good bargain — right up until they find out all their hard-partying classmates also have fancy academic or career prospects. Deciding a grad party is going to make up for all that lost time may put just a bit too much pressure on the night.
Gordon plays Annabelle, a student known as “Triple A” because, rumor has it, she frequently provides “roadside assistance” to boys in the class: “I’m incredible at hand jobs, but I got a 1560 on the SATs.” She helps Amy out of a jam at a crucial moment, and while Amy and Molly have both regarded her as a frenemy, Triple A and Molly agree to a truce before they reunite at Yale in the fall.
How It Prepares Her for The Bear: Annabelle can carouse at night and perform at a high intellectual level the next day, something Claire will also need to do if she’s going to be hanging out with chefs while working as a doctor.
Life of the Party
Dan and Deanna Miles (Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy, who also co-wrote the film; Falcone directs) have just dropped off their daughter Maddie (Gordon) for her senior year at Decatur University when Dan announces that he wants a divorce. Furious that Dan is doing her this dirty after forcing her to drop out of college when she unexpectedly got pregnant with Maddie, Deanna resolves to enroll at Decatur and, belatedly, finish her degree. Maddie not only supports Deanna but welcomes her into her social group as the two pass through academic milestones and ultimately graduate together.
How It Prepares Her for The Bear: Like Maddie is with Deanna, Claire is probably going to be spending a lot of time with someone (Carmy) who’s doing something very intense and expensive that most people would think is a bad idea.
Ramy
The eponymous Ramy (Ramy Youssef, who also co-created the show) lives with his family in New Jersey, dabbles — at least at first — in jewelry sales with his uncle Naseem (Laith Nakli), and pursues vague notions of how to be a good Muslim and a good person. Usually these efforts, born of his unacknowledged selfishness and narcissism, end up hurting the people closest to him.
Gordon plays Sarah, the granddaughter of another gem dealer, who dates Ramy for a time, even though she’s Jewish and he’s in a period of supposed recommitment to his faith. After they part in the first season, he sees her again in the Season Three premiere. After making ignorant remarks about the ethics of his doing business in Israel and how her choice to run a nonprofit for unhoused people is the kind of dilettante occupation permitted by her family’s wealth, she ditches him, whereupon he picks a fight with a stranger who identifies herself as a witch. Good call, Sarah!
How It Prepares Her for The Bear: She definitely knows how to attract a curly-haired, soulful-eyed fuckboi! But also, The Bear creator Christopher Storer is one of Ramy’s executive producers.
Shiva Baby
College senior Danielle (Rachel Sennott) bids farewell to Max (Danny Deferrari), the sugar daddy she’s just slept with, to attend a shiva observance with her parents — and wouldn’t you know it, Max is also there with his wife, Kim (Dianna Agron). And so is Danielle’s ex, Maya (Gordon). Unlike the messy Danielle, Maya has her life together — she’s beloved by the community and headed for law school — and while Maya and Danielle find moments to flirt with and needle each other, Danielle’s unattended phone eventually reveals to Maya exactly how she’s been passing the time.
How It Prepares Her for The Bear: Both Maya and Claire love a reunion tour!
Theater Camp (2023)
Following its Sundance premiere in January, Theater Camp’s theatrical release is set for July 14th. Now’s the time to make Bastille Day plans to see it: Gordon and Ben Platt play Amos and Rebecca-Diane, true believers in youth arts education and forever theater kids themselves; they work at AdirondACTS, which is definitely not Stagedoor Manor. After founder Joan (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma, her son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) takes over operations, even though his interests run more toward cryptocurrency than amateur dramatics. Rebecca-Diane and Amos may need his business acumen, though: The camp is at risk of closing if they can’t shore up its finances.
How It Prepares Her for The Bear: In addition to the common element of a beloved institution that can barely keep the lights on because the artist who runs it is bad at business, Theater Camp also co-stars the great Ayo Edebiri, aka Sydney, The Bear’s second lead.
