Plenty of friendships have come and gone on television over the years, but very few of them have been as unique, as devoted, as hilarious and as truly heartwarming as the friendship between Shawn Spencer and Burton “Gus” Guster on the cult hit dramedy series Psych. For eight seasons, a musical, and a movie - and with a movie sequel on the way - Shawn and Gus were the very heart of what made Psych a one of a kind series.
Perfectly acted with effortless on screen chemistry between James Roday and Dulé Hill, the friendship between Shawn and Gus is unlike any other friendship on television before or after the series’ airing. Here, we take a look at just ten of the many, many moments that show why the friendship between these two men is something truly special.
The iconic taco montage
Friends that snack together, stay together. Based on the truly innumerable number of snacks that Shawn and Gus consume over the course of the series’ eight seasons, musical, and movie, it’s no wonder that these two have been the best of friends ever since they were little kids.
No moment of snacking joy perfectly encapsulates their friendship better than a montage of their taco eating antics in the eighth season episode “Shawn and Gus Truck Things Up.” Following the shocking murder of their beloved taco truck owner Mauricio, Shawn and Gus reflect on better times in the form of a wistful montage - and the visuals are truly priceless.
Their duet of “Shout” on American Duos
It’s not just their love of snacks that Shawn and Gus share with each other. Even more than their love of all things food related, the dynamic duo are absolutely obsessed with and extremely knowledgeable about all things relating to the 1980s.
So in the second season premiere “American Duos,” when the pair are given the opportunity to go undercover on a successful singing competition, they perform a mashup of 80s greatness. With Shawn dressed as Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears, and Gus in Michael Jackson’s signature red leather jumpsuit, the duo perform a hilarious rendition of “Shout” by Tears for Fears and bring down the house.
When Shawn was willing to risk everything to save Gus from a bank robbery
Nowadays, it’s become relatively commonplace to refer to your best friends and significant others as your ride or dies. But long before that term was popular, Shawn and Gus were going above and beyond in proving their loyalty to one another, no matter the stakes that were involved.
In the third season episode “Gus Walks into a Bank,” Gus winds up being stuck in a bank during an attempted robbery after going to deposit some of their Psych money. As soon as Shawn learns that there’s a robbery going on, he attempts to storm the bank, and winds up being physically restrained by Lassiter and Juliet, showing that he’s willing to risk everything for his best friend.
The entire opening sequence of “Office Space”
In the seventh season episode “Office Space,” Gus makes the mistake of tampering with a crime scene in quite dramatic fashion after his boss is murdered with a note from Gus stuck in his hand. Gus runs to Shawn in a panic after trying to clean up the mess he had made, and as a result of Gus’s hyper emotional panicked state, Shawn goes down to the scene of the crime with Gus.
What follows is a true comedy of errors, as the two men wind up compromising the crime scene in impossible and implausible ways, one after the other. And all throughout, the men are a screaming, flailing, frantic mess of nerves and hilarious physical comedy.
Every “Gus, don’t be a…” and whisper fight
More than most other procedural series or dramedy series, Psych is richly filled with recurring jokes and gags, far beyond the typical catchphrases associated with investigators or hammy sitcoms. Almost all of these running jokes are innately linked with Shawn and Gus’s friendship.
And each and every time the duo engage in these jokes, hilarity ensues. Whether it involves Shawn telling Gus to not be “a gooey chocolate chip cookie,” or “exactly half of an eleven pound black forest ham,” or “the only black lead on a major cable network;” or whether it involves the two of them engaging in high-paced whisper arguments, Shawn and Gus’s use of these inside jokes is one of the highlights of the series.
Shawn telling Gus he’ll always be there for him
We’ve already touched on the fact that Shawn and Gus are there for each other through thick and thin, no matter what obstacles come their way. They’re the true definition of friendship, and more than that, a picture perfect example of what it means to be best friends.
But the series’ penultimate episode, “A Nightmare on State Street,” offers a touching coda to their friendship that beautifully highlights their commitment to each other. After suffering a nightmare, Gus tearfully calls Shawn in the middle of the night. In mere minutes, Shawn is there with milkshakes, and the two men curl up on the couch to watch old movies, while Shawn promises Gus, “It’s okay, buddy. I’ll always be here for you.”
Shawn’s photo that he keeps on his desk
Throughout the series, Shawn and Gus are consistently shown to be much closer than other friendships between men on television usually are. A fun tongue in cheek moment about their closeness and the way it challenges gendered relationships occurs in the fourth season episode “The Devil’s in the Details…and the Upstairs Bedroom.”
While looking at photos online, Shawn wonders, “Why does every girl post a million photos of her posing cheek-to-cheek with her best friends? It’s so lame.” That’s when Gus points out that Shawn has a picture of the two of them in that exact same position right on his desk - to which Shawn counters that the photo isn’t online. At least, not yet.
Shawn’s speech at their high school reunion
High school isn’t always the easiest time for people, especially when they’re awkward teens like Shawn and Gus once were. But in the high school reunion episode “Murder? …Anyone? …Anyone? …Bueller?” Shawn gives a speech that perfectly highlights what makes Gus such a good best friend - a speech to moving it leads Shawn’s own parents to have tears in their eyes.
The closing lines of the speech say it all: “Burton Guster has been my best friend since we were five. And maybe, just maybe, if any of you can look yourselves in the mirror and know that you’ve been half as good a friend to someone else as Gus has been to me, well, you too can be considered great. Give it up, for my best friend, Burton Guster.”
“A friendship for the ages”
Shawn isn’t the only one who can give a good speech. In the series finale, “The Break-Up,” Shawn and Gus are confronted with major changes in their personal and professional lives. After Shawn decides to move to San Francisco, Gus realizes he’s dissatisfied with his own life alone from Shawn, and impulsively does the same, too.
As Gus explains it: “Shawn, I was lying. I was so lying. I looked at all those faces, and then I realized I have the same job. Yes, I have a better office, a hotter secretary, a soda machine, but it’s the same job, and I cannot be that man, Shawn. I am an adventurer now, with a friendship for the ages. And if I have to live in another city to make that happen, then so be it.”
When Gus told Shawn he wouldn’t change a thing
But the series finale isn’t the first time that Gus gives a moving speech highlighting the significance of his friendship with Shawn. In the fifth season finale, “Yang 3 in 2D,” Shawn and Gus find themselves held hostage by a serial killer.
It’s there when Gus finally tells Shawn the true extent of what he feels about their friendship: “I don’t blame you, Shawn. I want you to know that if I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. You’re my best friend, and we got a chance to live out our childhood dreams. I don’t blame you, okay? And I’m sorry if I couldn’t always cut loose the way you wanted me to.”
