Lance Barber

Lance Barber is an American actor. He gained recognition for his main role as Paulie G on the HBO sitcom The Comeback, which was followed with a starring role in the film The Godfather of Green Bay.
In the 2010s, Barber had recurring roles as Bill Ponderosa on the FX and FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Lucas on the MTV television series Faking It. He received renewed attention for his main role as George Cooper Sr. on the CBS sitcom Young Sheldon.

Early life

Barber was born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan, and developed an interest in acting at the age of seven, after seeing a performance of Grease at the Barn Theatre. He acted at Pennfield High School, from which he graduated in 1991, and performed in school productions from Kellogg Community College while earning his associate degree.

Career

After a year at the Barn Theatre, Barber moved to Chicago and spent five years working his way up in The Second City improvisational comedy troupe. He then moved to Los Angeles and had his first television role in On the Spot, an improv sketch show that ran for five episodes on The WB in 2003. He credits his breakthrough to the 2005 HBO series The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow, in which he played Paulie G., a television writer. In 2010, he landed the recurring role of Bill Ponderosa on FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He reprised his role as Paulie G. when HBO brought back The Comeback in 2014. He also appeared in episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls, Californication, Monk, The Mentalist, and Grey's Anatomy.
Barber played Jimmy Speckerman, who bullied Leonard Hofstadter at high school, in one episode of The Big Bang Theory. He was cast as George Cooper Sr., father of Sheldon Cooper, in the spin-off Young Sheldon that premiered in 2017, and mentioned in an interview that some fans were confused by his different roles in the two related series. Barber also played Cooper in "The VCR Illumination", a 2018 episode of the parent show's twelfth season; the character is deceased in the series but appears on an old VHS tape that Sheldon plays.

Personal life

Barber lives in Los Angeles with his wife Aliza, who is a chef, and their two children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Tenfold	Dunken Boy
2002	Like Mike	Director in Commercial	Uncredited
2003	Patching Cabbage	Ryan	Short film
2004	Bad Meat	Buddy
2005	The Godfather of Green Bay	Kenny Caruso
2005	The Poet of Canis	The Poet	Short film
2006	For Your Consideration	Dinkie
2006	Breakdown	Logan Conner	Short film
2006	The Lather Effect	Paul Helling
2008	Shades of Ray	Karaoke Singer
2008	Leatherheads	Toledo Referee
2010	Dead Cat	–	Short film
2010	Penny	Frank	Short film
2013	Gangster Squad	Comanche
2017	Never Seen You Shine So Bright	Neil	Short film
2021	Raunch and Roll	Crash
2023	Fool's Paradise	Side Kick

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	ER	Howard Norden	Episode: "Start All Over Again"
2001; 2006	Gilmore Girls	The Man at Inn / Hugo Gray	2 episodes
2002	What I Like About You	Phone Guy	Episode: "Spa Day"
2003	On the Spot	Ensemble Player	5 episodes
2004	Come to Papa	Phillip	Episode: "The Crush"
2004	Faking the Video	Billy the Fake Director	Episode: "Two PA's Left"
2004	Yes, Dear	Man	Episode: "Who Done It?"
2005	Joey	Steve	Episode: "Joey and the High School Friend"
2005; 2014	The Comeback	Paulie G.	21 episodes
2006	Thick and Thin	Kevin	Episode: "Mary Moves On"
2006	Untitled Patricia Heaton Project	Pete	Television film
2007	The Hill	Eric	Television film
2007	Californication	Nick Lowry	3 episodes
2007	Insatiable	Jerry Marinelli	Episode: "Pilot"
2008	The Mentalist	Daniel Cardeira	Episode: "Red-Handed"
2008	The Middleman	Johnny John	Episode: "The Cursed Tuba Contingency"
2009	Single White Millionaire	Seth Mortin	Television film
2009	CSI: Miami	Al Wayons	Episode: "Bad Seed"
2009	Monk	Bill the Deliveryman	Episode: "Mr. Monk Is Someone Else"
2010	Justified	Frank	Episode: "Long in the Tooth"
2010	United States of Tara	Sully	2 episodes
2010	Grey's Anatomy	Phil	Episode: "Suicide Is Painless"
2010	Men of a Certain Age	Hardware Store Manager	Episode: "Father's Fraternity"
2010–2013, 2015–2018	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Bill Ponderosa	11 episodes
2011	Harry's Law	David Kerwin	Episode: "Purple Hearts"
2011; 2018	The Big Bang Theory	Jimmy Speckerman / George Cooper Sr.	2 episodes
2012	Baby Daddy	Tommy	Episode: "The Daddy Whisperer"
2012	The Soul Man	Mr. Richardson	Episode: "Pastor Interference"
2012	How I Met Your Mother	Guard #1	Episode: "The Magician's Code Part 2"
2012	Key and Peele	Cop	Episode: "Episode #1.2"
2013	Timms Valley	–	Episode: "2nd Executive"
2013	The Crazy Ones	Clyde	Episode: "Models Love Magic"
2013	Franklin & Bash	Teddy Lazlow	Episode: "Control"
2013	Whitney	Nate	Episode: "Sorry!"
2014	Masters of Sex	Larry	Episode: "One for the Money, Two for the Show"
2014	Garfunkel and Oates	Drew	Episode: "Speechless"
2014	Hot in Cleveland	Tyler	Episode: "Straight Outta Cleveland"
2014	Bob's Burgers	Justgrillin'	Episode: "Uncle Teddy"
2014	We Got Next	Jay	Television film
2014–2016	Faking It	Lucas / Karma's Dad	8 episodes
2015	Dr. Ken	Phil Stockton	Episode: "The Master Scheduler"
2016	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Patrick	Episode: "Captain Latvia"
2016, 2017	Black-ish	Dr. Gabler	2 episodes
2017	All Hail King Julien	Bruce	Episode: "One More Cup"
2017–2024	Young Sheldon	George Cooper Sr.	141 episodes
2023; 2025	Big City Greens	Frank / TV Announcer	5 episodes
2025	Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage	George Cooper Sr.	Episode: "Typhoid Georgie"