General Questions | S1E1 "Pilot"

Summary

How We Made Your Mother: Episode 1 "Pilot" Summary

In the inaugural episode of How We Made Your Mother, hosts Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas, alongside co-host Alec Lev, delve deep into the creation and enduring legacy of the beloved sitcom How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM). This episode, titled "Pilot," serves as a comprehensive exploration of the show's genesis, key creative decisions, and the intricate dynamics that made it a cultural phenomenon.

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1. Opening Anecdotes and Personal Mantras

The episode kicks off with Alec Lev reminiscing about a memorable line from the pilot episode. Alec highlights Ted Mosby’s pivotal moment where he tells Yasmine, “People will dance. I’m not going to worry about it.” This line resonated deeply with Alec, becoming a personal mantra that emphasized trust in the natural flow of life.

Notable Quote:

• Alec Lev [01:01]: “People will dance. I’m not going to worry about it. It became shorthand in my life.”

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2. The "General Questions" Segment

The trio introduces a special segment titled "General Questions," addressing fan inquiries about the pilot. This interactive portion underscores their commitment to engaging with the HIMYM community and provides listeners with insider insights into the show's early days.

Notable Quote:

• Craig Thomas [03:40]: “This is something...something long and amazing.”

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3. Heartwarming Listener Story: Major Contraction Salute

Alec shares an emotional listener story where a couple incorporated the HIMYM inside joke during childbirth. As the wife faced prolonged labor, she saluted with her husband, referencing Ted’s “Major contraction” joke from the show. This touching anecdote exemplifies how HIMYM's humor and themes have permeated fans' personal lives.

Notable Quote:

• Alec Lev [05:25]: “Thanks to the mighty marvelous couple... How I Met Your Mother inside joke at the moment of pushing the baby out.”

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4. Casting Bob Saget as Future Ted

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing the casting of Bob Saget as the voice of Future Ted. The hosts delve into the decision-making process, emphasizing CBS's role in bringing a trusted and familiar voice to the character. They reflect on Saget's contribution, portraying Future Ted with warmth and wisdom, and share personal anecdotes about his dedication and camaraderie on set.

Notable Quote:

• Craig Thomas [14:57]: “Bob Saget... he brought this kind of wisdom and warmth.”

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5. Creative Influences and Inspirations

Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas explore the diverse influences that shaped HIMYM's narrative and comedic style. From the ensemble dynamics of Cheers to Quentin Tarantino’s nonlinear storytelling, they articulate how these inspirations coalesced into the unique tapestry of HIMYM. The blend of heartfelt storytelling with sharp humor is highlighted as a cornerstone of the show’s appeal.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Radnor [34:10]: “Quentin Tarantino plus Cheers equals How I Met Your Mother with someone like Harry Met Sally thrown in.”

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6. The Story Behind Carl the Bartender

The hosts recount the serendipitous story of casting Joe, who ultimately became Carl the bartender. Initially intended for a different role, a last-minute change led to Carl's introduction, who then became a fixture for nine seasons. This narrative underscores the organic and sometimes unpredictable nature of sitcom casting.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Radnor [32:37]: “He showed up. And that's a question that will haunt me.”

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7. Integrating Robin into the Group

A key challenge addressed in the pilot was seamlessly introducing Robin Scherbatsky into the tight-knit group of friends. Josh reflects on the delicate balance required to establish her as the fifth member, ensuring that she felt both integrated and essential to the group dynamic without overshadowing existing relationships.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Radnor [35:55]: “We have to integrate her and show how everybody else kind of fell in love with her too.”

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8. The Iconic Blue French Horn

The iconic blue French horn, a symbol of Ted's grand romantic gestures, is another focal point of discussion. The hosts delve into the inspiration behind this memorable prop, drawing parallels to mythological quests where the hero must acquire a token to gain favor. Alec humorously shares his personal connection to the prop, which he retains to this day.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Radnor [28:34]: “It's right over Josh's shoulder, right there... It makes me so happy every time we do this podcast to see it over Josh's right shoulder.”

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9. Reflections on the Pilot’s Creation and Reception

Josh and Craig reflect on the painstaking process of crafting and refining the pilot. They discuss the rigorous editing involved, the reactions from test audiences, and the importance of authentic laughter captured during live audience recordings. Alec shares his experiences transitioning from theater to television, highlighting the challenges of self-consciousness and the evolving comfort with on-screen presence.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Radnor [20:34]: “We spent weeks whittling it, editing down. The weirdest part was watching a focus group test audience watch it with their dials of like, and don't like.”

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10. Closing Thoughts and Moving Forward

As the episode wraps up, the hosts express their excitement for future discussions and deeper dives into the show's episodes. They emphasize the foundational role the pilot played in setting the tone and structure for the entire series, affirming its lasting impact on both the creators and the audience.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Radnor [37:17]: “The DNA for the entire show is in the pilot... if they don't, the other thing I wanted to say...”

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Conclusion

Episode 1 of How We Made Your Mother successfully sets the stage for an in-depth examination of HIMYM's creation and its lasting legacy. Through personal anecdotes, behind-the-scenes insights, and heartfelt stories from fans, Josh Radnor, Craig Thomas, and Alec Lev offer a rich and engaging narrative that celebrates the magic and intricacies of a show that has touched millions.

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Notable Highlights:

• Emotional Listener Stories: Demonstrating the show's profound impact on fans' lives.
• Casting Decisions: Insight into the thoughtful casting of Bob Saget and Joe as pivotal characters.
• Creative Influences: Blending inspirations from classic sitcoms to modern storytelling techniques.
• Iconic Props: The symbolic significance of items like the blue French horn in character development.
• Pilot Creation: The meticulous process of editing and audience testing that shaped the show's success.

For fans of How I Met Your Mother and enthusiasts of television production, this episode offers a treasure trove of information and nostalgia, celebrating the heart and humor that made the show a timeless favorite.

Transcript

[Josh Radnor]

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Mario's Bistro.

[Craig Thomas]

The special tonight is the beef carpaccio. With the Venmo Debit card, you can turn the basketball game tickets your friends paid you back for into a romantic dinner that you can earn up to 5% cash back on. Use your Venmo balance to pay for the things you love to do. Visit Venmo Me Debit to learn more. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A.

[Alec Lev]

Pursuant to license by MasterCard International, Inc. Terms apply.

[Craig Thomas]

DOSH cashback terms apply. This episode is brought to you by Universal Pictures. From Universal Pictures in Blumhouse come a storm of terror. From the director of the Shallows.

[Alec Lev]

The Woman in the Yard.

[Craig Thomas]

Don't let her in. Where does she come from? What does she want? When will she leave?

[Alec Lev]

Today's the day.

[Craig Thomas]

The Woman in the Yard only in theaters March 28th.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah, I gotta go back and grab something from the pilot because I realized after we finished taping that one of my favorite lines and moments in the pilot that Ted got to say, I forgot to mention, and it's when he's talking to Yasmine and he says, it's not like I sit around all day fantasizing about my wedding. And then he goes into this whole very specific fantasy about his wedding, which he ends with, band, no dj. People will dance. I'm not going to worry about it. Right. And I loved the phrase people will dance. Like, as a notion of, like, I'm not going to worry about it. It became shorthand in my life. The woman that I was seeing when I got How I Met yout Mother, who worked on the audition sides with me, she was Eastern European, and she found that also so charming. And our mantra was. And she would say it in this accent that was adorable to me. People will dance. I'm not going to worry about it. Like, it'll take care of itself. And I named my corporation People Will Dance. Like, it really became this mantra of. Remember when I said, all people want to be told is it's going to be okay?

[Josh Radnor]

Yes.

[Alec Lev]

For me, the phrase people will dance is that. It's still that in my head, like, people will dance. Like, people are going to have a good time. You don't have to micromanage every last bit of life or this evening or whatever. So that to me, I suppose if I was getting a phrase from How I Met your Mother tattooed, I don't have any tattoos, but people from the world, all over the world, get How I Met yout Mother tattoos. I'VE seen a lot of How I Met yout Mother tattoos. If I were getting one, it would probably be People will dance. Hey, welcome to a very special bonus episode of How We Made youe Mother. This is an episode we call General Questions. General Questions. I'm Josh Radner. I am here with. Who am I here with?

[Josh Radnor]

You're here with Craig Thomas.

[Alec Lev]

Craig Thomas, the co creator of How I Met yout Mother and our friend Alec Lev. And we're going to burn through some reader mail hearkening back to Carter and Craig's origins of doing the Letterman. Reader mail.

[Josh Radnor]

We should back it up for a second though, right? And say that the running joke on how much Mother doesn't start till season two. But whenever anybody says I have a general question or I have a major problem, everyone salutes and says general question. Major problem.

[Alec Lev]

General questions.

[Josh Radnor]

That is the.

[Alec Lev]

And this came from you, Alec. Is this right?

[Craig Thomas]

This is my proudest moment in life was when I turned on the TV one Monday night and there was this stupid saluting thing that I annoyed everyone with in college, but they all picked it up. Craig picked it.

[Josh Radnor]

So Alec and I went to college together, lived together in college. He brainwashed me into doing this.

[Alec Lev]

There is something sticky social contagion about the joke. For some reason, even if you groan the first time you hear it once you get it in your head. So it's Major General and what, what else?

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, private. You can have a private, private conversation.

[Alec Lev]

Private conversation.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

You.

[Craig Thomas]

Private conversation. You. But you could, you could take it. You could take it very far. We'll get into that as the, as the. We don't give it all away right here. But yes.

[Josh Radnor]

No, this is a season two bit in on the show. Alec, did I ask you permission to steal this bit or was this one of the many, many times I just stole things like, like a dick?

[Craig Thomas]

No, but this, this was truly the proudest. And I will say that.

[Josh Radnor]

Was it a surprise? Be honest. Was it a surprise you turn on the TV and was just down?

[Craig Thomas]

I never really was.

[Josh Radnor]

I guess I probably chose to surprise you because I knew you would like it.

[Craig Thomas]

Other people was. And I will say that I have a very good friend who told me that she used to do this with her friend, you know, 10 years ago, 15 years ago from the show do it all the time. I was like, that's all coming in a circle. But speaking of bringing in a circle.

[Alec Lev]

And I'm just happy that you're finally going to get credit for this, Alec.

[Craig Thomas]

This is something.

[Alec Lev]

This has been a Long time coming.

[Craig Thomas]

All like this. Why I'm doing this podcast, my friends.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh my God. It's really true.

[Craig Thomas]

To show how long a tale and amazing a story this is. Josh, you got an incredible letter.

[Alec Lev]

I got, I got, I got an unbelievable note. I, I won't say the names unless they, they authorize it because they didn't really write this for us to share in the podcast. But it's so incredible we have to share it.

[Josh Radnor]

And fitting with me, stealing it from Alec will not steal this.

[Alec Lev]

We're just going to steal this.

[Josh Radnor]

Kind hearted viewers.

[Alec Lev]

This is from a couple who said that this is the husband writing me that his wife was 38 weeks pregnant with their daughter and the wife had had several days of early labor and pain before they finally admitted her to the hospital. And then she had over 30 hours of labor in the hospital, which you guys have had wives who've given birth. That's a long time, right?

[Josh Radnor]

That's a long run, man.

[Alec Lev]

30 hours of labor.

[Josh Radnor]

Respect is the word.

[Alec Lev]

With her last pushes, the nurses said push. You're having a major contraction. And through all the pain and pushing, my wife looks at me and salutes to major contraction.

[Josh Radnor]

It's just the best. It's just the best story there is.

[Alec Lev]

Unbelievable story.

[Josh Radnor]

That's so, it's so good.

[Alec Lev]

It's so good.

[Josh Radnor]

It's so good.

[Alec Lev]

So we thank you to the mighty marvelous couple out there who did a How I Met yout Mother inside joke at the moment of pushing the baby out.

[Josh Radnor]

An inside joke is the baby came out. I mean, what a major contraction. I mean, major respect to this, to this amazing woman and to whatever lucky gentleman got to marry her and have a child with her. That's. That's unbelievable.

[Alec Lev]

That's how you know this is. That's how you know this marriage is going to last.

[Josh Radnor]

I mean, truly, it's. I have no doubt about that marriage. And Alec did high school you that began this joke that presumably everyone hated you for sure. Could you ever have imagined this would boomerang back around to us and this could possibly. Does it blow your mind?

[Craig Thomas]

No, that was the point. That was the point the whole time.

[Josh Radnor]

You brought it all to the world and come on, this is the long.

[Craig Thomas]

And it was college. I held off until I met you. I didn't annoy them in high school yet. I thought it was cool to bust it out freshman year in college. All right, so we're, we've announced, we only announced this show. Little time bending here. We announced the show in our lives. Not, not that long ago and have been flooded not only with stories, but also literally a minute before we recorded our episode about the pilot, I went on to Instagram and I said, hey, does anyone have any questions? And by the time the hour was done of recording, I had 350 of them. And I got to precisely almost zero because Josh and Craig just had so much to say about the pilot. So we thought we'd hold it off and just do a rapid fire, get some of the fan questions out here. Some of these you will have answered before. And a lot of these are. One question represents 10 questions that were of the same topic. So let's just dive in. So Alice2388 asks Josh, how much do you relate to Ted in real life? I'll say that's a big question. It's what we're going to be talking about through the whole series. So I'm going to bend it a little bit, if that's okay. In our last episode, you said you sort of gave grace to your younger Josh self. You had some advice for your younger Josh self who was feeling certain things. What would older Ted have to say to younger Ted in the pilot? He's a. He was a very intense guy.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

What. What can you give him?

[Alec Lev]

Well, I. I mean, it's more like. I mean, acting is so strange. I always think about what my acting teacher at NYU said, Ron Van Leeuw, he said, a character is a 50% meeting of you and the character. So I lend 50% of the kind of DNA. And the character, as Craig and Carter wrote, the character is also that other 50%. So you're kind of like meeting this other thing to form this thing that looks like a dimensional real person. So, you know, I'm loathe to kind of act like, I don't know when people say, like, oh, do it like Ted, I'm like, I don't know. James Lipton asked us to do things in character. I'm like, I don't know what you mean. Like, without the words from the script, like, there is nothing. There's no character. But I am underneath the skin of him. Or I was for a long time. I think, you know, if my younger self had told a woman that he was wildly attracted to, that he loved her on the first date and kind of blew it. And I knew what I know now, I would say, you know, humiliation is part of life. Like, it's a. It's a. It's almost like initiatory. Like you get humiliated. And I was listening to this Guy, Scott Galloway, who's a really interesting thinker, and he's talking about men, the kind of crisis of manhood. And he said when men are just on their screens alone, they don't know how to take big swings out in the world. They need to go out and learn to be humiliated. Now, I learned to be humiliated, honestly, somewhat by, you know, women, but not as much. Here's what taught me. Humiliation was being a young actor.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

Going in role after role, sometimes nailing it, not getting the job, sometimes getting the job, sometimes blowing it, you know, being unprepared or just getting too nervous. Like I really had to learn how to be humiliated and pick myself back up and keep going. And I think it's one of the great qualities of Ted, which I hope I share, is this ability to get knocked down. And he sometimes literally, like he got punched a lot in the show. Like he sometimes literally gets punched down and he gets back up. So I think it's, it's more like if someone's, you know, if a younger person says, I got humiliated, as an older mentor figure, I think you say, good. Yeah, this is what you need. You need to be humiliated. You need to take swings, you need to put yourself out there and you need to get somewhat. You need to get a thicker skin. You need to get immune to the kind of criticism and humiliation and just keep going. So I would just tell him, pick himself up and it's all going to be all right. Ultimately, I think all anyone wants to hear is it's going to be okay.

[Josh Radnor]

Yes.

[Alec Lev]

Like, that's all anyone wants to hear ever. It's the most evergreen piece of like, pep talk advice you could give. And I wrote you this little ditty to sing to you in New York City. You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first. Ba da ba ba ba.

[Craig Thomas]

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[Alec Lev]

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[Craig Thomas]

Plus you'll get up to $2 million in identity theft coverage, all for just $39.99 for your first year. Visit McAfee.com, cancel anytime terms apply. Craig Thedodgermensch asks a question. You must have gotten a lot back in the day, but let's cover it officially now. Why did you cast Bob Saget as the old Ted? Which we could split that into two questions. Why was there an old Ted period? And why Bob Saget?

[Alec Lev]

This is my great.

[Craig Thomas]

The great Bob Saget, by the way.

[Josh Radnor]

Let's just. Yeah, the great Bob Saget. And we will get to the episode where the whole episode is about how much we love Bob Saget and how much we miss Bob Saget and how lucky we were to work with him. I'm so glad that we did it. I will say that when we were first writing it, we thought the actor who played Ted would do the voiceover. And in fact, I don't believe it was our idea to have an older person do the role. I think cbs, an older, scheming network at the time, we were the youngest show on that network for all nine years that we were on that network. I believe. I think that's true. I think the executives there said. Because I think we had the idea, we considered a different actor doing that voice, but I think we were leaning more towards Josh would do it. And I think I have to give credit to CBS and the studio for saying, like, there will be something here on CBS to having a trusted voice of an actor in his 50s who we've all grown up with. America's Funniest Home Videos, Full House. He feels like your dad. He feels like this trusted part. He's been in your living room before. And it will help the viewers that are watching CBS feel connected to the show in a way that maybe they wouldn't. But that was sort of the practical part, the creative part. And I think this was more important, was this idea that future you is kind of a different guy, Right? The guy that TED in 2005 and the TED in 2030, they're different people, just like Josh and I are different people from 2005 and now. And having Bob do that role, he brought this kind of wisdom and warmth. And to go back to Josh's question, ability to look back on having been humiliated with wit, humor, acceptance, grace. He had that in his voice. He was a standup comedian. Bob Saget, he went up and bombed in front of audiences. He killed in front of audiences. You hear all his history and his voice. He's a fantastic actor, too. He took the role really seriously. He really loved Josh. He tried to get to know Josh and connect with Josh so he was featured Ted. He would come hang out on the set. He didn't have to do that. When he'd come do voiceovers, he'd come say hi because he wanted to feel what the show was and that sort of connection between these two TEDs, but who were the same guy but were different guys the way we all are, 30, 25 years apart. I think it became such an asset to the show, and I can't claim credit for it. In fact, we may have had to be. I think we got convinced of it through the process, and we were learning to be resistant.

[Alec Lev]

You know, I had a couple moments where I was like, man, I wish I was doing the Voice. But I ended up loving Bob so much that I was so happy that there was this introduction and that we got to be friends all these years. But also, it was fun to watch Bob. He became a fan of the show.

[Josh Radnor]

Huge fan.

[Alec Lev]

Cause he would watch it in the sound booth. And he loved the show. He was really. He loved it. And, yeah, I ultimately think it was the right move, and I'm so glad that I knew him. And also, you know, he and I had some real deep talks about being overly associated with a show. Cause he had that with Full House, you know, so he offered me some real wisdom. And more than anything, just the wisdom to keep going.

[Josh Radnor]

No, but I mean, think about it. Bob was a genius at complicating and diversifying his image past Full House. He really erased the idea of, like, I'm going to show you some other moves. I'm going to show you some other stuff. I'm really comfortable in my own skin.

[Alec Lev]

I wish I was more comfortable working blue. That's not my. It's not my thing.

[Josh Radnor]

But it only worked with him because you knew he was a mensch. You knew he was all heart underneath it. It came across.

[Alec Lev]

There was a perpetual wink in it.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, absolutely. It was funny.

[Alec Lev]

No malice. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Zero malice. All love.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

Dr. Marie, 15, again, has a big question, but, Josh, can you think of a time in that during the pilot or in those early days, weeks, when you felt like, oh, this group is clicking this cast?

[Alec Lev]

Well, you know, Neil and I had done a play together, like a really intense John Robin Bates play, like, months before. So I knew we worked well together. I mean, I think it was pretty immediate. I knew from the testing audition situation that Kobe and I, you know, had a real fizz together. And then when we got the whole gang together, I remember writers telling me that they all recognized that when the five of us were around that table was when the show felt so alive to them. So they were. And Craig, you can back me up on this. But, like, trying to write more for the five, you know, the Five. The Gang of Five, I think it was. I remember the, the Champagne Night. And maybe it was just because I was a little buzzed, but I definitely felt like we made something really great. And I have a quiet good feeling about this because I had had everything happen to me in the world of making television pilots except getting a hit show. I got fired from my first one. The second one got canceled after six episodes. The third one just didn't get picked up by the network. But I thought, if anyone's gonna go, I think it' going to be this one. I have that real strong feeling.

[Craig Thomas]

We have a question here from our co producer, Doug's wife. T so great friend of the show. T does work Blue Tali says, how the fuck did they shoot all the future Ted scenes with the kids before they shot the rest of the show?

[Josh Radnor]

Craig well, we didn't shoot it all before, but we definitely, we definitely got ahead of it. And we definitely, you know, in season two is when we kind of grabbed all the future looking stuff that pertains to the very ending. And we grabbed other stuff that we thought could slide in here or there, like just reactions. And we tried to, it was kind of funny. We just tried to imagine some reactions and we had some ideas that we thought would apply to future episode ideas. But mostly we shot that ending piece with them. Right. Because they were gonna, if the show was ahead in one year, they were gonna be too old. And that's what happened. And so we just grabbed it. It was, looking back, it was a real Babe Ruth, Collier. Sh. To be like, clear the set, we need these two child actors and they're gonna sign non disclosure forms, which they did. And we had one cameraman, we had one sound person who also signed those forms and everybody else in the set. Set's usually a pretty crowded place. We cleared them out. I think we did it at the beginning of a day or an end of a day. And we just, nobody else, me and Carter, Pam, Susie, those two actors, David and Lindsay, the kids. And that was it. And so we just thought, we have to do this. And if we, however many years pass, we'll always have shot this. We'll never regret having grabbed it. There's no way to grab it eight, nine years from now. So we're gonna get it now. So we just, yeah, it was an example of using the format of the show to really think forward and think about the future. The show is about the future. And so I think our brains were just in that mode. And so we said, let's do It. Let's grab it. We had the idea. Let's grab it.

[Craig Thomas]

We have a lot of questions about the order in which scenes were shot. And I feel like at another time, what might be good to go through, just for fans who don't really know the way tv. TV has put together is kind of, let's talk about how the show is. Happens from Monday through Friday. So I feel like let's put a pin in that so people see the. That. Josh, do you remember after champagne moment, after the show was edited, do you remember just watching the pilot for the first time and what your reaction was? Craig, same question to you afterwards?

[Alec Lev]

Yeah, I can't remember the first time I saw it. I can't remember if I got a link. I think that Pam maybe invited us as a cast to watch it. Do you remember, Craig, do you remember showing.

[Josh Radnor]

I was gonna say, I don't know if you got a link. You might have got a fucking VHS tape.

[Alec Lev]

Oh, yeah, I think. No, I think I got a cd. I don't know. I don't. I don't remember.

[Josh Radnor]

But I remember dvd.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah. And then I ended up watching it a bunch of times with. With an audience because we. We, you know, watched it with the audience to get the laughter. I think I, you know, I saw it a bunch. I've seen the pilot probably more than any other episode.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And, Craig, you obviously saw it all through the editing process.

[Josh Radnor]

It's different for me because we edited the hell out of it. You know, isn't like eight minutes up. You know, it was like, supposed to be 22 minutes. It was 31 or whatever it was. And we had to. We spent weeks whittling it, editing down. The weirdest part was watching a focus group test audience watch it with their dials of like, like, and don't like. And these dials that are all averaged together of this room full of people watching it in real time. You see the lines going up and down of male approval or disapproval and female approval or disapproval. I think one's blue and one's pink in stereotypical fashion. And it's like, ooh, women liked that moment, men did not. And people. It's just so weird. So I watched the pilot every way you could possibly watch the pilot, and it was super weird, some of them. But then when we had it locked, or almost locked, and showed it to a live audience and recorded their laughs and their responses, which was what aired in the show for that one, that was fantastic because people. You knew it worked. You knew it worked. I Knew it worked before that because everybody that came into the edit room and watched it, every moment that had to work worked. So I felt confident. But the best moment was finally getting to show it to an audience full of humans and not assessing it in any way that we're watching it and reacting naturally.

[Craig Thomas]

How much Craig, at the time, and this might have changed over the course as the show became more successful and you more confident in this new crazy job that you had. How much of these other voices, whether it's audience reaction or test audience reaction or executives, how much is actually influencing your writing of the show?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, I mean, I think a good note is a good note. I think we had some very smart executives from both the studio and the network and who really believed in the show and supported it. And it took some time sometimes for them to get on board with sort of how serialized the show was and sort of emotional and stuff like that. But for the most part, they just wanted what was best for the show. And it was actually very helpful because we didn't shoot it in front of a live studio audience. So those responses meant something. If we got notes about confusion or boredom or something was slow and just. It came from that human. Like an executive is saying to me, I felt confused here. Or this felt really rushed to me. That's good, that's really useful. That's a human reaction. They felt that in their gut and they told us the other thing that was really useful. And I think Carter pointed this out in his episode. The crew reacted when we'd performed these scenes. The actors would perform these scenes and the crew wouldn't have read every line of every script or the new rewrite or whatever that came out the night before we shot. And they'd react honestly to stuff they'd really laugh at, but only once and go, cricket silence. And then it was only that first time. So you had to kind of aggregate responses. You're getting some responses from different places and you sort of aggregate them. And especially if you see link ups and you're like, oh, that didn't work in three different settings. Now, it didn't work at the table read, the crew didn't laugh, et cetera, et cetera. And you sort of had to take the hit and go, okay, let's take this as a sign, we may need to change it. But some stuff you gotta believe in. Even if it doesn't play on its feet in front of the crew, you say, this is a quiet moment. This will work in the edit room. It's a different kind of moment. And so it's a case by case.

[Craig Thomas]

And Josh, I assume you're basically at this point insulated from maybe from the loud, the larger, louder voices about the show should be more this. The stuff that Craig and Carter are hearing for you in your process early on. Can you talk a little bit about what is affecting you? Because unlike a play, right, where you're working on this one character and you know it's got to be contained within this two hours, you do have it somewhere in your head of like, the choices that I'm making for this character could live for years. Could live, as it turns out, for a decade. What's happening as you're developing that early on, obviously, with the scripts that you're being handed?

[Alec Lev]

Yeah, I mean, I think any sort of notes from the studio, network. I was super insulated from that on the pilot at the very least. Then you end up getting to know the studio and network executives and they're there every week and you become really friendly with them. They never felt like the enemy was walking onto stage. But I would. I was very interested in process and in writing. So I remember I was probably alone. Well, among the cast members. And Craig can tell me if I'm wrong. I was probably the most curious about process. I was probably the one who asked the most about what was coming up and what you guys were working on and what you were struggling with. And like, I was just. I had an endless appetite for those kinds of questions. Some of it was like a little bit like, what's coming down the pike? Like I wanted to, you know, you become a fan of the show too. I was like, I want to know what happens to this guy that I'm playing. But, you know, I still was a relative newcomer to the world of filmed entertainment. I had done so much theater since I was 15. And theater, the mercy of theater and somewhat of the sadness of theater is it's ephemeral. It goes away. You do it, and then you have to keep doing it. It's much more like a restaurant where you have to keep making the food every night, you know?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

And you don't have to be haunted by the bad nights performance or even get to celebrate that much. The good night's performance, it just. It evanesces. Is that the word? It just go away. And with filmed entertainment, I found it took me years to become less self conscious and to not think about the kind of like museum quality of it, that it would last forever. And I always, always, always wanted another take if one was available because I just wanted another whack at the thing. But it wasn't until I directed my own movies, and I was in both the movies I directed where I had to edit myself. And I learned so much. I learned. It was weird something happened to me where I was like, I know what I look like now. You know when you're a kid and you hear your voice on tape for the first time and you're, like, horrified, you're like, that can't be what I sound like, right? You go through that a little bit when you see yourself on camera, like Craig and Carter as the firemen or the EMT guys, we'll get to that episode.

[Josh Radnor]

But that still haunts me.

[Alec Lev]

There was this feeling, once I edited myself, I was like, I didn't think I looked particularly good or bad. I just knew what I looked like. And I had a kind of ruthless acceptance of it. And since I've done that, I have a much easier time watching myself on screen. It still pops up where you're like, I don't know, or I wish they would have chosen a different take or something. But it's hard. I think that people don't understand how much self consciousness is induced by acting on screen. And when I see people, you know, like Lizzie Olsen, who was in my first. My second movie, Liberal Arts, like, she was just. She's just to the manner born. I think Kobe was like this, too. Like, they're just comfortable being photographed and, you know, fussed over in a way that I. Coming from the theater and, I don't know, just my general kind of level of self consciousness. Back in those days, I had a harder time relaxing. I feel like I know how to act in front of the camera in a totally different way than I did 20 years ago.

[Craig Thomas]

All right, we have two questions representing many who ask the same. Let's do it. Pjchandra612 says, what was the inspiration behind a blue French horn?

[Josh Radnor]

I mean, I think that came from. I remember us wanting to. By the way, it's right over Josh's shoulder, right there. I don't think this is the next question on camera here in our little. If anyone's YouTubing us. It's fantastic. It makes me very happy. Josh has a lovely fire. I don't know if. I can't tell if you have the fire today. You do. It's always a lovely fire. It's a winter. And there's the blue French one. It's very appealing. It came from the idea of that Carter and I were. We knew we wanted Ted to have to bring something in this sort of very elemental storytelling way. Like, you've got to. He's got to bring the heroine a gift to gain entry into her lair. You know what I mean? Like, there was just this sort of almost like Greek mythological. Like, he must get a gift, and that will gain him access into her world. A boon. Yeah, it really was. It feels very like Joseph Campbell mythology, kind of like. Just like, let's boil it down to the hero needs to do this to sort of earn his way. And then it was like, let's think of something memorable that could hang on a wall. And that was the way we got to that.

[Alec Lev]

You also get the feeling Ted was not into thieving that much. Like, he doesn't seem like he was a guy who stole a lot of things off a wall. Wall from restaurants.

[Josh Radnor]

I have these moments a lot, but I'm like, we should have talked about that. Ted, have you ever stolen anything before? That could have been a whole episode. Times the whole gang stole something, damn it. But, yeah, that would have been a new thing for Ted. I believe in my heart. That was his first theft, I think. And the idea that he had to run in and do and sort of going back to Josh's earlier comment about sort of humiliating yourself in order to sort of move forward in the game, he had to run and jump onto a couple's dinner table, put his knee in the entrees, and grab this thing off the wall over this couple. It's sort of a humiliating, insane thing to do. But it got him to the next level of the rom com video game to go meet the boss.

[Alec Lev]

I do remember shooting that and enjoying it. It was so quick. It was fun, and it was almost like doing your own stunt. Like, it was a little. Like, there was some athleticism to it. You know, it was really fun.

[Josh Radnor]

I was surprised rewatching it. I was like, oh, he really had to climb up on a table to get.

[Alec Lev]

That was really me climbing up on that table.

[Josh Radnor]

It was actually all his own stunts there.

[Craig Thomas]

Well, Ivana. Ivana Vasque. Sorry, Ivana does ask, did any of you keep the blue French horn? And remember, this is audio. This is an audio format, Josh.

[Alec Lev]

So please talk just over my. My right shoulder. We were just kind of asked by the props department and by Carter and Craig, like, if you could take one thing. And I asked for the blue French horn. And I don't. I didn't. I. I mean, it was so associated with Ted. I don't think there was a lot of Competition for. For, you know, I don't think Carl bartender was like, give me this. Yeah. So, yeah. So I asked for the horn and I. It's traveled with me. I'm now in. I now live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, downtown Albuquerque.

[Alec Lev]

But it's been with me for a number of years. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

It makes me so happy every time we do this podcast to see it over Josh's right shoulder. It makes me. Every time I sort of forget that it's there and then it's there and it's like. It's delightful.

[Craig Thomas]

So, by the way, you just mentioned the bartender. Do you guys know Joe, right? Do you guys know his story of how he wound up on nine seasons of the show? Do you know how it started?

[Josh Radnor]

Well, I mean, I do because I was there. Do you mean you were there?

[Craig Thomas]

Can you tell the story?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, he was gonna be a cop that appeared in a whole sequence that got axe from the show. I think we cut it and I'm not sure we even. I think we didn't even. Did we shoot it? God, Al, we didn't shoot it.

[Craig Thomas]

He showed up.

[Josh Radnor]

We cast him. He showed up. Right. I think production forgot to call him and tell him it was cut.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes, that was it. Right. And he got in his costume. Someone put a costume on him of a cop.

[Josh Radnor]

He showed up. And that's a question that will haunt me. Did wardrobe know it was cut, but was like, let's put him in the cop outfit. We don't want to be the one to tell him. Now that question's going to go.

[Alec Lev]

So wait, he showed up to set in a cop outfit and you say, sorry, this has been cut. You can get behind the bar and be the bartender.

[Josh Radnor]

That's it. Yeah, that was it. We felt, because we were still casting the bartender role and we liked him and we had to cast him and then cut this thing at the last minute about a cop. It was like a cop that was going to come on. They were all sitting out in the taxi cab outside of Robin's apartment. There was a whole little bit with a cop. And don't even ask me verbatim what it is because I'm kind of blanking on what it really was. We cut it and we felt so bad that the message never got to him somehow. And we said, you were great. Let's make you Carl the bartender. And then he appeared for nine years on the show.

[Alec Lev]

Unbelievable. Shout out to Joe, though. Joe was awesome.

[Josh Radnor]

Shout out to Joe. Joe was great.

[Alec Lev]

He was always so much fun to have on set. He was so chill. Also, I forgot in the pilot, you have that moment. He glares at me because Yasmine, as.

[Josh Radnor]

His girlfriend, I forgot that moment, too. I forgot that.

[Alec Lev]

I forgot that.

[Josh Radnor]

I forgot that she was Carl's girlfriend for a second. I was one of those little. I mostly had that verbatim, that pilot in my brain, but it was like, right, wait, Carl. She's dating Carl. And he has a good, intimidating look at Ted. Great Carl.

[Alec Lev]

It's the most Carl ever got.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, he was good. He had a presence.

[Alec Lev]

He was great.

[Josh Radnor]

Go, Joe. And sorry about the cop thing, Joe, but I guess it worked out way, way better.

[Craig Thomas]

We have so many questions and so little time, Craig. Something you and I have bonded over for all of our many, many decades together. But. But it is. Douglas asks what books, TV shows, or stories in general help guide how to tell the first episode? I guess bigger question, what are your biggest writing comedy influences?

[Josh Radnor]

I mean, Carter would have a certain set of answers that would be very important to this, too. I won't attempt to speak for him, but so many of our answers were overlaps. This is one. Cheers. I think we wanted to do a show that had a bar in it. You wanted to hang out with these people at the bar, and we wanted the bar to be super inviting and warm and amazing, and we just took that from Cheers. But we also love Quentin Tarantino, and we love slicing and dicing narratives and storytelling and finding these nonlinear, crazy ways to tell stories. So I'd say Quentin Tarantino plus Cheers equals How I Met yout Mother with someone Harry Met Sally thrown in.

[Alec Lev]

I think you guys told me on the pilot that you had pitched Ted as Lloyd Dobler from say Anything meets George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life. Were those the two comps that you guys.

[Josh Radnor]

Absolutely, absolutely. Big time. And with a special emphasis on George Bailey, I think, because think about the planning aspect. I'm going to plan my future. This is what the future's going to be. I've got it all mapped out. I mean, in some ways, it's an actionable ripoff. We really took a lot from George Bailey. Main character of It's a Wonderful Life for you kids playing along in the home game. He's this big dreamer who thinks he's going to plan everything out. And life proves otherwise. And life also proves that there's a richness to be found when it doesn't all go according to plan. I'd say that was a big spiritual forebearer of Ted, but Lloyd Dobbler, big Time. I mean, so much so with Lloyd Dobler that when you walked in the door and had a little Cusackian quality to you, Josh, that's red. Firstly, you're not to say you seemed like John Geere, your own man, but it definitely helped. There was kind of a wit and an intelligence in your eyes that felt like a young John Cusack.

[Alec Lev]

Oh, no. At that time in my life, if someone called me Sacky and I would take it as a. A big compliment.

[Josh Radnor]

Okay, yeah. Meant is a big compliment.

[Craig Thomas]

My last question on paper here is from Chris Datram asks, will you be filming this podcast? So here we are. We're very excited. If you are listening to this right now, just know that this is also on YouTube. You can check it out. There's so many questions about this pilot. There's 300 more here on Instagram and everywhere. Is there anything left? What else should we talk about about the pilot? Because we're moving on to episode two.

[Josh Radnor]

I would just say that one thing that struck me rewatching the pilot was the sense memory of the challenge of having to have Robin meet the rest of the gang. Robin. Cobie Smulders only has scenes with Josh in the pilot. She never interacts with anybody else. And I remember that feeling at the end of the pilot like, we better have a good episode too. That shows how she kind of works her way into this group and befriends this group. Because that's a whole other sale we have to make of like. Like she's the fifth banana. She's the fifth part of this five part puzzle. And we had to sort of integrate her and show how everybody else kind of fell in love with her too. And I had that feeling in my body. I sort of re experienced it of like, we gotta somehow thread the needle on that. We gotta make the sale. Like I remember feeling that way when we had to write episode two and three and that we're sort of like showing her becoming part of that group. And yeah, it was just fun to remember that challenge. And we'll rewatch and talk about if we did it. I think we it. I think we pulled it off.

[Alec Lev]

I. I have two things. One is if you watch the pilot of How I Met yout Mother, the DNA for the entire show is in the pilot. Yeah, like absolutely. The entire kind of structure and essence and surprise switcheroo kind of thing that, that they did so well. It's all. It's in there. It's like the ragu sauce or whatever. It's like, it's in there. Will people understand that you can cut that if they don't. The other thing I wanted to say, this is just a funny thing that my wife said this morning. She was like, she knew someone who had, who lived on the Upper west side and he had a dog named Teddy and everyone called him the dog Teddy Westside. And I love as one of Ted's. He had so many nicknames. Teddy Westside's a great nickname I thought. But it was also self proclaimed. Right. He called himself Teddy Westside trying to.

[Josh Radnor]

Get everyone else on board.

[Alec Lev]

They weren't on board. Board. Yeah. But she said, so where'd they live? And I said they lived on the Upper west side, right?

[Josh Radnor]

Yep.

[Alec Lev]

Yeah. And she said but Robin lives in Brooklyn. And I said yeah. And she said because Robin's cool. Because we like Jordana. She grew up in Manhattan, but she lives in Brooklyn and she just can't stand going into Manhattan. She loves Brooklyn. But she said how was she hanging out on this bar on the Upper west side so much if she lived in Brooklyn?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, that makes no sense.

[Alec Lev]

She would never.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, here's what I.

[Alec Lev]

Here's what I rationalized. I think her TV station is close by.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, let's say that TVs in TV stations in Midtown somewhere. So she's like, why not?

[Alec Lev]

Or even in like the West 60s.

[Josh Radnor]

Like where the West 60s, like that sort of like CBS building. Like West 50s 60s, like that whole.

[Alec Lev]

So then she just pops up a couple like 10 or 15 blocks and hangs out with her friend. But also she's out so late and she has to get up at like 3:30 in the morning to do the early.

[Josh Radnor]

Just to take like an hour and a half.

[Alec Lev]

These are the kind of threads we'll be pulling. That'll be.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, at some point she moves. But it's true for a while she had a real shit commute.

[Alec Lev]

I am guilty. Please acquit me. All sins are forgiven in New York City.

[Craig Thomas]

How We Made youe Mother is hosted and executive produced by Josh Radner and Craig Thomas. The show was produced by me, Alec Lev and our co producer is Doug Matica. Our audio producer and mixer is Alex Reeves at Point of Blue Studios. 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 NYC by our own Josh Radner. Special thanks to Lola Kennedy and Elliot Connors. Visit How We Made your Mic to sign up for our substack mailing list and for links to our social Media. You can also 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. Read Craig Thomas's published [e-mail] and you can subscribe to My Dead Father Society, also on Substack, to learn about how you make a difference. This show's ongoing campaign to raise money for congenital heart disease research. Check out the Make a Difference tab at the top of our website. This episode was made possible by the support of Backyard Ventures Marketing provided by Tink Media. People will in fact dance the real.

[Alec Lev]

Question it just hit me. Am I in love with you or just New York City?

[Craig Thomas]

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