The “Happy Days” actor clarified that he’s honored by the statue’s existence: “What a thing in your life.”

Henry Winkler reveals his 1 issue with Milwaukee’s Fonzie statue: ‘Pisses me off’

The "Happy Days" actor clarified that he's honored by the statue's existence: "What a thing in your life."

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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April 22, 2026 4:54 p.m. ET

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Henry Winkler in Los Angeles on April 15, 2026; the Fonzie statue in Milwaukee on Aug. 29, 2021. Credit:

Michael Tullberg/Getty; AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

- Henry Winkler revealed the one thing about Milwaukee's Fonzie statue that grinds his gears: "Pisses me off."

- The actor clarified that he's honored that his *Happy Days* character received a statue: "What a thing in your life."

- Winkler also reflected on the one item that he took from the *Happy Days* set after the series ended.

Henry Winkler is thrilled that he inspired an iconic statue — but it has one major problem in his estimation.

The *Barry *actor appeared on the *Today* show with Sheinelle Jones and her guest co-host Willie Geist on Wednesday, where Winkler discussed visiting Milwaukee's statue of his *Happy Days* character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli.

"You know what pisses me off?" Winkler said. "He's taller. He's taller than I am. I don't look at him in the eye."

The 'Happy Days' statue in Milwaukee on Aug. 29, 2021.

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

The Emmy winner quickly clarified that he's honored that his legacy warranted a statue in the first place.

"What a thing in your life," he said. "You grow up, people told me I would never achieve, and I have a statue. I mean, come on. And a cool one! A tall one."

The statue debuted in Milwaukee, where the iconic sitcom was set, in 2008. Winkler and several of his castmates — including Anson Williams, Don Most, Erin Moran, Tom Bosley, and Marion Ross — attended the unveiling ceremony.

"To see it in real life and that it exists it's just unbelievable. It really is," Winkler said at the time, per BBC.

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Elsewhere in the *Today* interview, Winkler discussed the keepsake that he took from the set of *Happy Days* after it wrapped its 11-season run on ABC in 1984.

"Inside, when we would go and make an entrance through the swinging doors of Arnold's [Drive-In], there was a piece of plywood, and I would put my coffee cup down [on it]," he explained. "And then you would make your entrance. And on that piece of wood, I would write down things."

Henry Winkler and Ron Howard on 'Happy Days'.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Winkler remembered using that piece of plywood to commemorate significant milestones on the show. "'We're starting our seventh season,'" he recalled writing. "'Ron Howard just had a red-headed baby girl.' That was March. In September, I wrote down, 'We just had a red-headed baby girl.' And they are now, they're friends."

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The actor added, "The last shot, I said, 'Can I just take this one thing home?' A piece of plywood."

Watch Winkler's full appearance on the *Today* show above.

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