General Questions | Instagram Live 2/12/26

Summary

Podcast Summary: How We Made Your Mother – General Questions | Instagram Live 2/12/26

Hosts: Josh Radnor & Craig Thomas
Episode Release Date: May 4, 2026
Context: Recorded Live on Instagram, February 12, 2026

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Main Theme & Purpose

This special Instagram Live episode of "How We Made Your Mother" brings Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby) and series co-creator Craig Thomas together for an interactive Q&A with fans around the globe. The conversation weaves reflections on How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM), heartfelt tributes, behind-the-scenes revelations, evolution in both personal and series terms, and insights into the show’s enduring place in pop culture.

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Episode Highlights & Key Discussion Points

1. International Community and Fan Engagement

• The hosts celebrate a truly global audience, inviting live input from listeners hailing from Brazil, The Netherlands, France, Iran, India, England, Egypt, and beyond.
• Quote, Josh (29:04): "Wow. I can’t believe no one from the US tuned in, but that’s fine."

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2. Remembering James Van Der Beek (Sandcastles in the Sand Episode)

• News of James Van Der Beek’s passing prompts a tender, in-depth tribute to his guest arc as Simon, Robin's high school boyfriend.
• Josh recalls his kindness, humility, and particularly the joy he brought to playing against-type.
• Craig highlights Van Der Beek’s scene-stealing, comic daring—playing a washed-up, yet still arrogant, ex with “cult leader’s confidence” (11:21).
• Both reflect on the impact of child stardom and how Van Der Beek appeared to embrace adulthood and fatherhood with humility and joy.
• Quote, Craig (21:02): “He was just so good that he popped in these scenes. He wasn’t trying to steal the scenes, he just kind of was because he was so funny and charismatic in this weird, off-kilter way in that role… just the kindest and funniest.”
• Quote, Josh (23:39): “There’s always a sense of loss when people you grew up watching and relating to… these characters teach you something profound about life, you know? He modeled something—you know, it wasn’t un-Ted-like, his role on that show.”

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3. Fan Questions & Running Jokes

• Bar Called "Puzzles": Fans ask if they can open a real bar named Puzzles.
  • Craig references an existing Puzzles bar in Dallas: “There is a Puzzles in tribute to How I Met Your Mother. So that does exist. My old man brain was not [failing me].” (30:49)
• On Set Stories – Rain Scenes:
  • Josh and Craig describe the logistical magic of staging rain scenes in sunny LA, invoking movie magic, technical details, and their pinch-me moments.
    • Josh: “There was something about getting rained on that is so real and visceral and tactile that it puts you in the scene in a different way.” (38:50)
  • A listener identifies the "disaster averted" dance-in-the-rain episode: Season 7, Episode 9.
• Narrative Structure Shift in Season Two:
  • Craig explains that Season Two intentionally shuffled character dynamics, e.g., Marshall becoming the single guy and Barney losing his wingman.
    • “We really switched to the condition of the characters… all of those new conditions in season two were so rich.” (45:46)
    • The show's evolution is marked by "finding new speeds" while keeping its core DNA.
• Revealing Character Layers Over Time:
  • Josh and Craig agree that character backstory unfolds naturally with audience familiarity and actor-writer synergy.
  • Craig: “This whole series feels like an excavation—you’re just deeper, deeper, deeper, what are you finding?” (49:50)
  • The cast's performance often inspired new storylines.

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4. On Fame, Growth, and the Show's Meta-Theme

• Extended reflections on the toll and gifts of early fame, referencing both themselves and Van Der Beek.
• Both discuss the value of aging, adaptation, and embracing change—whether personally or through the arcs of the show's characters.
• Quote, Craig (57:23): “I thought… the series is about so many things. But I guess… I would say evolution. The show is about personal evolution and the letting go of your frozen idea of what it’s all going to be like—instead, embracing the chaos and embracing the change.”
• Quote, Josh (58:06): “I would just add also learning to trust that the universe’s plan is better than mine.”

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5. HIMYM as Life Medicine, Art, and Community

• Josh and Craig share appreciation for the profound ways HIMYM continues to affect viewers’ lives—often discussing fan submissions and stories received through their podcast website.
• Quote, Josh (54:12): “Tell us what the show meant to you… Tell us an interesting thing about your life and how it… intersected and interacted with How I Met Your Mother. We play those at the beginning of the show. It’s a great way to open with the voice from a fan.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Description | |-----------|---------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 09:41 | Craig Thomas | “He was balding, he’s got a paunch, he’s unemployed. He still drives the same van. But the same arrogance…” | | 11:21 | Josh Radnor | “It was like a cult leader’s confidence. Like, they’re gonna do what I tell them.” | | 21:02 | Craig Thomas | “He wasn’t trying to steal the scenes, he just kind of was because he was so funny and charismatic…” | | 23:39 | Josh Radnor | “These characters teach you something profound about life… he modeled something… it wasn’t un-Ted-like.”| | 30:49 | Craig Thomas | “There is a Puzzles in tribute to How I Met Your Mother… in Lakewood, East Dallas.” | | 38:50 | Josh Radnor | “There was something about getting rained on that is so real and visceral and tactile…” | | 45:46 | Craig Thomas | “We really switched to the condition of the characters… the new conditions in season two were so rich.”| | 49:50 | Craig Thomas | “This whole series feels like an excavation—you’re just deeper, deeper, deeper, what are you finding?”| | 57:23 | Craig Thomas | “The show is about personal evolution and the letting go of your frozen idea of what it’s all going to be like…” | | 58:06 | Josh Radnor | “…learning to trust that the universe’s plan is better than mine.” |

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:23 — Episode start; international fan roll-call.
• 08:57 — Announcement and tribute to James Van Der Beek’s passing.
• 17:26 — Discussing Van Der Beek’s performance and casting philosophy.
• 29:48 — Fan question about opening a real “Puzzles” bar.
• 35:07 — Behind-the-scenes: Filming HIMYM’s rain scenes.
• 45:14 — Fatima’s question about intentional shifts in Season Two writing & narrative.
• 54:12 — How to submit fan voicemails and stories for the podcast.
• 56:43 — Behind-the-scenes: Fourth wall and bar set filming trivia.
• 57:02 — Central questions of the series: evolution, love, and embracing change.

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Episode Flow and Tone

This episode is warm, lively, and nostalgic, balancing lighthearted banter (“my old man brain…”; “Are foxes trying to seduce humans?”), genuine emotion (the Van Der Beek tribute), and deep reflections on the enduring cultural value of HIMYM. The hosts use humor and openness, welcoming fan participation and creating a sense of community among listeners.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Gratitude: The hosts are deeply grateful and moved by fan engagement worldwide.
• Lasting Impact: HIMYM continues to resonate, offering both comfort and life lessons.
• Behind-the-scenes Access: Listeners get answers to production curiosities and writing choices.
• Personal Growth: Both in the show’s structure and in the lives of its creators and actors, continuous evolution and embracing change are central themes.

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How to Participate/Further Engagement

• Submit a voice note or message about your relationship to HIMYM at howwemadeyourmother.com
• Subscribe to the podcast feed for more episodes—regular and bonus Instagram Lives.
• The show is part of the Office Ladies Network and frequently cross-collaborates with other rewatch podcasts.

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Transcript

[Josh Radnor]

Craig, I was recently looking at one of my credit card statements. Do you ever do this? Look at your credit card statements?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, like, once every few years.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, sometimes I'm a little like Lily. I kind of bury my head in the sand. I'm like, I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it. But today I really, I looked it over, and I saw that there was a charge from a very big bookstore chain that apparently I've been a member of for years with some sort of, like, yearly subscription, maybe even monthly. I don't. I hope it's a. But I, I, I was just like, why? I haven't set foot in one of these stores in years. So I've got this charge that I. And I. Then it started. My mind started spinning. I was like, how many of these do I have?

[Craig Thomas]

Right? What. What is the grand total that you've been paying since, like, happy Y2K or whatever?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, yeah, it's.

[Craig Thomas]

It's ridiculous.

[Josh Radnor]

I don't want to crunch those numbers because now that I have a, a, a a kid, I'm starting to think about college.

[Craig Thomas]

Y. That would have been really useful. Can I make a suggestion?

[Josh Radnor]

Yes, please.

[Craig Thomas]

Since we're just two dudes here chatting on microphones, I'm going to just spontaneously suggest something. Rocket Money. Josh.

[Josh Radnor]

Wait, what?

[Craig Thomas]

Rocket Money, I say.

[Josh Radnor]

You heard me, Rocket Money.

[Craig Thomas]

You heard me.

[Josh Radnor]

Tell me. Tell me more about it.

[Craig Thomas]

I will. I will. So, Rocket Money. This app automatically categorizes transactions, tracks subscriptions, and even lets you cancel unwanted ones. Case in point, in just a few taps, you can end up cutting all kinds of subscriptions. Just like what you just described. Things you did not. You don't even remember, to this day signing up for.

[Josh Radnor]

I don't remember signing up for this.

[Craig Thomas]

Save so much money. I don't even want to guess how much money you wasted, because you don't even know what year that started in, and it just makes you feel better. You're not wasting money, and you're just, like, less stressed out about money and that Rocket Money can do all of that for you.

[Josh Radnor]

Look, I just need to free up more space in my psyche to do this podcast. I can't be worried about hemorrhaging money on subscriptions that I did in 2002. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. [e-mail] Mother that's RocketMoney.com Mother RocketMoney.com Mother hey, before we jump back into the show, let's take a quick break. But not just any break. This is a refreshing break with stuff Snapple we all know about Snapple's iconic real facts, so let's take a minute to go over some of my faves.

[Craig Thomas]

Snapple Real Fact 1978 More than 40 buildings in New York have their own zip codes.

[Josh Radnor]

Snapple Real Fact 1667 Lovebirds are actual

[Craig Thomas]

birds Snapple Real Fact 2002 On May 1, 1931, the Empire State Building officially opened in New York City.

[Josh Radnor]

Snapple RealFact 253 the first TV remote control introduced in 1950 was called Lazy Bones.

[Craig Thomas]

So grab a Snapple, take a second and enjoy the moment. Because let's be honest, this might be the most refreshing part of your day. Snapple, make your break more interesting. All right, now let's get back to the show.

[Alec Lev]

The following episode of How We Made youe Mother was recorded live on Instagram on February 12, 2026.

[Josh Radnor]

I'm alone what a pity I won't be soon in New York City when I see you. Please permit me to tell you everything in New York City. Hey everyone. Welcome. What's today? Thursday?

[Craig Thomas]

Something like that? Yeah, Thursday.

[Josh Radnor]

We switched these to noon so we could our friends from different parts of the world could join us. So welcome. Let us know where you're viewing from. We love to hear to get a kind of geographic slate of where people are chiming in from Craig and I cannot see your questions and requests for shout out for different countries shout outs. But Alec is sifting through them for us and he's gonna bring your questions to us. So. Yeah, so Craig co created How I Met yout Mother. He's my dear friend. We I start on that show as Ted Mosby. We have been working through all the episodes on a podcast, a rewatch podcast called How We Made youe Mother. We are done recording season two. We have two seasons but season two is still rolling out. Wherever you get your podcasts, if you haven't yet joined us, please listen, spread the word. We love this show. We love rewatching this show and talking about every episode. Craig, what else should we add?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, we're up to Lucky Penny. I think that's this week's episode. So that's like in the teens of season two. So we're more than halfway through season two. Our favorite part by far of the whole thing other than getting to hang out with each other and with our producer, Alec Lev, and everybody on the team is hearing from you guys. And the reason we're doing these IG lives is because it's just another way to connect with the fans and get the word out. These will eventually become bonus episodes. So if we do take your question today, that will be in an episode of the podcast that will roll out at some point in a month or two or however Alec will advise. I'm not sure how long, but this will be on our podcast feed. So please subscribe, send us your questions and your thoughts, and we'll make a podcast episode live style.

[Josh Radnor]

I just noticed that I have baby drool on my sweatshirt, but I also want to say that it would be hard for me to find anything to wear that didn't have some configuration.

[Craig Thomas]

You were in that zone.

[Josh Radnor]

You know what I mean?

[Craig Thomas]

That lasts for. That lasts for a while because it's a baby drool. Then it becomes like food that is thrown at you, and you got about two or three.

[Josh Radnor]

You know who's really looking forward to my son eating food? Nelson the dog.

[Craig Thomas]

To catch the food.

[Josh Radnor]

He will be so at attention for food that will inevitably drop on the ground.

[Craig Thomas]

So my son is 18, and he is now living away from us at a school for kids with disabilities, young adults with disabilities. He has fine motor skill limitations, my son, he can play, but the miracle he's an atypical learner, the miracle of music. He can play drums really well. He can play keyboard and piano really

[Josh Radnor]

well, which requires high motor function.

[Craig Thomas]

Totally. But music is magic, and it lifts him up in those categories. Eating. He can't get food consistently in his mouth. Even at age 18. He loves food. And a lot of it gets in there, but a lot of it falls. The person, the being that is the most heartbroken that my son is living away from us is Sally the dog, because Sally would just hang out underneath his spot at dinner and just really score.

[Josh Radnor]

It was probably Elliot's way of just having fun and feeding the dog. Like, he didn't.

[Craig Thomas]

I know. Definitely not. Elliot wanted that food. It was just fun.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, he did.

[Craig Thomas]

He wanted that. And the dog is, like, forlorn that Elliot's not there anymore. And so it's a hilarious dynamic where now the dog is kind of trying to catch whatever my daughter or we're dropping, and it's just not nearly as much of a yield.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

So the dog knows who to go sit under is my point.

[Josh Radnor]

They're wise beings, those dogs. They are wise beings. I mean, they domesticated themselves. Hey, I Heard this crazy thing. Did you hear they've noticed this in the uk? Foxes, they think are trying to domesticate themselves and be taken inside. Oh, my God. Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

How is that taking form? What are they doing?

[Josh Radnor]

They're kind of like lurking and like, like batting their eyelashes at people and just being like, we're harmless seducing. You should take us in and reliably feed us.

[Craig Thomas]

They've noticed how good dogs are.

[Josh Radnor]

Someone can fact check me on this. Look up like Fox's domesticated UK something. Alec uk. Do it right now. But I think this is really happening. And maybe in 100 years it will be totally normal to have a fox living with you.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

That. What you just told me is my favorite type of Fox News I've ever heard.

[Josh Radnor]

Also, we're in a news ecosystem where I want to tell people things I've heard, but I'm like, this just might be misinformation. I'm spreading. This might be wild misinformation.

[Craig Thomas]

Am I adding to the cat at least? This is pleasant cat.

[Josh Radnor]

But this is the grand scheme of misinformation. You can pass on. Fox is trying to domesticate themselves as low. Like it's not the harm for believing that is just like you say it at a dinner party and people are like, oh, that's wild.

[Craig Thomas]

It makes me happy to think of it.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

So you've put something positive in the world, whether or not it's true. Which is very different from a lot of the news.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

That we're getting.

[Josh Radnor]

I think so. Yeah. Well, also, I just wanted us to take a moment. James Van Der Beek passed away yesterday and we had the honor and the privilege and the pleasure of working with him. On How I Met yout Mother, he played Robin's high school boyfriend. Was it Sand Castles? Was that the episode?

[Craig Thomas]

Sandcastles in the sand is the episode. The heartbreak ballad kind that he's in the video of and also represents their relationship back in Canada. And he was. Yeah, we got. We were so lucky to have him in that episode.

[Josh Radnor]

And he was. Yeah, I'm going to. I recorded something. I'm going to post it after. After we're done here. But I just found him to be like an incredibly kind, cool, grounded, kind of down to earth guy. And he was also so effortlessly funny in that role. Like, it is a wild performance. It is so funny. So the gist of it is, which I thought you guys really captured something. So SM. Which is the person you love when you're 14 or 15. Like love, like They're. Your heart pounds out of your chest when they walk in the room. No matter what happens to them over the next couple decades, when they walk in the room or you hear their name, you will still break out in a sweat. You will still. They will always be in the pantheon Mount Rushmore of your greatest, greatest crushes. Right? And so you see him when he's younger, and he's like this hot, young James Van Der Beek as we know him. And then he shows up, and he's just. The years have not been kind to him, right?

[Craig Thomas]

Yes, yes, absolutely.

[Josh Radnor]

And the gang is all like, this is the guy that he's.

[Craig Thomas]

He's balding, he's got a paunch, he's unemployed. He still drives the same van, but

[Josh Radnor]

with the same arrogance.

[Craig Thomas]

The same arrogance. Totally has the swagger. And it totally still works on Robin spurring this concept of revertigo, where someone from your past comes in your life now, and you revert back to who you were when you initially were under their thumb, as it were. And he was so game and daring to come play. So against type, against the leading man, against the heartthrob.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, he got to kind of, like, do it and then undermine it.

[Craig Thomas]

Do it?

[Josh Radnor]

Yes.

[Craig Thomas]

Set it up and back in the flashbacks, in the video, and then completely undermine it, but still have that charisma and control over Robin, that sort of, like, mind.

[Josh Radnor]

And he knew he had it. It was like a cult leader's confidence. Like, they're gonna do what I tell them.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes, it was a cult leader's confidence. And he had this wonderfully, kind of almost sweet way about him. Like, I'm sorry I'm dumping you for Louise Marsh. He said it all kind of with a smile and a sweetness. He knew exactly how to play this toxic character in this really sweet way and just was fearless at doing that. It was a really big swing, crazy role, and he was just in for it.

[Josh Radnor]

And I wrote you this little ditty to sing to you in New York City. We'll be right back. Greg, you know what I like best about our jobs?

[Craig Thomas]

Working with me.

[Josh Radnor]

No, no, that's like seventh or eighth. I'd say one or two is that. We've talked about this on the podcast. We don't have to wear a suit and tie to work.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, never, never, never.

[Josh Radnor]

Working in tv, working in theater, working in podcasting. I mean, you barely wear pants.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm not even sure I'm even wearing pants now. And I'm writing books and stuff. I don't have to. I See nobody.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, you've given up. You've fully given up. But no, it's true. We don't, we, we can wear the comfiest clothes that we can, we can grab. And I know that some of our favorites Rvori.

[Craig Thomas]

Here's the thing, because you, you also want to look good. You want to be comfortable, but you want to look good because you can't actually give up. That's the thing.

[Josh Radnor]

Don't give up comfortable, but look good. That's the sweet spot.

[Craig Thomas]

That's the dream.

[Josh Radnor]

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[Craig Thomas]

And this is one of those things that we, we're old guys, right? We're looking back on our misspent use making a TV show. But if, you know, if we could do it all over again and go back in a time machine. Alec, we know you, you don't have a. I wouldn't say you have a huge amount of hair. You have a good look, you keep it tight, it works for you. Yeah, yeah, but when you were losing your hair in your 20s, 30s, you didn't have hims. You didn't have something great like hims. That could have given you that choice. And now it's available to people who aren't old like us, Correct?

[Alec Lev]

Absolutely. I would say that in my 20s, what did exist was very complicated.

[Craig Thomas]

Right.

[Alec Lev]

It felt like this. All these products I had to do. And I was gonna say it wasn't available online. I don't think there was online.

[Craig Thomas]

It was a lot of tonics that were sold by traveling salesmen who also had a circus.

[Alec Lev]

Yes, yes. It was that Paul McCartney video.

[Josh Radnor]

They were always bursting into song.

[Alec Lev]

Right.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Yes.

[Alec Lev]

I definitely. If it were as simple as this, I mean, of course I would have done this.

[Josh Radnor]

But you've committed. You've been with this Telly Savalas look for a long, long time.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

So I don't know. But if you ever decided you wanted to sprout more hair.

[Alec Lev]

I think podcast listeners would be confused if I started all of a sudden to have a full head of hair.

[Josh Radnor]

But I'll.

[Craig Thomas]

Listeners, though, like, listeners, they can hear your hair. I'm confused by this.

[Josh Radnor]

I would love it if just week to week, you just had more and more hair, Alex. And we didn't comment on it.

[Craig Thomas]

I know. Well, so if you're too young to know who Telly Savalas is with our hip Kojak reference, we just made, you have a choice to use hymns that us old guys didn't have. And that is a cool choice to have.

[Josh Radnor]

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[Craig Thomas]

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[Josh Radnor]

And now back to the show. I saw Carter posted something really lovely about the kind of consideration when you guys were casting him. It was kind of like, well, James Vanderbeek's not a comic actor. Like, he's not, you know, he doesn't do big comedy like this. And it was such a. Sometimes, I mean, I think great Actors can. Can do all of it. But yeah, there was something. I sometimes think that, you know, there's always the thing of comic. Actors can do drama really well, but often the reverse. Like people who can really play it grounded and sincere, but also like, really go for it. Like, I just thought, I don't know why, out of a lot of guest star performances and we had countless guest star performances, James really stays with me.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Like, I remember when he, you know, we rehearsed with him that week, but I remember seeing him in his full, like hair and makeup as the older guy and just the way he kind of wore it with.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Like, with this kind of like, I don't know, like, unearned confidence.

[Craig Thomas]

Like,

[Josh Radnor]

it really, it really tickled me. And I just also, you know, we just. It's hard to explain, but when you're a series regular and people come and guest star. I always tried to be a good host. Like, I felt like people were coming into my house, you know, and our. Our house. And I always tried to be warm and welcoming and, and help that. Because guest starring can be. Even if you're a well known actor, it can be.

[Craig Thomas]

It's really hard.

[Josh Radnor]

It's really hard. It's actually the hardest thing to come

[Craig Thomas]

into parachuting in for this really.

[Josh Radnor]

And you're often given crazy stuff to do that requires a certain amount of risk and. But I just remember him being like an incredibly kind, like, very easy to be around. Very. You know, and there wasn't. He, you know, he was a huge star from. From Dawson's Creek and from Varsity Blues and.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

But there was no sense that he, you know, thought of himself other than just like another. Another person on the set doing the job, you know.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

An actor who wanted to act and do different things. And he was. That's why he was so up to do something different because people do get so pigeonholed.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

I remember when, when Alexis Denisov came on Ali's Husband and was so funny as Sandy Rivers, I remember Allison had this good line. She said, well, you know, Alexis is a character actor trapped in a leading man's body. Alexis is very handsome. James Van Der Beek was very handsome. And didn't always. People would write off like, oh, he can't be this big, broad comedic character. But if you give someone who's a really good actor the way that James was, and Alexis too, and you give them that opportunity, you can be so pleasantly surprised. And that's what it was. He came in and just stole scenes and stole the show and was so having clearly having a great time, finally getting the chance to do something more like that and so had the talent to do it. And I just remember him being fearless, but not show offy, not like, I'm gonna take over this scene. He was just so good that he popped in these scenes. He wasn't trying to steal the scenes, he just kind of was because he was so funny and charismatic in this weird, off kilter way in that role in a way you hadn't seen him. And just the kindest and funniest. He was a great, just a great person to come play with us a few times. And I really got nothing but positive, good energy off of him. And I was so sad to see him pass at this young age. I'm so sorry for his family and everybody who loved him and all his fans and we're fans of his too, and we share in that sorrow. So we were lucky that our paths got to cross with his.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. And I'll just share this again. I'm going to post this video that I did last night, but I. One of the things that really struck me about him and it only occurred to me when I really started thinking about it last night, I would see these videos over the years that he would post and sometimes he would post like, this is how you fix this thing around your house. Like, he seemed like he was a real like handyman father, you know, like, and there was something so generous about it, like, hey, you know, if anyone's struggling with this, like, this is a quick, easy fix. But he would also share, you know, things he had learned, wisdom, stuff he wanted to share, especially once he got sick and things seemed to coalesce in different ways for him and. But I, I think, you know, people don't understand that. Getting famous, getting well known, having that spotlight put on you when you're on like a hit show or, you know, your anonymity erodes and suddenly you're thought of as something right, something different than other people your age. And he was young. Like when I did the pilot of How I Met Mother, I think I was 29 or 30. Like I had a bunch of decades under my belt as like not known, you know, and so that had its own challenges. But, but to be a teenager and have that happen, you know, Neil and Ali had, that I never had. Yeah, but it can be so disorienting, so vertigo inducing. And of course the, the, you know, history is littered with, with child actors who kind of don't make it out of that Vortex. But the thing that I found so kind of achingly sweet and moving about James, when I would see these videos, I was like, this is a guy that could have gotten frozen and just really stepped into being a man and a husband and a father. And so joyfully, he looked like he really loved having a gaggle of kids and. And, you know, being the man of the house. And I just. I just found it very moving. And it. And it. It was an extension of the person we met on set. I don't remember how many kids he had, like, when. When he was on set. But, yeah, like you said, Craig, I'm just sending a lot of love to his wife and to his. To his family and. And also to the. You know, there's always a. A sense of loss when. When people you grew up watching and relating to. And people say this all the time about How I Met yout Mother. And it was certainly true of Dawson's Creek. My wife, you know, absolutely never, you know, saw every episode. And there's something about, like, these characters teach you something profound about life, you know? Yeah, he modeled something. You know, it wasn't un. Ted. Like, his role on that show. He modeled a kind of open.

[Craig Thomas]

He was the Ted of that show. Absolutely.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. So. And yet another reason it was fun to give him a role that was kind of. Kind of vicious in its own way,

[Craig Thomas]

you know, so it was so different. And he just so took joy in just being a good actor and doing, I'm gonna do something. I'm gonna show you I can do something else. And I hope more really handsome actors are given more roles like that. And, like, what Alexis got.

[Josh Radnor]

My hope is that more handsome actors get more work.

[Craig Thomas]

I would like to see. I would get more unhandsome roles, I guess I would say. But he had so much more fun playing with that role. And I think you're right, Josh. Like, that's. That even in that role, you saw a guy who was not trying to be frozen in some other earlier image or of himself. He was saying, I very much welcome the idea of being supple and present in this new form and finding new ways to evolve and have fun and be curious. And he seemed like he embodied.

[Josh Radnor]

And I think that's like, a bit of a, like, secret to life is like, let yourself age. Like, let yourself grow. Let yourself change. Like, don't freeze yourself. Don't venerate or fetishize any stage you're at as, like, the best or the worst, or just keep going. And that's what I Saw him do so just.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Sending a lot of love to James and to his family. And we're so sad about it, but we're so grateful we got to spend

[Craig Thomas]

some time with him and so moved about all the wonderful comments we're seeing from how much mother. Fans who loved him on the show so much. He really scored and echoed. He hit above his weight of how many times he was on the show. Right. He was only on the show a few times. But, like, he. He had an outsized impact. And people. I see a lot of him fans being like, I'm watching Sandcastles in the sand today. I'm watching that music video that he's in. I'm crying.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And it's just. It's very sweet that we. We got to have him commemorated in the show in the way that we did. So. Yeah. Alec, let's take some questions. Maybe we. Maybe people want to talk about whatever.

[Alec Lev]

A lot of stuff going on here. Let me see, where to start. So, first of all, you do remember he talks about his parents having a Jacuzz. And. Okay, Kevin.

[Craig Thomas]

It was Louise Marsh's parents, and that's. He was staying with her because they were really upgrading their pool patio situation, so he was choosing to be with her again instead of Robin.

[Alec Lev]

Well, okay. Kevi says, hoping that God has a Jacuzz for him.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, he was funny with that Jacuzz line. Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

A lot of really nice.

[Craig Thomas]

That was him justifying the breakup, too. Robin. And Robin's kind of. Robin's reaction was kind of like, yeah, I get it. It's a Jacuz. What are you gonna do?

[Alec Lev]

A lot of really nice notes for about him and Fatima. Asif Mirza says he had a complicated relationship with the character of Dawson, and his embracing of it over the years was a public evolution for those of us paying attention. So a lot of. A lot of James fans on here

[Craig Thomas]

and a lot of overlap to things Josh has talked about and we've had other people talk about on this podcast. And yeah, it's interesting. I feel that. Don't you feel like Josh, like, we all. There's some. It's all. We all went to the same college or we all went to college at the same time. It's that same feeling. It's kind of how we feel about the Office Ladies, too. Like, yeah, there's some sense in which we were all in this game together at the same moment. And the idea that he had some of the same journeys or struggles as you.

[Josh Radnor]

It's such a small, specific club. It is like, it's not. It's. I mean, if you, if you have a big empathetic imagination like my wife, who has never been on a hit TV show as a series regular, has deep kind of empathy around this. And that's one of the ways I just felt like, oh, this is. I need actually someone to understand this if I'm gonna, you know. But, you know, to. To really be able to drop in because everyone wants you to celebrate the good fortune of it. But everything has attacks, Everything has a shadow. Everything. All good fortune.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, as it has a shadow, has attacks. And it's really nice to be able to be honest about that without feeling like you have to apologize or bend over backwards to say, I, you know, I know I appreciate it. And, and all of that is true, too. You have to work to feel the gratitude and, and kind of pinch yourself that your life has gotten weird and interesting and amazing and also more complicated.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

Well, a couple of things here. I'm just. I'm just going to say this for people listening here. We are. We are not going to get into politics on this Instagram live. And a lot of people are expressing a lot of political opinions in this chat here. And so we're going to. We're going to ask you to hold that off for somewhere else. And at a certain point, we will just have to block you from this because a lot of people are trying to get in there. How I met your mother questions. And people have very important things to say. This is not quite the right place to say it, but. But thank you to everyone. So let's hear where people are from. This is nuts. Ready? Ready. Brazil, the Netherlands, France, Iran, India, England, Italy, Ecuador, Turkey, Ukraine, Egypt, Vietnam, Poland, Germany, Argentina, and of course, Canada.

[Josh Radnor]

Wow. I can't believe no one from the US Tuned in, but that's fine.

[Alec Lev]

We'll have none.

[Craig Thomas]

Zero.

[Josh Radnor]

We'll have. Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

Oh, we have. Now we do have Arizona.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, Arizona tuned in. Okay, great.

[Craig Thomas]

Okay.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah, we have Ghana and the Czech Republic and Philippines. Nepal. Amazing stuff.

[Craig Thomas]

That's so cool. Hello, everybody.

[Josh Radnor]

Thanks for joining us.

[Alec Lev]

So Austria. So everyone here, throw in some questions here for the guys. You do have them is actually live. They're actually humans here live. They can answer your questions. Craig, here's an important one. Khan3505 asks, Can I open a bar called Puzzles or is that patented?

[Craig Thomas]

It's not. I mean, I don't know.

[Josh Radnor]

Disney owns the word puzzles now, don't they?

[Craig Thomas]

Disney might own the idea of a bar being called Puzzles on A TV show I don't know about in real life, but I'm gonna just say, go

[Josh Radnor]

ahead and open your bar.

[Craig Thomas]

My old man brain is really struggling to remember, but I think someone did. I think someone opened a bar called Puzzles in honor of how much a mother it may be in Texas. Can someone check me on this and

[Josh Radnor]

realize, I wonder if you get a free drink if you say, why is it called Puzzles? That's the puzzle. If you know the reference, you get a free drink.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. So I think I'm going to say, I think there's a place called Puzzles in Texas. Puzzles Deep Ellum. And I've interacted with these folks online. I'm looking it up. It's in Lakewood, East Dallas. There is a Puzzles in tribute to Helen Mitchell, mother. So that does exist. My old man brain was not.

[Josh Radnor]

But I think if it's out of Texas, there could be more puzzles.

[Craig Thomas]

If they're getting away with it, I guess they're good. They're the problem.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. No one has shut down the Dallas puzzles.

[Craig Thomas]

Maybe now that I've called them out, it'll happen, but I hope not. I remember they reached out to me and I was like, that's very cool. There's a bar called Puzzles in tribute to Texas. We should open a bar. Yeah, we should do it.

[Alec Lev]

Peyton Pewless Manning. Peyton Manning.

[Josh Radnor]

That'd be huge if Peyton Manning was asking questions.

[Alec Lev]

Says, so glad this podcast is a thing.

[Craig Thomas]

Why aren't you guys on YouTube anymore?

[Alec Lev]

Pretty much. But we do have a lot of people just again, excited that there's a podcast and I.

[Craig Thomas]

Wait a.

[Josh Radnor]

Say it.

[Craig Thomas]

Sorry, Alex, say it again. I missed. I talked over you.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, no, no.

[Alec Lev]

I'm just saying that we have a lot of people excited that there's a podcast. And part of also why we're doing this here is to announce this to the world. So if you guys just wanted to give a one minute ad for this thing that we're doing, what are we doing here?

[Josh Radnor]

Well, I'll just recap how it happened, which was my wife Jordana had never seen how I met your mother. She knew I was on the show. She had seen the enthusiasm with which people in many cities would come up and express how much they loved the show. And she said, I would like to watch it. I missed this whole huge chapter of your life, and I'd really like to see what this was. So I immediately called Craig and I said, I'm gonna start watching the show again with Jordana, but do you want to do something a little More formal, like, do you want to rewatch it with me and do a. You know, let's do a podcast. Let's rewatch it and see now that we're older, closer to the narrator Ted's age, let's look back on this chapter in our life and see what's there. And then we immediately called Alec Lev, our producer, who was the in charge of digital content for years on How I Met yout Mother. Also Craig's dear friend from college from Wesleyan, and also was the hosted the How I Met yout Mother podcast, which I appeared on a number of times to be our producer. And then here we are. We got two seasons under our belt. The audience is enthusiastic and delightful and growing. We're trying to grow it a little bit more or a lot more, because there's a lot more himyim fans out there that probably don't even know we're doing this. So we'd love more people to journey through this show with us. We're learning so much more about the show that we made as we do this podcast. Would you say that, Craig?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I'm learning so much more. I'm seeing it in such a different way. It is so interesting to be 50, looking at this show that we're doing in our 30s, and we really are almost future Ted's age now. It's great. I was so due for a rewatch. I hadn't watched it in years. My wife always complained she only saw every episode once, with me watching her watching the episode, assessing whether she was laughing at jokes and asking why she didn't. She said it was the least relaxing way to watch a TV show.

[Josh Radnor]

Much like Ted watching Stella while she watches Star Wars.

[Craig Thomas]

This whole thing is that when you like with Jordana, I'm like, it really was like, God, I hope Jordana likes this. It's the same thing as always. Stella likes Star Wars. Jordana likes the show. That's been one thing we've discovered, which is great. But she wants to watch it week by week in real time. She doesn't want to. Every now and again we have to move. What?

[Josh Radnor]

No, no. She would watch it in like, three afternoons. Like, she wants to barrel through it, like, right.

[Craig Thomas]

But she doesn't want to jump ahead. Sometimes we have to watch an episode a few ahead of where we really are to do the podcast for a guest. And she's like, no, it strains my

[Josh Radnor]

marriage when I have to do that.

[Craig Thomas]

She's like, you're gonna watch that one alone? We're going in order. And I. You got to respect that.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

But, yeah, it's been a delight. So thanks for joining us and the office ladies who are the best at this and the originators in many ways of the great Comedy Rewatch podcast, Jenna and Angela, they took us under their wing. We're in business with them, we're on their network. And the two shows cross over sometimes. And it's great to talk with them about their journey. There's so many.

[Josh Radnor]

We've been on their podcast, they've been on ours. We're. We're actually going to, you know, there's some fun upcoming stuff with them also. So

[Alec Lev]

here's. Here's an easy one for you, Benny. Believe. And actually several people have asked about rain scenes. What was it like to film rain and winter scenes? And when you were actually in Los Angeles, was it difficult? How does that work?

[Josh Radnor]

Well, I mean, it's better to do a rain scene in Los Angeles than in New York in the winter. I mean, I remember. I mean, I had to do. We had to do a bunch of rain scenes, I think isn't so. Craig and Carter have said that they pitched Ted Mosby as a cross between Lloyd Dobler, John Cusack's character from say Anything and George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life. Wasn't that the two. Yeah, yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

Those are the two touchstones in any way.

[Josh Radnor]

And Cusack has been called, I believe, the most rained upon actor in cinema history. Is that right?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, he's in a lot of rain scenes. He's holding up that boombox in the rain. I mean, that is Ted Mosby's spirit animal. And we knew we wanted to end season one in a big rain scene with you outside. Ted is outside the girl's house, calling up to her in the rain. It's very boombox moment. We knew we wanted that moment. We were going to do that moment.

[Josh Radnor]

So just to explain logistically what happens for rain scenes, at least in How I Met yout Mother, we would go down to the New York street on the Fox lot, which was a golf cart right away. Or you could walk it. I like to walk it. And they would have this enormous truck with. It looked like a. Almost like a cement mixer truck, but it was even bigger. Right. And out of it would be coming these huge pipes that would splay out over the stage. And then they'd call it, you know, they'd say, over the street.

[Craig Thomas]

Over New York. Over New York street. Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And it would simulate rain in like a pretty realistic way. I mean, when you were underneath It. You felt like it's raining, you know.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Hard rain. Hard. It didn't drizzle, and it was really hard rain. I don't know if it had a drizzle.

[Josh Radnor]

Warmest rain, like, it would be pretty cold, but also they would have to put these enormous blockers up, like, what do they call it? Like, tarp kind of things to block out the sun. Because it was often sunny in Los Angeles as it is. But, you know, it doesn't often. It's not often sunny when it rains. So I remember, you know, I remember very vividly the end of season one, sitting, discovering Marshall, you know, holding with Robin. Like, I made it rain, you know, that. Screaming that. But also I have a very strong memory of. I don't remember what season it was, but the hurricane episode where the gang ends up kind of like dancing, deliriously, playing in the rain. Yeah, I remember that because I just remember we had fun and we mostly improvised it. I mean, I don't think you guys gave us direction about what we had to do. It was kind of like we were just kids in the rain. Yeah. You know.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. And it was. It's. It's true. It was always very hard rain. And it was. It really felt like a Hollywood production because the tarps that block out the sun are gigantic.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And the rain, like, the rain pipes are way high up. There's a bunch of them. And there's like, rain. Really, like, with a lot of, like, fire hose water pressure coming out. It really feels like you're making a big movie when you do that. It's cool. It kind of makes everyone up their game because it feels like, oh, we're making a movie.

[Josh Radnor]

When we would be on. And there would also, often on the rain things, there'd be a crane to hold the camera. Oh, and then the cameras would have, like, raincoats, remember?

[Alec Lev]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

They'd have special camera raincoats.

[Josh Radnor]

Camera raincoats.

[Craig Thomas]

They look like crab fishermen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

But there was true what you say, like, there was something like during those big rain scenes on the Fox lot, New York street, that I would always have a pinch myself moment where I'd be like, I've really made it in show business. Like, I really did.

[Craig Thomas]

Was there. Was there a sense of pressure, like, I got to deliver in this rain scene? There's only so much rain that we're going to get a lot of money

[Alec Lev]

effort coming into this.

[Josh Radnor]

I never thought I'm going to screw this up so much that we run out of rain. I never had that thought. But I did. You know, sometimes there are certain things that you have to do as an actor that require an enormous amount of imagination because you're not actually experiencing the conditions. But there's something about getting rained on that is so real and visceral and tactile that it puts you in the scene in a different way. Like when you're underneath, you know, the balcony screaming up to Robin, and rain is just pelting you and you're like, I made it rain. Like that's easier to do while it's raining on you. Right. Like it puts you in some sort of mood. So, yeah, I love scenes.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, you always had great energy in those scenes, is my point. Like, I felt you like bringing it.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, it wakes you up. Like I said, it wasn't warm water.

[Alec Lev]

And very quickly, Michelle McNeil 09 gave us season seven, episode nine, disaster averted. I believe as the episode you were talking about there.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, yeah. Disaster averted. That's right.

[Alec Lev]

Well done.

[Josh Radnor]

Well done. And this old man, he must admit, he must fell in love with you.

[Craig Thomas]

New York City and now commercials.

[Josh Radnor]

If you've been reading the news lately, Craig, you. You've been known to read the news.

[Craig Thomas]

I read the news from time to time.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. You've probably been seeing stuff about GLP1s, which is an astonishing weight loss medication, I understand. I saw the statistic recently that 1 in 8American have already tried this.

[Craig Thomas]

Wow.

[Josh Radnor]

And I was thinking, you know, as we get older, I remember my dad used to say this thing, he said, you get. You gain £10 every decade.

[Craig Thomas]

That's terrifying.

[Josh Radnor]

And I was like, oh, this old man, he doesn't know what he's talking about. He was 100% correct, by the way.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm doing the math for myself. And that's absolutely what happens.

[Josh Radnor]

Absolutely. He was just stating facts. Yeah, but what do you do? What do you do for an old dad like me? I just had a. Have a baby who's showing evidence of maybe being an early crawler, and I see that I'm. It's. He's gonna be tough to keep up with. And I. What do I do? I don't know. I. I'm not saying. I. I'm just. I'm gonna have to make some decisions about how to slim this thing down.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, well, you have what you have. You have options. You have options your dad did not have for you.

[Josh Radnor]

That's true. That's true.

[Craig Thomas]

So let's check this out. This is what I. This is hot off the presses. You ready? For this.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

There's a new option that makes it feel way more approachable. A daily GLP1 pill. Instead of starting with a self injection, it's the First FDA approved GLP1 pill for weight loss and it's available through RO at one of the lowest costs out there. You can get started on the starter dose for $149, plus Ro's membership, which includes 100% online care, unlimited provider messaging, dosing support and side effect guidance. The whole process is online and if you're eligible, you can start in as little as a week.

[Josh Radnor]

I believe Serena Williams is enjoying this product, is that correct?

[Craig Thomas]

Ah, one of my all time heroes.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And by the way, by the way, just to say it, big How I Met yout Mother fan. She's tweeted about it. I sent it to you.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, is that right?

[Craig Thomas]

I have a screen grab of it from 10 years ago. It's very sad.

[Josh Radnor]

Her husband, I believe, whose name is Alexis, used to write me on Twitter and say that people said he looks like me all the time.

[Craig Thomas]

Maybe that's why she likes the show.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. He said he felt like that was a compliment, which was very nice of him to say. Go to Roe Co your mother to see if you're eligible for the new GLP1 pill on RO. That's RO CO your mother. To get started on RO. Go to Roe Co Safety, Roe Co Safety for a boxed warning and full safety information about GLP1 medications. Greg. Josh, you know I have a sweet spot for style. Can I describe it to you, please? Here's what it is. I want to look great.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

But I don't want to look like I put any effort into it at all.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, yes.

[Josh Radnor]

Do you know what I'm saying?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. That's the dream.

[Josh Radnor]

That's what you want.

[Craig Thomas]

That's what you want.

[Josh Radnor]

I just want people. Oh, this. I just rolled out a bit. I don't know, it doesn't even. Oh, I just grabbed it off the. You know.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I do know. I do know. I never. I almost never look that way because it looks either like I tried zero or I tried really, really way too hard.

[Josh Radnor]

I would say comedy writers, out of all of showbiz, probably need the most fashion help.

[Craig Thomas]

Would you say, A, how dare you? And B, yes.

[Josh Radnor]

And also, forget about A, how have you been? How have you been getting help lately?

[Craig Thomas]

So here's what's been really, really helpful.

[Alec Lev]

Quince.

[Craig Thomas]

Quince has come into our lives because of this podcast and it's a thing of beauty. We have gotten A couple batches of really, really nice things from quints. One in the winter and now it's springtime. And what I the problem I tried to solve with the stuff I chose for quints, they let us choose a few items. I just feel like I have nothing that looks what you just described. I have nothing in my spring and summer wardrobe that looks kind of like. I didn't try to, but it looks nice. It's just like, I just have crappy T shirts or like really uncomfortable, like button downs that are for like a fancy event that I don't look that good in. This hits exactly the sweet spot you're talking about, Josh. Very comfortable. Like, just like a black polo shirt, like a navy blue button up, like staple. Like classic things that go with everything. They can look a little.

[Josh Radnor]

Go with everything. Swap them out with everything.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, it goes with everything. And I got like several things like that that I'm just going to be wearing all spring and all summer. So. Thank you, Quinn.

[Josh Radnor]

Thank you, Quince. Refresh your every day with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quince.com your motherpod for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. We love Canada on this podcast, don't we? We sure do. That's Q-U-I-N C E.com your motherpod for free shipping and in 365 day returns quince.com your mother pod.

[Craig Thomas]

End of commercials. Back to show.

[Alec Lev]

Fatima. Asif Mirza just texted me saying, I know I have so many good questions. You don't have to say my name each time. Just ask all the questions. I just want to point out you do have fantastic questions. So keep. Keep them coming.

[Josh Radnor]

Thanks, Fatima.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

We're calling you out. We're giving you credit. We don't care. Stop being so modest.

[Alec Lev]

We'll keep this one short. So I'm going to ask one more question from Fatima here, which is what was the. Because we did just finish, as we said, recording our season two recaps. We still have several more to. To. To drop, as they say in the podcast world. But so Fatima, as a, as a review says, what was the most important shift in writing for the series in season two? Did you make intentional changes in narrative structure or content?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Watching season two, it became clear to me, maybe even clearer than it was at the time, that we really switched to the condition of the characters. Right. We meet Ted in the pilot and he's like, I'm the single guy and there's this couple. Season two is Marshall's the single guy, and Ted and Robin are this couple. And now Barney has also lost his wingman. So all of those new conditions in season two were so rich. I felt like we really did an interesting shuffling of the deck of cards in the beginning of season two. And I'm loving season two because it really paid off. It was a lot of big moves. The network wasn't completely convinced of how many big moves we're ending season one on, to put it mildly. And I guess I'm feeling a little vindicated when I watch season two. I'm going, no. We needed to make all those big moves to give ourselves fuel for new stories and to see new speeds of these characters. And the same is going to be true at the end of season two. Heading into season three, the condition really shifts again. And I just think you have to do that. It's what enables you to find out more about these characters. You've got to mix it up. You've got to evolve. We were saying this about Mr. Van der Beek earlier. You've got to find new speeds. Right. If you're an artist, you've got to try to challenge yourself. You got to paint yourself into some new corners and see how you get out of it. And that's what I'm getting out of watching season two. I'm realizing we really, we changed the genetic makeup of the show without losing what was special about the show. But yeah, Ted and Robin are the couple and Marshall's the single guy for a while. And that was really fun to write.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. You know, one thing that I have been struck by for both seasons as we've been watching, I remember Bruce, who was, I think C camera or B camera operator for the whole time. Bruce said to me, because he'd been on a lot of long running shows, he said, maybe after like halfway through season one, he said, you're gonna look back on these episodes and they're gonna seem like, oh, wow, we were really young or really hadn't, you know, not to say that we like, he thought they were great. It was just he had been on enough shows to know that you'll look back and realize like, oh, we were still finding it. I think there's some truth to that. But mostly what I've been delighted by is we came out of the gate really strong. Like, I think we did find the funny a little bit more. But that's natural because you, I think you introduced more things. Like, we didn't know, for instance, that Robin was a Gun nut, you know, that. That, like, led to hilarity for years. We didn't even know she was from Canada in the first episode.

[Craig Thomas]

Right. Yeah. So we didn't. Well, I think we maybe named her. Oh, maybe we did once in the pan, but not extensively. And we certainly didn't know she was.

[Josh Radnor]

We didn't know you, as a writer's room, were gonna declare war on Canada. But. But there was something about those early episodes and the first two seasons where I was like, oh, my God, there's so many, like, classic, great episodes in the first two seasons. Like, yes, we really came out of the gate strong. And I was. I was delighted to. To feel that. I didn't feel like, oh, my God, these early episodes are hard to watch. Like, I didn't feel that at all.

[Craig Thomas]

I didn't feel that at all either. And I think in season one, like, we're finding all these fun new toys to play with of, like, what is this show and season two. I feel like it's more character. Like, we're getting to know these characters more. Like, you can only do Robin used to be a teenage pop star in Canada in season two. Right. You can only. That's not going to be episode five of season one.

[Josh Radnor]

Right.

[Craig Thomas]

So there's this feeling of it unfolding and expanding.

[Josh Radnor]

It's almost like when you're friends with someone, like, there are certain stories about yourself. Maybe even this is true with, like, a therapist, where you're like, this is a season three reveal of, like, myself. Like, I'm not gonna. I. I have terrible boundaries. If I'm gonna say this in the first conversation or, like, the first. Like, yes, you know, the first date or whatever. Like, there are things you reveal about yourself when it's time. And I feel like there's an arc for that in the writing where you're like, you can only reveal that Robin's dad wanted a boy and he treated her like a boy. Like, that would be bonkers to reveal that in the first few episodes. It'd be like, you have no context for that.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, we're not even really there yet. I mean, that's the thing. Like, it is. It's such an. It's this. This whole series feels like an excavation. Like, you're just deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper. What are you finding? And some of that's finding out, just being inspired to do that from you guys. We were talking about this recently with a guest we had that. I won't say who it is yet, but just that idea of, like, the things you Guys are doing week to week, give us ideas, right? Like the chemistry you have. Like we're getting idea. It's such a wonderful symbiotic relationship between actors and writers. And it's this ecosystem where everything has a job in the ecosystem and everything feeds everything else. And like we got so many ideas simply from things you were doing and energies you guys were bringing and it led somewhere for the writing.

[Josh Radnor]

It also must be very satisfying. I'm imagining as a writer, like if you create a movie and it's like 90 minutes, 120 minutes, you get that you get in what you get in. And then yeah, there's a famous story. I don't know if this is true. Again, I might be spreading misinformation, but I heard that Mike Judge was in the shower one day when he came up with the perfect third act for Office Space. The movie Office Space. But the movie had come out years ago. He. It was done. He just thought, no, that's actually a better third act. Like I've solved the movie. But the movie was done. You guys had the nine year thing where you're like season three, you're like, oh, you know, it'd be fun. Like the river kept flowing. So you guys got to keep adjusting the flow of the river and where it was going. You know, that must have been very satisfying.

[Craig Thomas]

It was the best. It was the best. It's this journey that continued and this iterative kind of like finding new speeds journey. And I don't. I'm hard pressed to think of too many other artistic experiences where you get the gift of specifically that sometimes I think of the really long running movie series. I sometimes find myself comparing certain things in how much mother to the eight movies of Harry Potter or all the books of Harry Potter. The way that things unfolded and you really had the time and space or the collective Star wars movies. It's rare. You don't usually get that much time to keep digging and keep excavating and see how deep you can go in the Arctic. The archeological dig essentially. And we really got to do that. And it's great.

[Alec Lev]

I'll just. We're going to make it the Fatima show because this person keeps on just saying the way they phrased it. Here is the unpeeling of all the layers of the characters as we learn more were earned and felt intentional. That's fantastic writing. Not knowing where you're going and still killing it.

[Craig Thomas]

That's really cool. But I would really give the cast a lot of credit there too because I really think we were Picking up on different energies between you guys and different. Like you would show a side of Ted Josh that we'd go, oh, we didn't even think of that. Like, the way Josh read that line, the way that his energy was in that scene with that person. I want to see more of that. Let's go to his job more. Let's do this. It was very collaborative in a very intuitive way. It wasn't like explicitly said we weren't constantly coming to you and telling you that, Josh. But it's the truth. And the whole cast. You guys were writing the show with us in a lot of ways.

[Josh Radnor]

Right. But we had nothing before we had something like you guys gave us enough that we could riff upon. You know, it feels a little like you give us the melody line, but we're jazz musicians, so we kind of like mess with it a little bit or put our little stamp on it.

[Craig Thomas]

That's a good comparison. I think that's it.

[Josh Radnor]

Right?

[Craig Thomas]

It's very. There's a jazz, like, quality to like nine seasons of tv. And it kind of goes places and finds new speeds if you're. If you have the right musicians. It's a beautiful thing.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

So I'm going to ask one more question, but before I do, just some. Some technical answers for folks. They're asking where they're going to be able to hear these later on. And the answer is just if you subscribe to the show, if you follow this podcast everywhere the podcasts are available, these will pop up in your podcast feed sometimes on this on Mondays when the show usually comes. Sometimes it'll be bonus episodes a little later in the week. So if you do an Apple podcast or Spotify or any of those, or Amazon, you could. You can check it out there.

[Josh Radnor]

Also, we just want to. Real quick. We open every single episode with a voice, voice note or voice. What do you call them? Voicemail. Voice note, Voice. Not voice recording from a fan. And the basic prompt is tell us what this show meant to you. Tell us what the show continues to mean to you. Tell us an interesting thing about your life and how it intersects and interacted with How I Met yout Mother. We play those at the beginning of the show. It's a great way to open with the voice from a fan. And then at the end, we often read a letter from. From a fan. So if you would like to contribute either a voice note or a letter, go to how we made your mother.com h w my m.com go to up to contact and just follow the instructions. From there, it should be pretty clear.

[Craig Thomas]

We heard, you know, a lot of such beautiful stories. I just want to say that, like, we're really honored. The people have really shared some heartfelt things from their life and funny stories and meaningful stories. So keep them coming. It's. It's the best part.

[Alec Lev]

And a lot of questions that people are asking now do get answered to the podcast. Where did the name Swirly come from? That's. You're going to find that out listening to the podcast.

[Josh Radnor]

The writer Greg Malins is on the show with us, and we go very deep into that.

[Alec Lev]

What somewhat Cova ph has a very specific question. They. I want to ask about specific shots like from the other side of the bar that only happened in the first couple of seasons. Do you remember those? And the answer is yes. And we talk all about those in these.

[Josh Radnor]

Putting in the fourth wall. Is that what they mean? Kind of, yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

It was rare. We really. We didn't do it that often, but it was cool when we did it.

[Josh Radnor]

I would say at least once a season. That wall flew in, though.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, maybe even a couple times. And sometimes it had to fly in. And I think other times Pam, our director, would just go, eh, we haven't done that in a while. Let's put that fourth wall up and just like, shoot a conversation like that. It really struck me there was that scene in Stuff, maybe was it where Barney has kidnapped all of Ted's stuff? I think so. Stuff, yes. Where, like, Pam just staged it so the two of them were at the bar. And so the over from, like, Neil to Josh was like, we needed the fourth wall. If you're gonna shoot like, on Josh's face, over Neil's shoulder. The way they were at the bar, you had to put in that fourth wall. And I thought that was great. It was a great scene between the two of them. Barney drops some real wisdom in that scene, and it kind of affects the. The outcome of the episode. It was an important scene. And she said, let's, let's bother with the fourth wall on this one. Let's like, let's put them somewhere different and the scene will pop a little more because it's an important scene.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

And okay, so a great last question here, and we can wrap it up today. This is from B Dot. Jordan Garcia says a question. If you could boil the series down into one central question that was explored,

[Josh Radnor]

what would it be?

[Alec Lev]

And what was the impulse to explore that? And maybe we could even. You could talk about the whole series or maybe just the first couple of seasons, because that's kind of what we're up to.

[Craig Thomas]

I think it's. For me, it's. Are foxes trying to seduce humans into domesticating? That's really what I was trying to do.

[Josh Radnor]

That's what this IG Live has been about. What's this series about?

[Craig Thomas]

Okay, the series. Okay, I thought there's just this hour. The series is about so many things. But I guess just to bring it back to Mr. Van Der Beek, I would say evolution. The show is about personal evolution and the letting go of your frozen idea. Like you use the word frozen, Josh. Don't get frozen. Your idea of what it's all going to be like instead, embracing the chaos and embracing the change and embracing it. It's not all going to go according to plan, but knowing that what gets you through all of the bumps and turbulence of that is love.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. I would just add also learning to trust that the universe's plan is better than mine.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes. Yes. Deeper and more complicated and better. It's just. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

That.

[Craig Thomas]

That's. That that's what's being embraced in that evolution. I think so.

[Alec Lev]

All right, well, thank you all once again for joining us for Instagram Live. We're gonna do a couple more of these. Watch out on Instagram for find out when that will be. And of course, check out the show how we made your mother.com available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Craig Thomas]

Thanks, everybody.

[Josh Radnor]

Thanks for joining us. I am guilty. Please acquit me. All sins are forgiven in New York City.

[Alec Lev]

How We Made youe Mother is hosted and executive produced by Josh Radner and Craig Thomas and is presented and distributed by the Office Ladies Network and Odyssey. This episode is also executive produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. The show is produced and edited by me, Alec Lev, and our co producer is Doug Matica. Our audio producer and mixer is Alex Reeves at Point to Blue Studios. Our digital content producer, AKA Gen Z Master, is Emily Blumberg. Artwork by John Morrow. Please follow rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or your podcast player of choice. It really does help the show. Our theme song is New York City by our own Josh Radner, with additional music by Craig Thomas and Andrew Majewski. Special thanks to Lola Kennedy and Elliot Connors. Visit how we madeyourmother.com to learn more and click on the contact page to send us an email or a voice message. Your stories and questions are an important part of the show. Subscribe to Josh Radner's Muse Letters on Substack and check out his music and everything [e-mail] Order Craig Thomas Debut novel that's Not How It Happened wherever books are sold. And check out his other published [e-mail] and you can subscribe to My own Dead Fathers Society also on Substack to learn more about how you make a difference. This show's ongoing campaign to raise money for congenital pediatric heart disease research. Check out the Make a Difference tab at the top of our website. People will, in fact dance.

[Josh Radnor]

The real question it just hit me. Am I in love with you or just New York City? Craig, I've been struggling and I gotta talk to you about it.

[Craig Thomas]

Please. I'm here.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, I've just been. I've been carrying around these bulky drinks.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And I've been cleaning melted candy out of my pockets for far too long. But I have a solution.

[Craig Thomas]

What's the solution? I need to know.

[Josh Radnor]

I've discovered Fruity Rainbow five Hour Energy Shots.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, my God. By the way, I did notice the melted candy in your pocket, so I didn't say anything. But I'm glad you finally kind of owned it. Yeah. Well, check this out. You. You chose correctly because these little bottles are wild. Fruity Rainbow 5 Hour Energy Shots Treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor with that signature tasty caffeine kick. If you're a fan of sweet fruity candy, who isn't? But without the sugar crash. Because yep, these puppies have zero sugar. You gotta try this.

[Josh Radnor]

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[Craig Thomas]

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[Josh Radnor]

Get candy. Flavored chaos with fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots. Available online at FiveHouseEnergy.com or Amazon.

[Craig Thomas]

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[Josh Radnor]

Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on

[Craig Thomas]

Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus, see live demos,

[Josh Radnor]

meet instructors and learn about our Associate Degree in Nursing program that prepares you

[Craig Thomas]

to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career. Save your spot now at Camp Carrington Edu Events.

[Josh Radnor]

For information on program outcomes, visit carrington.

[Craig Thomas]

Edu Sci Fi.