Characters / Go On

Ryan King (Matthew Perry)

The main character, Ryan is a sports talk radio host who has recently lost his wife in a car accident. In the first episode, he is trying to get back to work, but his boss will only take him back if he joins a support group for people who have suffered losses in their lives.

• Benevolent Boss: Played With. He does have a friendly relationship with Carrie, but seems to enjoy too much bossing her around. His invading her life in the second episode got so bad she had to put her foot down.
• Berserk Button: Do not text while you drive in front of Ryan. He'll hit you with fruit. He also doesn't like it if you mess with the support group's dynamics.
  • In the first case, it's because that's how his wife died.

• Chick Magnet: Has some Ship Tease with most of the women who show up in the show.
• Dead Person Conversation: Sometimes talks to his dead wife.
• Deadpan Snarker: Well, it's Matthew Perry.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: In-Universe, people keep mistaking Ryan for Rachel Maddow.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Mr. K seems particularly interested.
• Five Stages of Grief: Looks to be permanently in stage one, but goes through some of them as an one-episode Aesop.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Was this at first to Fausta, apparently.
• The Gambling Addict: "Double Down" reveals he struggled with this in college and only gave up as a promise to Janie. After Simone breaks up with him, though, he relapses—going through the ups and downs until Lauren thoroughly whipped him at cards.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Has this dynamic with Anne. He and Steven are a straighter case.
• Hidden Depths: Humorously subverted in "Go Deep." He wants to impress Simone by seeming very intellectual and spiritual, but he really doesn't care for such pursuits when giving them a try and ultimately tells her the truth. It turns out Simone was exaggerating, as well.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Has very little tact and is somewhat egocentric, but goes out of his way to help his friends.
• Metrosexual: Has some tendencies towards this.
• Not So Above It All: Tries to stand away from the group's most crazy stuff, but often ends up joining in whatever hijinks are happening.
• Odd Friendship: Between him and each member of the group in their own way; especially with Anne, Owen, and Mr. K.
• Only Sane Man: Occasionally steps into this role.
• Ship Tease: Between him and Lauren, him and Carrie, and him and Simone.

• Two Guys and a Girl: Along with Steven and Amy.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between him and his friend Amy. Since he's not ready by then and she doesn't want to be the next girl after Janie, she decides she'll wait for him.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Took the breakup with Simone hard because he thought their relationship was his big chance to get over his wife's death and graduate from the group.

Lauren Bennett (Laura Benanti)

The group's leader. Has a sweet and caring personality, but not much in the way of actual training; tries to help in any way she can, though. She is the one who convinces Ryan to join the group for good.

• Arch Rival: In Margaret Hotchkiss who is apparently both more beautiful and better at helping people.

• Even the Girls Want Her: Due to Florence Nightingale Effect.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: Everyone in the group has/has had a crush on Lauren. It was the same with people on Weight Watchers. Wyatt just brushes it off when it happens.
• Formerly Fat: It shows sometimes.
• The Gambling Addict: Her father was one, which is why she cautions Ryan so strongly about it in "Double Down." She also picked up a few tricks because of her father and crushes Ryan at cards to get him to give up gambling, though she starts to get tempted herself on the way out and has to be pulled away from a roulette wheel before it goes too far.
• Hollywood Psych: Justified because she doesn't have an actual degree in psychology; the only experience she has is being a speaker for Weight Watchers. Often Played for Laughs, but she tries very hard.
• Insistent Terminology: It's a Holiday/End of the World Party.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Ryan's Red.
• Ship Sinking: It looked like Ryan and Lauren were being set up as the show's Official Couple, but then we find out she has a boyfriend, and, as of episode eleven, they're engaged.
• Stepford Smiler: Has a bad case of text anxiety, for the first few episodes was stuck with a job she didn't like, and, despite having a very Nice Guy for a boyfriend, is afraid of commitment, but tried not to let it show to her patients. Seems to be moving out of it, though.
• Ship Tease: With Ryan until the sinking but "Go For The Gold Watch" introduces a tease for Lauren and Steven.

• You Mean "Xmas": Tries to enforce something like this on the Holiday/End of the World Party, but Ryan and Fausta aren't buying it.

Anne (Julie White)

A lesbian prosecutor whose partner has died of a heart attack. Has quite the foul mouth.

• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Can't hold the snark around Ryan, but every now and then does something that shows how much she likes him.
  Anne: And, King? I like you better than I like this guy. *points at Ryan's cardboard cutout that represents him as he was before*
  • Exemplified at the end of "Matchup Problems", when they decide to help each other finally move on from the deaths of their respective spouses. They tie their wedding rings to the end of two balloons and let them sail up to the sky.

• Censor Box: As a Running Gag, so she can freely swear as needed.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: Takes on this role sometimes.

• Five Stages of Grief: Represents anger.
• Freudian Slip: She agrees to represent Danny in his divorce to help get him a fair deal. It works, but she wants to take it farther and make Danny's adulterous wife suffer despite even his objections. The exchange gets to the heart of what she's really been anger about this whole time.
  Danny: I just wanna move on.
  Anne: Danny, the woman made a vow. She promised to be there through good times and bad by your side forever. She doesn't get to leave because she gets bored, or she finds someone new, or she forgets to take her damn heart medication!

• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Has this dynamic with Ryan. When her nanny cancels at the last minute, the first person she looks towards and asks is Ryan (who responds as sympathetically as possible in the situation) before asking the rest of the group.
• If It's You, It's Okay: A variant in that Anne is not attracted to Ryan at all, but gives him her First Kiss after her partner's died just "to get it out of the way".

• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: It's revealed she struggles with respecting her partner's memory and being angry at her for lying about taking heart medication.
• Precision F-Strike: All the time.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Ryan's Blue.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Usually wears only masculine suits, but, when Fausta gets her to put on a dress, everybody comments on this.

• Stalker with a Crush: In episode four, Anne is casually pursued by another lesbian woman. Since she's not ready for commitment after her partner died, she freaks out, complaining to the group about how the woman is a stalker.

• The Stoner: Use to do a lot of marijuana back in the 70s. Then at Lauren's bachelorette party, where she knows she'll be uncomfortable due to the wildness and the male strippers, she partakes in some special brownies to help her through the night.

Yolanda Mitsawa (Suzy Nakamura)

An anesthesiologist whose fiancé left her. Is a very anxious and awkward person who thinks everything is too sexual (including jazz and cats.)

• Abusive Parents: Her grandmother seems to be the verbally abusive type, which might account for her awkwardness and fear of authority.
• Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Sonia uses this as argument to get her to refuse going through a drug test... which was probably the worst argument she could use, given that Yolanda is very nervous around authority in general.
• Easy Come, Easy Go: Tried to graduate from the group once, but came back very quickly. Subverted as she wasn't feeling very prepared and was forced by the group (who didn't want to disappoint Lauren) to go through with it.
• Extreme Doormat: As she says, she goes where the power is.
• Freudian Excuse: She attributes being a doormat to her upbringing.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: With Sonia's help, pretends to be this on her new job, but cannot keep up with it for very long.
• My Beloved Smother: Implied to have one of those, though she calls her mom a "tiger mom".
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Mr. K insists on treating her that way.
  Mr. K (at the End of the World party): I need to be with everyone I love and Yolanda.
• Odd Friendship: With Sonia.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Sonia's Red.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: At least to Mr. K. The other members of the group seem to have mixed reactions about her; Anne goes ballistic when Wyatt mistakes her for Yolanda.
• The Gadfly: Sometimes says things she doesn't mean just to look cool, or because of peer pressure.
• The Resenter: "Go Deep" reveals she's actually been holding back resentment towards Ryan for always eating up the group's time with his problems and towards Lauren for not reining that in.

• Weak-Willed: Follows the shift of power, to hilarious results.
• What the Hell, Hero?: One of the few times Yolanda ever demonstrated any backbone was when she gets temporarily graduates from the group. She still leans on the others to help her through her problems, just in different locations. Ultimately, they proceed to phase her out and lie about what happened, which she yells at them for. When they tell Yolanda she's a lot to take, Lauren attempts to mediate and the truth comes out.
  Yolanda: Don't pretend to be good at this. If these losers hadn't pressured me into graduating so you could have a victory, no one would ever leave this group.

Owen Lewis (Tyler James Williams)

A Deadpan Snarker whose brother went into a coma after a skiing accident. Starts out as The Quiet One, but gradually comes out of his shell after Ryan joins the group.

• Abhorrent Admirer: Sonia and Fausta have already expressed interest in his naked form. He's really disturbed.
• Ashes to Crashes: Ryan makes him believe he's just broken the urn with his wife's ashes. It's actually a comeback for the Practical Joke he played on him earlier.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Though he doesn't show it a lot, he appreciates his friends, and stands up for them when his mother tries to get him to leave during Thanksgiving dinner.
• Big Brother Mentor: Ends up seeing Ryan as one.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: Shares this role with Anne.
• Deadpan Snarker: Between him, Anne and Ryan, the sessions are usually a snark fest.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Apparently, he's Lauren's body double.
• Five Stages of Grief: Initially represents denial. He pointedly avoids visiting his brother in the hospital and distracts himself with video games. "Videogame, Set, Match" in part is about helping him to start moving past this.

• My Beloved Smother: Owen's mom is a mild version, but she seems very controlling of her son.
• Only Sane Man: Best candidate for that, though he also shows every now and then he's Not So Above It All.
• Person as Verb: Finds his name becomes synonymous with losing in "Double Down" because of a gambling cold streak.
• Practical Joke: Liked to pull this on his brother's; pulls an epic one on Ryan in Videogame, Set, Match, and also on Danny in Win at All Costas.
• The Quiet One: Talks very little in the first episode; after he opens up to Ryan about his brother's condition, Lauren mentions he had been coming to the sessions without sharing anything about his incident.
• Real Men Wear Pink: It takes a lot of confidence to wear a wedding dress. The dress store salesclerk thinks it's hot.

Mr. Benjamin K (Brett Gelman)

A Cloud Cuckoolander with a Mysterious Past that gives some really creepy vibes to everyone else in the group. Acts like a Stalker with a Crush to Ryan.

• Ambiguously Gay: Besides his fascination with Ryan, he attends Lauren's bachelorette party uninvited and joins in enjoying the male stripper.
• Brutal Honesty: Every now and then.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Might be a case of this, since he's designed the Curiosity rover sampling arm.
• Former Child Star: Used to be one, albeit briefly. This may or may not be the tragedy that drove him to group.

• Disproportionate Retribution: Gives Steven a Glove Slap and flips his car for taking fifteen minutes out of Ryan's radio talk show.
  • Later on, does the same thing to Ryan's Porsche at Steven's instigation.

• Friend to All Children: Proves to be a fantastic nanny when he babysits Anne's kids. He gets them to indulge their fun-loving sides, while still being completely well-behaved for their mother and getting all their chores done.
• Fun Personified: Despite how he creepy he can appear, he makes every task he engages in fun for others. He reasons that's why Anne's kids take to him.
• Glove Slap: On Steven.
• Hidden Depths: Was responsible for designing the Curiosity rover's sampling arm, much to Ryan's surprise. He also sings very well, and is able to write a song on the spot.
• Idiot Savant: Goes by social rules no one understands, is so creepy and weird people of the group try to avoid his company, but was also the designer of the sampling arm of the Curiosity rover's, is able to make graphics and carry out philosophic conversations quite easily, is able to flip a car, and doesn't flinch at Bob Costas's handshake.
• Mayan Doomsday: His belief on it starts the End of the World party in The World Ain't Over 'Til It's Over.
• Momma's Boy: Refers to his mother as the person he's closest to.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Keeps referring to Yolanda as such. That said... when Yolanda is on a single's cruise and isn't succeeding in the least, K ends up boarding the cruise to help find her a date.
• Mysterious Past: His last name, reason for being in the group, and general life are all left up in the air. It gets to the point where Anne, Owen, and Yolanda have each devoted time to trying to figure out the truth.
• Naked People Are Funny: Goes running around in Ryan's university in his birthday suit for Ryan's birthday's Scavenger Hunt.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: In-Universe, that's how people react to him.

• Noodle Incident: No one is quite sure what happened for Mr. K to be in the group, because they're all afraid to ask.
• Odd Friendship: With Ryan, and, sometimes, Owen.
• One-Letter Name: Finally averted as of Comeback Player of the Year, where his first name is revealed to be Benjamin.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Him acting normal is considered a red alert sign.
• The Unreveal: His reason for being in the group remains a mystery, and he refers to himself as a complex puzzle.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He seems to think he has this with Yolanda and that that's why it's okay for him to repeatedly insult her, despite her insisting otherwise.

Steven (John Cho)

Ryan's boss. He's the one who convinces Ryan to go to group therapy. He is also more than a bit weird himself.

• Ambiguously Gay: Holds Ryan's hand a tad longer than necessary in the third episode. Also, when doped after his colonoscopy, he and Sonia go on a shopping spree, winding up with 2000 dollars worth of trendy clothes.
• Benevolent Boss: Is good friends with Ryan and genuinely cares about him and Carrie.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Takes out fifteen minutes of time from Ryan's three-hour long show. Receives a Glove Slap from Mr. K, who also flips his car.
  • Later on, gets Mr. K to flip Ryan's Porsche in retaliation.
• Glove Slap: Is on the receiving end of one of these from Mr. K.
• Going Commando: During said shopping spree. Sonia thinks his boxers are too conspicuous under his pants, and he agrees.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Ryan.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: A Pretty Fly (for an Asian Guy). Puts on a stereotypical "urban" accent to make George (who's blind) believe he's black.
• Ship Tease: Has some with Carrie. And Lauren.
• The Man Behind the Curtain: Reveals he pretended to be their boss in various statements and phone calls in order to get Ryan to do things without having to be the bad guy. Ryan admits he should've noticed how similar the voice on the phone was.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Along with Ryan and Amy.

Sonia (Sarah Baker)

A nurse who joined the group when one of her too many cats died. Is firstly presented as somewhat shy, but shows more backbone as the series go on.

• Berserk Button: Do not badmouth cats around her. Also, do not lose the group cat, or imply somehow that a cat's life is not as valuable as a person's life. She also doesn't like when people call her a Crazy Cat Lady.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She remarks she sounds all sweet and innocent, but she can be pretty mean when she has to be.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Good at coming up with schemes, but she's not interested in applying herself on everyday matters.

• Cloud Cuckoolander: Her case is not as serious as Mr. K's, but has an unhealthy obsession with cats, fully believes she can speak "cat", and also has No Social Skills.
• Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Tries to get Yolanda to refuse to take a drugs test so as not to ruin her cool persona.
• Crazy Cat Lady: She struggles with this early on, getting a whole bunch of cats and using the group to hide them from Lauren. She gets better and later objects to the term by saying there's more to her than a love of cats.
• Hidden Depths: In The World Ain't Over 'Til It's Over, demonstrates to Wyatt how to propose by practicing on Yolanda. She does it so well that Yolanda actually agrees to marry her.
• Hospital Hottie: Discusses the concept on chapter seven.
• Odd Friendship: With Yolanda.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Yolanda's Blue.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Has a tendency to narrate her winks.
• Ship Sinking: The group organized a dinner party at Mr. K's in part to set her and Danny up. Sonia had a feeling something was going to happen and brought a date to self-sabotage. Danny took it hard, but then he hit it off with the woman Mr. K hired to cook the food. Sonia decides to just let him go.
• Ship Tease: With Danny and Yolanda.
• Stalker with a Crush: Has some tendencies, but isn't as bad as Mr. K.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Mr. K seems to think she, Yolanda and Fausta are going to go to hell.
• Those Two Guys: A decent way of describing the friendship between her and Yolanda, especially once the two become co-workers.

Carrie (Allison Miller)

Ryan's Sassy Secretary. Often has to put up with her boss and Steven's antics.

• Better as Friends: Never spoken out loud, but that's apparently how things stand between her and Ryan.
• Betty and Veronica: Plays the Betty to Hannah's Veronica to Ryan in episode thirteen.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: She's the Light Feminine to her friend Hannah's Dark Feminine.
• Hollywood Homely: Not overtly, but the show sometimes presents her as someone Steven and Ryan won't even take into consideration. She's played by Allison Miller! Other occasions present it more as them treating her as a close friend/one of the boys rather than a sexual/romantic conquest.
• Nice Girl: Sure, sometimes she does feel annoyed when Ryan's acting his craziest, but here is a girl who is always around when her boss needs her, often goes way beyond her call of duty to help him, and, like Ryan states in episode thirteen, has been there for a him ever since Janie died.
• Only Sane Woman: Between Ryan and Steven, she's got her work cut out for her.

• Ship Tease: Has some with Ryan and Steven.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Has some with Ryan.

Fausta (Tonita Castro)

A Latina lady who is grieving the death of her father and brother.

• Brutal Honesty: Seems to think not understanding English gives her a free pass.
• Comically Missing the Point: Just won't realize that Anne is lesbian.
  Anne: ¡Soy lesbiana! I looked it up just for this.
  Fausta: [Laughs] No, no, no. Wrong word, lesbiana. One day, I tell you what this means.
  Ryan: I feel like she's trying not to understand.

• Shipper on Deck: For Ryan/Lauren, but it's Played for Laughs.
• Spicy Latina: Seems to think of herself as this. The others disagree.
• Stepford Smiler: Seems to be one of those, but it's ultimately Subverted. Before the tragedy she's going through, she can either choose to smile or cry, and she chooses to smile.

• The Friend Nobody Likes: Mr. K seems to think she, Sonia and Yolanda are going to go to hell. Apparently thought this of Anne, since she doesn't invite her to her niece's birthday party, but they've gotten over that by now. Also thought this of Ryan at first, but apparently got over that too.
  • In the case of Anne part of it was also an awareness that Anne wasn't ready to smile at something like a birthday party especially since she had set up a table for 'those who can not be here with us'. She points this out when Anne sits at that very table.
• You No Take Candle: Her understanding of English is limited.
• You're Drinking Breast Milk: The secret of her cakes.

Danny (Seth Morris)

A discharged soldier whose wife had a son with another man while he was on deployment. Faces all his problems by drifting away in his imaginary city, Harborville.

• Beware the Nice Ones: Trashes his wife's lover's car in episode six.
• But Not Too Foreign: He's apparently 1/64 Chinook Indian.

• Divorce Assets Conflict: During Comeback Player of the Year. Subverted in that he didn't want any conflict, Anne raised the conflict.
• Extreme Doormat: To unhealthy proportions.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Is usually the one who explains what's happening to Fausta.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He enjoys himself immensely after defacing his wife's lover's beloved car. He then talks about upping it to physical violence, at which point Ryan feels it necessary to rein him in.
• Naked People Are Funny: Runs around Ryan's university naked for Ryan's Scavenger Hunt.

• Odd Couple: Him and Sonia.

• Practical Joke: Has one played on him by Owen in Win at All Costas.
• Precision F-Strike: Done to great effect in Comeback Player of the Year, after Anne shows up to help him with his divorce papers.
  Danny (to his wife's lawyer): Call John Lithgow, tell them you're f***!
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He initially developed Harborville as a coping mechanism for the horrors he witnessed during the war.
• Ship Tease: With Sonia.
• Stepford Smiler: His wife cheated on him, the man with whom his wife cheated on him came to live with them, and was abusive to Danny. Yet, he was the most cheerful of the group; it's heavily implied his constant smiling is a way of avoiding facing his problems. He seems to be growing out of this and smiling for more genuine reasons though.
• Stepford Suburbia: Harborville is an odd variation, in that the town itself is perfect, but it's also a way for Danny to avoid facing his problems.
• Teach Him Anger: Ryan tries to do this on Big League Chew. The result is mixed: at first, Danny takes it too seriously and starts taking it out on everything and everyone, but, later on, he realizes his way of coping is not that bad, he just needs to achieve some balance. Which he achieves by trashing his wife's lover's car.

Terrell Owens (Terrell Owens)

A future Hall of Famer wide receiver. He has something of a friendly love-hate relationship with Ryan. In the pilot, he gets tackled by Ryan. Half a season later, he ends up flipping Ryan's car with Steven and Mr. K. As of of last handful of episodes of season one, he ends up as Ryan's temporary secretary.

• The Cameo: Though in this case, it may be a case of becoming a recurring character since he's shown up in no less than three episodes so far.

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