How We Couldn't Hear You | S1E5 "Okay Awesome"

Summary

Summary of "How We Made Your Mother" Podcast Episode: S1E5 "Okay Awesome"

Released on April 21, 2025, "How We Made Your Mother" is a podcast hosted by Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas, delving into the creation and enduring legacy of the iconic sitcom How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM). In Season 1, Episode 5 titled "Okay Awesome," the hosts explore the intricacies of the episode with insightful discussions, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and reflections on the show's impact.

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1. Introduction and Episode Focus

The episode begins with Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas introducing "Okay Awesome," written by Chris Harris. They emphasize Harris's pivotal role in HIMYM, highlighting his longstanding collaboration from the pilot to the finale.

Notable Quote:

Craig Thomas [04:17]: "Chris Harris and Courtney Kang... are the only two writers that can say that. And they are both geniuses."

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2. Behind-the-Scenes Insights

a. Collaboration with Chris Harris

Josh and Craig discuss their deep-rooted friendship with Chris Harris, praising his unique writing style and creative contributions to HIMYM. They recount how Harris's background as a Late Show with David Letterman writer influenced his comedic approach.

Notable Quote:

Craig Thomas [04:49]: "Chris Harris was a genius... the best thing about making things is working with your friends."

b. Creative Decisions in "Okay Awesome"

The hosts delve into the episode's distinctive narrative techniques, such as the use of subtitles to convey dialogue in noisy club scenes. They appreciate the honesty and realism this brought to the portrayal of social interactions in loud environments.

Notable Quote:

Craig Thomas [14:04]: "So much of that episode is at the club... Let's make it loud and dark and really suck."

c. Physical Comedy and Narrative Devices

Josh reminisces about specific comedic moments, like Ted's flurry of coats and the exaggerated shouting scenes, emphasizing how these elements enhanced the episode's humor and character development.

Notable Quote:

Craig Thomas [23:08]: "It's such a good visual... like how many jackets can a guy put on and walk down the street?"

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3. Thematic Exploration

a. Friendship and Emotional Honesty

A central theme discussed is the portrayal of deep friendships and the importance of open, honest conversations to maintain bonds despite life’s changes. Josh and Craig relate this to their own experiences, highlighting how the episode models healthy communication.

Notable Quote:

Craig Thomas [39:11]: "Ted and Marshall talk about that... they actually ended up feeling closer."

b. Navigating Change in Life's Phases

The conversation touches on how characters deal with evolving life stages, such as relationships and career shifts, mirroring the real-life experiences of the hosts and their audience.

Notable Quote:

Josh Radnor [43:40]: "There is something... time is real, grief is real, death is real, Love is real."

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4. Production Techniques

a. Hybrid Single-Camera Multi-Cam Format

Craig explains the technical aspects of filming HIMYM, particularly the hybrid camera setup that allowed for more cinematic shots compared to traditional multi-camera sitcoms. This flexibility enabled creative scenes like the bartending interactions and the subtitled club dialogues.

Notable Quote:

Craig Thomas [36:39]: "We would shoot over three days... that was the giddy, like big idea of that episode."

b. Actor Contributions and Improvisation

The hosts commend the actors’ dedication, especially Jason Segel’s ability to maintain emotional honesty while handling physically demanding scenes, such as shouting in the noisy club environment.

Notable Quote:

Josh Radnor [17:17]: "Jason had a way of... trying to make you break. And I was a breaker."

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5. Reflections on Character Development

a. Ted’s Charm and Vulnerability

Josh and Craig discuss Ted Mosby’s character arc in "Okay Awesome," focusing on his attempts to connect romantically and the vulnerability he exhibits when navigating romantic rejections.

Notable Quote:

Josh Radnor [24:07]: "He has some good moves... he’s kind of, like, oh, if I can just get this person in a corner to talk."

b. Robin and Lily’s Roles

The episode is praised for highlighting Robin's need for validation and Lily’s role as the moral center of the group, showcasing their depth and significance within the friend dynamic.

Notable Quote:

Craig Thomas [27:23]: "She holds this moral center along with Ted... quietly powerful way."

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6. Listener Engagement and Impact

The latter part of the podcast features Josh and Craig reading heartfelt comments from fans worldwide, illustrating the profound impact HIMYM has had on its audience. Stories range from personal struggles, where the show served as a beacon of hope, to enthusiastic rewatchers whose lives were touched by the characters and narratives.

Selected Notable Quotes:

Joe M7BU [46:26]: "How I Met Your Mother gave me something to hold onto... a little light, a little laughter, a little hope."

Edricbale7403 [47:53]: "If I didn't believe in destiny, now I do. Thanks for this amazing gift."

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7. Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions

Josh and Craig express their gratitude towards the fans and share exciting plans for future podcast episodes, including live recordings at Wesleyan University. They underscore the show's authenticity and emotional sincerity, ensuring that the legacy of HIMYM continues to resonate with both old and new audiences.

Notable Quote:

Josh Radnor [34:03]: "It's a sincere show. We mean it."

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Final Remarks: This episode of "How We Made Your Mother" offers a comprehensive dive into the making of one of television's beloved sitcoms. Through candid conversations, technical explorations, and heartfelt listener interactions, Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas celebrate the enduring magic of How I Met Your Mother and its meaningful connection with fans around the globe.

Transcript

[Josh Radnor]

24 chefs 24 culinary showdowns for 24 hours straight.

[Craig Thomas]

Which chef will out cook outpace, outlast the competition? No chef escapes the clock season premiere.

[Josh Radnor]

24 and 24 Last Chef Standing Sunday, April 27th at 8.

[Craig Thomas]

See you first on Food Network Stream Next day on Max Some things work.

[Josh Radnor]

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[Alec Lev]

A no foundation base.

[Craig Thomas]

Nars better together.

[Josh Radnor]

Visit Ulta to shop now. My name is Matthew. I'm from Las Vegas, Nevada. My name is Chandra from Jakarta, Indonesia.

[Craig Thomas]

My name is Jules and I'm from Indiana.

[Alec Lev]

How I met your mother has always.

[Josh Radnor]

Been a part of the journey that I went through.

[Alec Lev]

It's like the most comforting pair of.

[Craig Thomas]

Shoes you put on. You love them, you never want to.

[Alec Lev]

Get rid of them.

[Josh Radnor]

The confusion and desperation in finding true love right until you meet your soulmate resonates with me the most. Himyeum started airing in 2005 when I was born in 2002. But I've been watching HIMYIM since 2005 when I was 3 years old. My brother, who's quite a few years older than me, he would always put.

[Craig Thomas]

It on when he thought I was.

[Josh Radnor]

Asleep on the top bunk of our bunk bed. But I wouldn't be asleep and I'd sit up and I'd watch it with.

[Craig Thomas]

Him without him knowing.

[Alec Lev]

How I Met yout Mother will always.

[Josh Radnor]

Be my favorite show and a big part of my life and my children, because I am definitely will tell them how I met their mother. Me and my buddy.

[Craig Thomas]

It's been like an anchor for our friendship and that's why I watch it.

[Alec Lev]

Over and over and I've got my grandkids watching it now. So thank you for making such an amazing show.

[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. Here we are for another episode of How We Made youe Mother. I'm Josh Radner, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and How I Met yout Mother. Co creator Craig Thomas. Hello, Craig.

[Craig Thomas]

Hello, Josh. So happy to be here with you.

[Josh Radnor]

So happy to be here with you. We've been starting every episode with these testimonials from around the world.

[Craig Thomas]

I don't know the bunk bed one because if the bottom bunk watches, the top bunk watches too. And it's a vague code of the joke from the pilot three that's really.

[Josh Radnor]

Embedded in your consciousness.

[Craig Thomas]

Three years old. I don't know if I recommend that.

[Josh Radnor]

And what do you feel? What do you feel when you hear people from Indonesia?

[Craig Thomas]

I can't stop smiling. It just makes. I just. I feel floored every time. Just when the assortment of people around the world, I feel humbled and floored and just absolutely joyous. Like we did something good.

[Josh Radnor]

You know what else is like, you make things and you put them out in the world. And you don't often hear from people who maybe even love it. Right. Like, you don't get to hear all this feedback. So we've kind of set up this planet or whatever where we can receive these transmissions back. And it's incredibly moving of the Internet.

[Craig Thomas]

It's a legitimate upside of the Internet. Like 40 years ago you get some fan mail and that's sort of it. To hear people's voices like this. It is an actual Internet win and social media win. So thanks.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, we're so thrilled. We're so grateful for the feedback. Thank you for listening to the podcast. Thank you for telling your friends about the podcast. Thank you for writing in and recording in. If you would like to submit a written or a verbal testimonial, go to how we made your mother.com go to contact and then share your story. We're looking forward to them. We read them all. And thanks for being here with us. So this week we are looking at episode five. Is this right? Is that what it is? Episode five? It's called. Okay, awesome. It was written by Chris Harris. Why don't you say a few lovely words about Chris Harris?

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, boy. Chris. So. So Chris Harris and Courtney Kang, who was on our previous. She was on our fourth episode when we talked about episode four. She and Chris Harris hold a superlative of How I Met yout Mother, which is the two writers that were there from the very beginning. The pilot, the punch up of the pilot, before it was even picked up to be a TV show, all the way through the finale, through the end, basically a decade of their lives. Courtney and Chris are the only two writers that can say that. And they are both geniuses. And this week we will celebrate Chris Harris being a genius. He will be on a future episode, but this is his very first one that he wrote.

[Josh Radnor]

And how did you meet Chris? Was he a Letterman guy?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, Chris Harris was a Letterman writer. Came in a little bit after us Carter and I got hired and I think Chris maybe got hired a year or so into our time there. And we were there like an additional, like three years with him and he became one of our best friends. And then he came out and we sort of helped get him staffed onto another show or two. We did not our shows just. We were on staff as writers on other people's shows. And we said, hire Chris Harris. And the people did. So we had to be on like another show in LA briefly short lived that got canceled. And then when we got around show, we said, you know, Chris Harris is like our first call. So Chris is a genius.

[Josh Radnor]

And I mean, the best thing about making things is working with your friends, like being able to bring in people that you would choose to spend time with anyway, but actually, you know, put them on the payroll. It's incredible.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, it's. And the fact that you get to sort of curate that and say, like, I want to spend every day with Chris Harris because he's funny and awesome. And then you get to do it and he makes money doing it too. It is. The only announcement is you kind of feel like you're paying somebody to be your friend. Is he really my friend? But I think this one, in this case, I think he really is.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Well, okay, so Jordana and I watched the episode last night. We were delighted by it. But I'm curious, like, what. How long has it been since you've seen this episode? 20 years? 20? 19.

[Craig Thomas]

It's been a minute. It's been a minute. Years and years, though. We're going to introduce Alex.

[Josh Radnor]

This is Alec, our producer and our friend that we pay.

[Craig Thomas]

And he's our other friend that we pay to be our friend.

[Alec Lev]

I have no problem with this relationship. You can pay me to be your friend.

[Josh Radnor]

I'm in.

[Craig Thomas]

You go back so much further with me if you. If this isn't a real friendship, we need to. We're gonna talk after.

[Alec Lev]

We have a problem. October 17th is the. Is the air date of this. October 17th.

[Josh Radnor]

2005.

[Alec Lev]

2005, if anyone's keeping score on that one.

[Josh Radnor]

Okay, so. So you had that experience. We both had the experience of watching these first four episodes. And there's a feeling of some things surprise us. Like, oh, yeah, I totally forgot that. And other things are, like, still in my bloodstream. Like, other things still. I absolutely remember this episode is pretty vivid for me, actually. Why do you think that is? What about it felt like a field trip episode. Like, it feels like the gang goes to a club.

[Craig Thomas]

So much of that episode is at the club, right? Yeah. You're really somewhere else most of the one main other place. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, that's true. And then I remember, you know, I love Freaks and Geeks. It was really fun to have Sam Levine.

[Craig Thomas]

Sam Levine. The great Sam Levine.

[Josh Radnor]

Was there a joke. I remember a joke that I think got cut in the edit that I thought was so funny. And it was something where Kobe was talking to the three nerdy guys who were trying to get in the club and couldn't get club. And it was something like. I remember her line was, nerds who suck at math, life's going to be rough. Kids or boys or something. Was that in there?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I think that was in there. This is the worst part of a 22 minute running time for a TV show.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, I remember Kobe totally nailing that.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, well, that. Which undercuts my point. My point was going to be when a guest actor gets a funny joke in an episode and it's 22 minutes line long and you're going to cut that joke before you cut something from.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, it was.

[Craig Thomas]

I mean, you just ruined that by saying Kobe.

[Josh Radnor]

It was Kobe's joke.

[Craig Thomas]

But it involved those guys. So maybe those guys were great, but they were going to have targets on them more than like bigger moments with.

[Josh Radnor]

What was the name? Keith Affleck. They thought. They thought they saw the other Brian Affleck. Brian Affleck.

[Craig Thomas]

Brother Brian Affleck. That is a great line. I forgot that.

[Josh Radnor]

So, yeah, I. Jaime Mays, who played the Koch girl, was great.

[Craig Thomas]

She was so charming.

[Josh Radnor]

That was really fun. I mean, I like the first season has a lot of like, Ted talking to women and then like, it wasn't her. It wasn't her. You know, there's a lot of like fake outs that I think became less frequent as. But I was also like struck by, you know, Jordana saw and the. She saw Slutty Pumpkin was next. Is that episode six?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And she said, I've heard of Slutty Pumpkin. That's like a famous episode. And I said, season one had some bangers, man. And I wrote you this little ditty to sing to you in New York City. We'll be right back. So we've arrived at the second episode. And I don't mean the second episode of How I Met yout Mother. I mean the second episode of the continuing adventures of our co producer Doug. And what is going on with his mobile cell phone plan? He switched over to Mint Mobile. Doug, tell us all about it.

[Craig Thomas]

So I left my major metropolitan City and I went to the middle of nowhere. It's a good test.

[Josh Radnor]

Right.

[Craig Thomas]

I went to like the middle of nowhere Missouri and kind of the middle of nowhere Kansas. I can't believe those two states have the same town name. It's like Springfield. I had to drive between small towns. I was going from farm to farm, basically.

[Josh Radnor]

Sure.

[Craig Thomas]

And I had exceptional coverage.

[Josh Radnor]

So Mint Mobile, great coverage in urban areas and great coverage in the two towns of middle of nowhere Missouri and middle of nowhere Kansas.

[Craig Thomas]

So Doug, when you're done with this experiment, when you're done traveling the country just seeing how things work, are you going to go back to your old plan or stick with Mint Mobile?

[Josh Radnor]

I'm sticking with it.

[Craig Thomas]

Check this part out. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop [e-mail] yourmother that's mintmobile.com yourmother I don't know if my mother listens to this, but I was visiting my mother on one of those trips. Do you want to name her actual town, for crying out loud? My mother lives in Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence, Kansas. We have it. All right. Mint Mobile works in Lawrence, Kansas. There you go.

[Josh Radnor]

Upfront payment of $45 for a 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extras. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Alec Lev]

Take your plans out of the group chat and get long weekend ready in new Abercrombie.

[Josh Radnor]

From day to night. Pack new outfits for every part of your itinerary.

[Alec Lev]

Grabbing brunch, throw on the A and F Mila dress. Then head to your dinner reservation in their new bubble hem mini dress.

[Josh Radnor]

And yes, permission to overpack for pics with the girls.

[Alec Lev]

Abercrombie's best selling Scarlet Squirt deserves a.

[Josh Radnor]

Post in your feed. Your plans are worth it.

[Alec Lev]

Shop Abercrombie's new long weekend collection online or in store.

[Josh Radnor]

And now back to the show. Where did the jumping out the third floor window come from?

[Craig Thomas]

I loved that. That sort of surprised me. I forgot about that. It's really one of our first usages of the completely unreliable narrator. I mean, even the narrator kind of calling bullshit on himself, just kind of being like, I don't know, this is how it was told to me. I don't know how this could have happened. And I love that we double down on it when Lily jumps out of a third floor window. They would have broken their legs. Yeah, and I think that was just us delighting. There's a few Moments in this one where I really remembered us in the writer's room, delighting in getting to use the narrator to fuck around with stuff.

[Josh Radnor]

Yes.

[Craig Thomas]

Including the idea of completely forgetting to set up the temporary crown that Marshall had. And just I remember when we got up to that idea later in Act 3 of the show or wherever it is, we thought, ah, we have to go back in Act 1 and find some ham fisted setup for that. And then we went. But when people tell stories, they do that all the time. They go, oh, shit, I should have.

[Josh Radnor]

Said that at the beginning.

[Craig Thomas]

And we decided to just have future Ted fuck up his own story and not have planted that earlier. Just because that's how people really tell stories.

[Josh Radnor]

It feels a little bit like you guys are like discovering you have other superpowers, like narrative superpowers that you're discussing.

[Craig Thomas]

Got to be very funny. Future Ted got to be funny in this one. And yeah, I really felt I remembered being giddy about that in the writings room.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. So I remember my favorite, favorite thing about this episode. And there are certain things like conventions in Hollywood that are always a little annoying. And it has to do with the literal how you shoot a TV show. So if you go to. If you see a scene in a movie at a club, everyone's kind of speaking like this and they can totally hear each other and the music is kind of soft and it just feels very fake. I love that you guys decided to honor the fact that you cannot hear a word anyone says in those clubs. And you made it like a super comedy engine of like, subtitles.

[Craig Thomas]

The defining thing of that, that episode came from that idea. I remember that was on our. At the beginning of. When you pitch a TV show, when you make the pilot, you turn the pilot in, they ask you for ideas. They say, give us a dozen ideas that are like little two or three sentence ideas, log lines. And this was on there. This was the gang goes to a club that is so loud that a majority of the episode is done in subtitles. You literally hear no audio. And that was just sort of like the gimmicky idea of it. It wasn't like we pitched the themes. Cause the themes emerged when we really made an episode. The theme of the episode is Ted and Marshall wanting to stay friends. Right. Wanting to stay connected. And I love the emotional backbone of that. I don't think we had that in the logline, but the logline of like going to a club and it's all in subtitles, like, that was the giddy, like big idea of that. Episode. And I love that about that.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, to me it was another example of how. How I Met yout Mother. Even though it was like shot on a soundstage in West LA and it was brightly lit and there was laughter piped in, it still had this commitment to being as truthful as it could within the boundaries of the convention. Right?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Like, it was like, no, you can't hear anything at a club.

[Craig Thomas]

It's never loud enough. It's never dark enough. And it never sucks enough when you see a club portrayed on. And we said, let's make it loud and dark and really suck. And I thought that was sort of like the honesty of the club. And when people with the subject, we kind of brought in the idea. And I think it might have been Carter's idea of like bring in the idea of the subtitles. It's so loud. There's subtitles. Because Carter was the single guy. Carter was the sort of Ted and I was the Marshall in our friendship. And we would have experiences like this where Carter would go out with people and I'd be like doing like wine and cheese tasting with my wife, who was my fiance at that point or whatever. And this is very much us. And I think Carter would be out at these clubs and just be like, why am I here? Can't I skip this part and just join that other part? Can I jump ahead to that part? And I think it really came from that feeling of just like such a disconnect. Right? You're out at this loud place. How are you going to connect with somebody? How are you going to meet the love of your life here? And that idea. But then Chris Harris. There's no one better than Chris Harris at taking a premise like people talking at cross purposes with each other in subtitles. You know what I mean? Like taking that premise and just all of those subtitles. Like so many of them I feel like are Chris like his original script because they're just so perfectly like non sequiturian crazy. And same thing in the cabo when people are just yelling things over each other. Like Barney yelling about like, that place has great salad.

[Josh Radnor]

That place has great salad.

[Craig Thomas]

Why is Barney so excited about salad in that moment?

[Josh Radnor]

That place has great salads is one of the funnier how it's like that to me is an all timer.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, me too. I love that line so much.

[Josh Radnor]

Because it's also like, it's not quite Barney ish. It's more like it's just he's observing a place that they're passing he can't hear what's going on in the back. Like, everything is so great about it. And it's also such a great treacle cutter. Explain what a treacle cutter is from a comedy room perspective.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, a treacle cutter is when there's like a really sweet, heavy, emotional moment. It's a joke that kind of cuts through that so it doesn't feel too heavy and too saccharine or whatever. And the. The salad. The salads. The salad cut the sugar very well there, actually. And Chris, like, I just thought that was such a perfectly weird thing for Barney to say in that moment. And I was. I feel like that was just Chris Harris's first half.

[Josh Radnor]

I also like them shouting in the cab because their eardrums have been blown out.

[Craig Thomas]

So funny.

[Josh Radnor]

It's so funny.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, I wanted to ask you, what was it? Well, do your thing. But I was just shooting that.

[Josh Radnor]

I just love that it's not explained. Like, it's not. It's never like, I can't really hear you because the music was so loud. Like, no one tried to spoon feed. That's like a basic fact. Like, we cannot hear it. We've been listening to loud music for three hours, four hours. We're deaf. We're deaf for the night.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Well, it also has the feeling that, like, they do this semi regular. Like, in Barney's life. He's. This is three or four nights of his week. So he's used to, like, having a shout like this. What was it like shooting that scene in that small car? You were really shouting at each other in the ear, probably, like many takes. I was wondering if that was like. If that stuck in your brain as, like, a weird shoot day.

[Josh Radnor]

I remember Jason making me laugh. Like, I don't know. Jason had a way of. When he was asked to do something strange, he would do it in such a committed way. But he was also, like, trying to make you break. Like, he was. He was invested in getting you to break. And I was. I'm a breaker. Like, I'm not stone faced. Like, if you watch the blooper reel, like, I'm often the first to go. But I remember it was also strange to. You had to play the emotional honesty of the scene, but you had to crank your vocal register up pretty high. So it was this very strange acting challenge.

[Craig Thomas]

It's really funny. Yeah, it's really funny because it's also. You're restating the premise of the whole series. That conversation between Marshall and Ted could have been the pitch to the executives in the room. It's like the single guy and the guy who's kind of heading towards marriage. How do we stay friends? But you're screaming it.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's also, like, the thesis of the show. Yes. It's talked about. It actually needs to be talked about. But there's. It's a. In some ways, it's an extension of the theme of the Lily Robin B story in Return of the Shirt, which is like, Lily longs for, like, oh, is this part of my life done? This kind of like, fun club nights, bar nights, flirting with a stranger. And Robin's like, no, everyone's looking for what you have. Right. And then Marshall kind of has his own version of that in this episode, which is like, what am I doing? Acting like an older person? Like, I still want to be at the club.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. I still want to be with my friends. I still want to be with my best friends. Yeah. And it's such a sweet ending. It's such a sweet ending that Lily joins him there, and they, like.

[Josh Radnor]

I love the ending of that one.

[Craig Thomas]

It is a moving ending.

[Josh Radnor]

Delighted by his dancing.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Which is great.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, I have. Okay, so this is where it's almost like you guys are in, like, the golden age. Like, the Hollywood code, like, where you had to slip things through through innuendo. And you know what I'm talking about. Like, classic movies had to.

[Craig Thomas]

Right.

[Josh Radnor]

So Marshall goes in the bathroom with a toothache.

[Craig Thomas]

This is the other fun with the future narrator moment. Right.

[Josh Radnor]

He comes out, and he's no more toothache. And he's filled with energy, and he takes to the dance floor. Right. Another. Like, the delight you see on Marshall was true Jason Siegel delight. Like, he loved. And wasn't the woman that Barney was dancing with who turned out to be his cousin. Wasn't that the choreographer?

[Craig Thomas]

It's the choreographer. Yeah. I forgot about that until I was actually watching it. And I texted Pam Freeman last night as I was watching it, our director, Pam. I said, that was the choreographer of Jason's dance. Right.

[Josh Radnor]

She was on stage.

[Craig Thomas]

A bigger name was.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, yeah. She was on set a bunch. She was lovely. So talented.

[Craig Thomas]

She did a couple things for us.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, she was.

[Craig Thomas]

She was really funny in that, too. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's funny. Like, it's almost like sandwiches. Like, it's.

[Craig Thomas]

I was just thinking the same thing. It was like, it was the precursor to sandwiches. We hadn't done sandwiches yet, but it was how we learned how to do sandwiches.

[Josh Radnor]

And then I was thinking about. I was thinking about it, like. Yeah, like, what happened in there? But he came out. And it's kind of just this implication that, like, he obviously got chemically altered in the bathroom.

[Craig Thomas]

We told the studio network he just took a giant shit and he felt so good.

[Josh Radnor]

But I was also thinking this is. I just want to talk through the pharmacology. Okay.

[Craig Thomas]

Okay. Yeah. I was wondering what it would be.

[Josh Radnor]

It can't be MDMA, because that takes 45 minutes to an hour to kick in.

[Craig Thomas]

But how long was he in there? I guess he couldn't have been in there that long. We fast forward a bit. You do fast forward?

[Josh Radnor]

I think he did, so. I think he put something up his nose.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm just gonna say, couldn't be ecstasy. Couldn't be something like that.

[Josh Radnor]

No, I just don't think. I just think that takes the tail of it. It's too long to wait.

[Craig Thomas]

It's too long. It's too long. We never said how long, though. But, yeah, I think. You know what? You're probably right. I think it was the giant dump. Let's just go with it was the day.

[Josh Radnor]

It's. I did really appreciate that Ted is, like, ritually humiliated at the club. Like, he can't connect with. You know, he says the thing at the music break. What is he saying?

[Craig Thomas]

I'm wetting my pants.

[Josh Radnor]

I wet my pants.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I wet my pants.

[Josh Radnor]

I just wet my pants.

[Craig Thomas]

Was that I just wet my pants. And I think we wanted to say, pee my pants. And the censors made us downgrade that to I'm wetting my pants, which maybe is funnier.

[Josh Radnor]

Marshall can do cocaine, but Ted is not allowed to say pee.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, totally.

[Josh Radnor]

But also, like, trying to get a drink at the bar when the bartender is, like, just paying attention to the women.

[Craig Thomas]

I love that sequence.

[Josh Radnor]

I think there's such. There's so much truth in, like, being a single dude at one of these clubs is hard.

[Craig Thomas]

The male bartender.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. It's somewhat humiliating. And I thought you guys really got that.

[Craig Thomas]

I forgot about Ted popping up from sort of underneath the bar. He's gone under the bar.

[Josh Radnor]

I remember doing that and enjoying that.

[Craig Thomas]

The way you did. That was so funny. The sort of physical comedy of that was so funny. I kind of forgot about that until it happened. And then sort of the math jokes where he can't comprehend that the Two beers are $34. And all of the jokes where the bartender's saying three and four, and he was seven. I was like, that is a very Chris Harris math joke, too. Chris Harris loves puzzles and math and he has this sort of crazy brain. So whenever you see a Chris Harris episode, there will be some weird sort of math or puzzle or weird sort of scavenger, hunty, nerdy thing in a Chris Harris episode, because that's who he is. And I said that with love.

[Josh Radnor]

I love the little subtle thing of, like, Ted says to the coat check girl, how many of these coats can I put on? And you just. The next thing you see him, he's just wearing, like, eight coats.

[Craig Thomas]

It's such a good visual. It's such a good.

[Josh Radnor]

And it's not commented on. Really.

[Craig Thomas]

No one. Because Barney's just had, like, the worst moment in his life. He's paying no attention to Ted and his coats. It's so funny. I feel like that was probably. I feel like I'm gonna give Chris Harris credit there, too. Like, I. I've got to put on all the jackets. It was almost like it's like a letterman bit. How many jackets can a guy put on and walk down the street? Like, it was like, it's such a letterman aspect.

[Josh Radnor]

And it's part of, like, Ted's goofy charm. Like, totally. Like, he's kind of, like, looks around the space and he's like, how can I charm this coat check gal?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Like, it's very clever.

[Josh Radnor]

I got an idea.

[Alec Lev]

Can I say something about the TED evolution here? This our first TED Volution.

[Josh Radnor]

Ted Volution.

[Alec Lev]

This is our first TED Volution. That's. He's sort of calm. Ted with. With. With the co.

[Josh Radnor]

Check. Go.

[Craig Thomas]

Right.

[Alec Lev]

We have romantic. You, you, you, you get. You get denied. You, you. You put your heart out there. The second one, you're kind of long to go for a ride here you're shuttered in there in the little co Check room with the girl. And it's kind of just a. Oh, here's just Ted with a. With a girl who likes him.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Alec Lev]

Here's just a nice little calmer moment for him for us to see. Flirty guy. Flirty, simple guy.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

That's to. Some of the frustration I know that I felt with Ted, but other people might have felt with Ted is like, when he said, I think I'm in love with you to Robin. It's so frustrating because up until that point, he was playing it perfectly.

[Craig Thomas]

Right?

[Josh Radnor]

He was, you know.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Like, the thing about Ted that, like, you got to admit, like, he actually has some moves.

[Craig Thomas]

He definitely does.

[Josh Radnor]

He has some, like, good moves. He doesn't have Barney moves. He has, like. He has, like, the kind of like, oh, if I can Just get this person in a corner to talk. I'm gonna do okay. Yeah, he wasn't great. He's not great. Walking into a big thing and trying to.

[Craig Thomas]

He needed a quiet corner.

[Josh Radnor]

He needed a quiet corner. And that's what he found in the coat check room is a quiet corner.

[Craig Thomas]

No, he's industrious. He's inventive. He's very charming on his feet. But then he sort of goes one too far. Except he didn't this time. And yet I love that at the end of the episode, we just ruined it for no reason. I think it was. We were just so enamored with the narrator just fucking around in that episode that she wasn't just, like, dismissing with. There was a certain kind of punk rock, weird bravado to that. Just dispensing with her in that moment. We could have left that open and.

[Josh Radnor]

Brought her back, and she was delightful. You could have brought her back.

[Craig Thomas]

She was delightful. It was clearly. We were just kids in a candy store. We're like, we can use a narrator to do crazy stuff. And so we just dismissed her without explaining it. We mentioned her again later. Later. Later in the series. But it was funny how much we closed that door in that moment. I can't quite tell you why, other than we just wanted to play around. I don't know.

[Josh Radnor]

I. I loved freaking tannins.

[Craig Thomas]

Freaking tannins.

[Josh Radnor]

And I remember Jason always had this thing of, like, he would do these line readings that were.

[Craig Thomas]

I want to talk about this.

[Josh Radnor]

Strange.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes.

[Josh Radnor]

He would do, like. It was like Chris Walken. Like, he would stress weird words.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

You know, And I remember him going, freaking tannins or something.

[Craig Thomas]

Like.

[Josh Radnor]

Like just kind of.

[Craig Thomas]

Exactly how.

[Josh Radnor]

It's not the way nine out of.

[Craig Thomas]

Ten actors might do it.

[Josh Radnor]

Exactly.

[Craig Thomas]

I remember saying this to him once. And I was thinking this when you're talking about his line reads earlier, just how he played things. And I remember saying to him once, like, how do you find those twists on things? Because, like, people would come in. Any other entra would come in and say that probably mostly a certain way, and you find this other way. And he said, I can't stress this enough. I just say it the straightest way. I think it should be said.

[Josh Radnor]

He's going to.

[Craig Thomas]

He literally is the twist. He's the twist.

[Josh Radnor]

Yes.

[Craig Thomas]

He's not trying to do the twist. He is the twist.

[Josh Radnor]

Quan Fong said that to him. He said, you always do these weird line readings. And I love it.

[Craig Thomas]

He's like, no, I don't.

[Josh Radnor]

He was always like, that's literally how I. I hear it in my head 100%.

[Craig Thomas]

He said it so many times. He'd say, I can't accept that compliment. This is the only way it can be said.

[Josh Radnor]

I'm trying to be, like, a good, straight, boring actor.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, yeah. I'm just giving you the way you wrote it. And we're like, no, you're not. But it's great.

[Josh Radnor]

But then Ally echoing it was really funny.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, really funny. She's very charming and good in this episode.

[Josh Radnor]

She's really great.

[Craig Thomas]

So many really assured funny. I gotta say, we just paid Jason a great compliment. He's just so naturally unique. He is not forcing being eccentric. He just is in the best way. Watching these episodes so far, I'm so struck by how important Ally, Lily, how they. Those two people are. Like, she's so important on the show. She holds this moral center along with Ted. Right. But she is the moral center to Ted. If Ted's the moral center to meet the guys, Lily's the moral center to Ted and sort of is like the moral center for the group. And she really holds that role in this, like, really charming, but effective, I think, quietly powerful way. I find myself really admiring Ali in these episodes.

[Josh Radnor]

She's really deft with a pep talk, really, and.

[Craig Thomas]

But you really feel like she means that. It's very natural. You want her to be your friend giving you a pep talk. Like there's a fantasy.

[Josh Radnor]

Ellie's like a natural treacle cutter. Like, nothing she does ever feels sentimental or, like, kind of cringy. Like, it's all. She's just. She's such a good actor. Allie Hannigan.

[Craig Thomas]

She's a really good actress.

[Josh Radnor]

She's just such a damn good actress.

[Craig Thomas]

She's doing stuff that is not showing off. You know what I mean? She's doing stuff that is very natural.

[Josh Radnor]

It's totally serving the story. It's in the tone of what it is, but it's also, like, singular and hers and, like, for her to go from, like, a pep talk to Robin to, like, lifting up her shirt for the bouncer.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. One second later.

[Josh Radnor]

One second later.

[Craig Thomas]

You know her delivery of that joke about how. Yeah, yeah, I did it once. Once on a dare. The other times were just for fun. The way she threw that line away is. Was so funny with a laugh. I remember one of the. Chris Harris is such a good writer. So much of the stuff in yours is. I remember. I think I might have pitched that VIP like, the pee in the gutter joke. I'LL take a pee in the gutter of Julia Robbins. I think that might have been my line, but I only. I say that not to take credit for the line, but, like, I think that was a funny joke because of Allison's reaction after the joke. Like, the joke's okay, but then Allison has that moment of, like, that sounded fucking weird and has, like, this incredibly charming, natural laugh with Kobe, who also gives, like. Like, the realest Kobe laugh. If you listen to how Kobe laughs as they share a laugh together in that moment, that's Kobe's real laugh. That's how she sounds. She has this wonderful laugh. And I just remember watching this last night. I was like, those are the moments. Those are the moments. It's not like it was such a great joke. It's like, those actors finding that moment together and finding that look and that laugh. It's just wonderful. And that kind of goes back to you saying how you guys made that decision to actually laugh and react to each other.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, I think it was one of the most important decisions we made as a group. You know, I've been thinking about it every week. I also want to say that Koby, I felt like her plotline, Robin's plotline of, like, I'm a VIP and then kind of getting brought back down to Earth, I felt like it was almost an extension of. So in return of the shirt, she kind of becomes, like, this weird, like, almost, like, early Internet celebrity.

[Craig Thomas]

Totally.

[Josh Radnor]

Right, because she, like, fell in the horse poop.

[Craig Thomas]

Absolutely.

[Josh Radnor]

But she's also, like, when you're in your 20s. When you're in your 20s. I think it can be really dangerous, actually, to have too much success in your 20s. Like, like, your 20s are a time of, like, building. Right. Like, it's foundational. You're putting the scaffolding up. But sometimes when you get too big for your britches in your 20s, it can be very hard to sustain. And you. You know, you're always chasing something. It's. But there. But I thought there was something fun about her wanting to feel special and wanting to feel like really someone who could get her friends into this club.

[Craig Thomas]

And I had the same thought. I was like, I feel like we started to really find Robin more in this episode. Her neediness. Right. She wants to be validated so badly, and there's this kind of striving quality, and then she kind of melts down in the gutter there with Lily. And I feel like it was also. They became better friends in that moment. I felt like there was so much good Stuff for them and for Robin in that episode. Each week, I do like to give a note, and I regret, and I do regret now, just saying it out loud, that we didn't tie Robin's, like, newfound celebrity status in this episode to falling in the horse poop from the previous episode a little more. We didn't really connect those two things as much as we could have, because that's how it feels. Right? She kind of became a little more known from that, and somehow that got her on this guest list. But we don't ever say that. I don't know if there was any draft in which we did, but I'm just gonna give notes to past selves as we go through this.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

New York City and now commercials. Josh, you know what's fun to do in life?

[Josh Radnor]

Wait a minute. It's such a broad question.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, no, there's only one answer. Travel. Oh, traveling. Just one thing. It's traveling. You know what? We're gonna do this very podcast. We're gonna take it on the road. We're gonna travel. We are taking our podcast back to our alma mater. Carter Bayes and I, co creators. How much, Mother? We went to Wesleyan University in Connecticut. We loved it there so much. I met my wife. I met Carter, my writing partner, and that we. We made the backstory of our characters Ted, Lily, and Marshall on the show that they also went to Wesleyan. So we're gonna go do a live episode in Middletown, Connecticut, at our alma mater, Wesleyan University. And I think it's May 24th or something like that. We'll be there.

[Josh Radnor]

I'll be with you.

[Craig Thomas]

You're gonna. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

You're coming with. You're finally going to go to real Wesleyan? You've only been at pretend Wesleyan on occasion.

[Josh Radnor]

No. Well, I looked at real Wesleyan when I was scouting colleges, but I also. I wonder if they're going to surprise me with an honorary degree.

[Craig Thomas]

Do you think? Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Who's listening from Wesleyan? Where's my. I'm the. I'm probably the most famous fake Wesleyan student in history.

[Craig Thomas]

By the way, you should get a business card printed out that says just that.

[Josh Radnor]

What are you. What are you going to be doing with your home while you're.

[Craig Thomas]

I have this master plan. I feel pretty good about where it's just gonna sit there doing nothing and making me no money.

[Josh Radnor]

Craig, Craig, you really should host your home on Airbnb. Your home might be worth more than you think.

[Craig Thomas]

Find out how [e-mail] Host this episode.

[Josh Radnor]

Is brought to you by State Farm.

[Craig Thomas]

You might say all kinds of stuff when things go wrong, but these are the words you really need to remember. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[Josh Radnor]

They've got options to fit your unique.

[Craig Thomas]

Insurance needs, meaning you can talk to.

[Josh Radnor]

Your agent to choose the coverage you.

[Craig Thomas]

Need, have coverage options to protect the things you value most, file a claim right on the State Farm mobile app, and even reach a real person when you need to talk to someone. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. End of commercials. Back to show.

[Josh Radnor]

Robyn's from Canada. Ted's from Ohio. Marshall's from Minnesota. Where's Lily from?

[Craig Thomas]

We say she's a Brooklyn girl. We kind of modeled after that.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, she's from Brooklyn.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Brooklyn. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, right. And where's Barney from? Everywhere in nowhere.

[Craig Thomas]

He grew up on Staten Island. We said he grew up in Staten Island. With just a single mother.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And his brother. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

So there's something, though, I think, about Ted and Rob, and I would say specifically, there's something about. There's something definitely about being a native New Yorker. My wife's a native New Yorker. But there's also something about the pilgrimage that one makes to New York.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, totally.

[Josh Radnor]

That is very archetypal and kind of mythic in its own way.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Where wherever you're coming from, basically, like, almost guaranteed is going to be smaller than New York City. And so when you come here, there's a very, you know, it takes a lot of, like, chutzpah to, like, move to New York City at 21 or 22, you know?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And we both did it, you know, and Carter, too. But. But I think that there's something about Robin's like, I've made. You know, I've made it, like. And those markers of. Of success or notoriety. Like, I'm on the guest list at so and so. Right.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. It's funny. I think it's. I think it's a true thing. You know, you guys, it's very true.

[Craig Thomas]

This is the first time this has occurred to me. I'm so glad that we made Ted from Ohio and made Robin from Canada. I'm so glad we owned your guys actual journeys in a way, because you're right. You guys could play those feelings of, I'm coming to New York and I'm gonna make my mark, and Ted has that kind of striver drive and so does Robin.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And it connects them, and I think that's part of what brings them towards each other a little Bit. There's something very specific. This outsider coming into New York wanting to prove themselves. That's a. That's a big overlap of their little diagram.

[Josh Radnor]

And you gotta find your tribe. Like, you gotta huddle for warmth with the right people. When you're in a big city like that, that young and that un. Kind of formed, you know what else? Was there anything else from the episode that, like, shocked you, Delighted you, made you remember something?

[Craig Thomas]

I just loved Marshall and Ted's ending in it. I really felt like that's the show. Ted saying, don't worry, I'm gonna catch up to you. You keep doing that thing. I will be there at that thing later. You don't have to miss me so much. I have to go out and do stuff that's this stupid to get where you are. And Marshall kind of saying, like, I can't wait. We're saving you a spot at the cheese party.

[Alec Lev]

I wanna bring in Jordana's question of the week. But actually we have a lot of questions and people are listening to this now. If you. You've submitted a question or you want to ask questions, we have bonus episodes coming later in the week where all we do is we answer your questions. There's a lot of them about the production, about how we make television and the nitty gritty details. And we'll get to those in the bonus episode. But, Craig, could you just quickly point out here that you are a hybrid single camera multicam that allows you to do that bar joke that you could not have done. King of Queens couldn't have done that. Cheers couldn't have done that. Because there isn't that floating camera that could have picked up that kind of bit. Can you just go into the details of that for a sec?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, yeah. So we would shoot over three days and we would sort of block and shoot within scenes. And then that gave us the time to get a little bit cinematic. So, right, if you're just shooting sort of this proscenium kind of old school, like old school sitcom multicamera, like a few cameras sort of around essentially a theater play. You're filming like a little stage play. But when you do something like getting into that bartender's point of view where you're sort of like going panning over those women and Ted is trying to get his attention and then he's jumping back forth, that is more like we're getting a little bit. We're making a little movie there. And that is the kind of thing we had sort of the time and production space. And set design to be able to do. That's what the hybrid sort of format got us, that sort of thing. And also, like, just all of the jokes, all of the sort of subtitle Y stuff. Like, all of that would have been hard to do with an audience. It's sort of like. You know, I actually had a question, Josh. Like, do you remember if you were actually shouting all that stuff or were you miming it?

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, no, no, no. We were shouting it.

[Craig Thomas]

You really shouted it.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, we were really sh. And it was a little humiliating to go like, you know, I humped off and.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I guess you can sort of hear in the background. So I expected you would say that. And you really were shouting at the.

[Josh Radnor]

There was not music playing while we were shouting.

[Craig Thomas]

That's the other awkward thing. People don't know. You can't be playing music, and so you're just imaginary. The only music we really used in that episode was that one sequence where it's like, bump, bump. Because you guys needed to play, like, play between those beats. And so we actually did pipe in that little one you would for the extras.

[Josh Radnor]

And whenever we were in, like, dance sequences, they would play some music to, like, give the vibe to the beginning.

[Craig Thomas]

Of this break if the take started and you had to get that beat in your head.

[Josh Radnor]

Our first ad. Who? Our beloved first ad what did he say? I'll have to run. I'll have to ask Jason, because it used to make Jason laugh so hard. But he'd say, like, come on, people. Sexy. Sexy dancing or what? He would just say very sexy. Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys. Yeah, I just want to call out.

[Alec Lev]

Dove like war and 3A620, who both wanted very much to know how you shot that scene and whether you were screaming and whether there were. Whether people were talking. So there's your answer. We do answer questions here. And also on the general question. Yes, indeed. Josh, you want to tell us about our special section we have.

[Josh Radnor]

Coming up, we have a special weekly section that we like to call Questions and Observations from a Clinical Psychologist and relationship expert who's never seen How I Met yout Mother and also happens to be married to Josh.

[Alec Lev]

We're gonna hear Jordana's question right now.

[Craig Thomas]

So this episode made me think about something that comes up with patients all the time, which is that we graduate high school together, we graduate college together, and then after that, everyone moves through developmental phases at very different times. So some people get married and have.

[Josh Radnor]

K kids pretty young.

[Craig Thomas]

Others, it takes some time to find the right person to do that with that can be really hard on friendships. Even if you're physically very close to somebody, you can actually feel emotionally pretty far away if they're in a very different phase in life. And what I loved about this episode is that Ted and Marshall talk about that. They model how to have a conversation that is very healing, and if they didn't have it, they could have grown further apart. But because they were willing to talk about the hard stuff, they actually ended up feeling closer.

[Josh Radnor]

She's smart.

[Craig Thomas]

I love that she's so smart. That's what the show is. That's what the show is. And it really speaks to that thing, too. This was a show where the men actually have emotions and talk about them. And that was kind of the big idea of the first few episodes of the show, right? Like. Like Ted saying I love you, learning I love you, and then saying to Robin exactly how he felt about dating and feeling lonely in New York in the pilot is that there's this kind of old school wisdom in, like, sitcoms, probably in our dramas, too, that goes the first six episodes. You know, in the first 10 episodes of your series, do the pilot six times. Do the pilot six times. So people really fucking get what the show is and keep restating the premise. Keep reboom, boom, boom. Find new ways to kind of say the same thing. Obviously, you can't be that reductive, and you need it to feel different. But I love that she's what this episode really was about and what the whole first season was about. And that's what it is about. How do these two guys stay close if they're best friends in completely different worlds now? And that's what's motivated everything so far in season one.

[Josh Radnor]

It also strikes me, and I'm just realizing this at the moment, the first scene with Ted and Marshall is the kind of rehearsal of the proposal. And then Ted's freak out. And you accept on some level, you accept on article of faith that Ted and Marshall are really close and Barney's obsessed with it because he wants to be promoted. You know, we don't yet have the backstory of, like, Wesleyan University and road trips and, like, we don't see their history. So Barney, in some ways did shoehorn his way into Ted's life for the first couple episodes. And this is a reminder to the audience, I think, no, the real history, the second love story in both of these men's lives is with each other. And you have Barney in the front, who's still there, but he can't hear them, which is such a, you know, part of the bit. So they get to have this really intimate moment with Barney's interjections and then Lily popping up and thinking she's gonna throw up. But there's something. It's true. There's something so nice about seeing men talk it out. You know, Tim Ferriss has this great thing. He says, you, success in life is directly proportional to the amount of uncomfortable conversations you're willing to have.

[Craig Thomas]

It's a great observation.

[Josh Radnor]

And. And there is something. What Jordana's hitting on, which I think is so true, is sometimes you feel like either you're moving away, like, moving fast into another phase of life and you're worried about leaving your friends behind, or the reverse. You see someone kind of going out to sea and you feel like you're grounded, you're still unsure. And I think the way to bridge that is to actually call it out out and say, I'm worried. I'm scared I'm losing you. I'm scared I'm not going to catch up to you. I'm scared what this means for us, you know, because there's something devastating about time passing. Like. Like whenever I see a movie and there's a big time jump and, like, the gray, the hair is gray, it's always, like, devastating, like, oh, my God, like a reminder, like, time spared no one. You know, and there's something, like, fundamentally tragic about it, even in a sitcom, which is trying to keep it a little bit lighter. But I think, again, part of how I met your mother's brilliance and specialness was it said, like, we're in a world where time is real, grief is real, death is real, Love is real. Love is hard. Finding the right person to love and build a life with is hard. And I think it didn't shy away from those things.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, totally. And it's so real to Carter and my friendship and partnership as writers, too. We were living the exact same life. We had the same job at one point when we're running for Letterman. We lived in the same apartment and then went to our job at Letterman and worked all day and came home to apartment we shared. And then we did How I Met yout Mother. And we had a very similar life, except in this one huge way where I was sort of the old married couple at this young age, and he was out there being single and doing all of these things with all these other friends. And I think just writing about that, like, that sort of fear of disconnect, like, we're writing Partners, we're very close friends. How do we keep that? And I don't know. Writing those scenes were sort of therapeutic, I think, for us, and it definitely was something we both felt and were working through, I think, in our own lives. And, yeah, it was cool to see that. It was cool to remember, like, yeah, that's what the show's about. That was the initial. That's season one. That's the big dilemma.

[Josh Radnor]

And no matter how far, how crazy the show got, there was always at least some little reminder, especially towards the end, that, like, this is our hearts, like, pretty much on our sleeve. Like, this is a sincere show. Like, we mean it. Welcome back. So in our final section of this episode, we're going to reveal some of the lovely, beautiful, wonderful comments we got from my fans.

[Craig Thomas]

So many nice comments. Just so many nice comments. I was. We were so blown away by how many wonderful comments.

[Josh Radnor]

Incredible. So we just wanted to highlight some of these. These. And Alec, before we begin, did you have something?

[Alec Lev]

I. I. Well, there was a comment here. I don't have the full thing in front of me, but it did say, craig, you can't be 50. You look just like me and I'm 39.

[Craig Thomas]

And you didn't think to send this to me?

[Alec Lev]

No.

[Josh Radnor]

Is the implication that I look ancient?

[Craig Thomas]

Is that what you said? Thank you for picking that up. I'm sure that's what was definitely.

[Josh Radnor]

Craig, you're also really funny and smart. Smart. Wait, what? How are they?

[Craig Thomas]

Am I. Am I dying?

[Josh Radnor]

No, I was saying they're. They're. They keep complimenting you and it's just.

[Craig Thomas]

It's not. Craig Thomas, 6969.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, stop writing comments into the. The YouTube chat, Craig. It's obnoxious. All right, okay, so let's read these. Craig, you want to start us off?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. The first one, very, very to the point, Joe Toto says I'm the first. And indeed, it was the very first comment on the YouTube.

[Josh Radnor]

So congratulations. You got the Tell them what they've won, Alec. This one's from Andrew Adam. Andrew Adams, 6473. Well, I know where I'll be the next four years. Once a week.

[Craig Thomas]

Awesome. We'll see you there. Joe M7BU says quote. It's a quote that we said. I think there's a future version of you to whom this all makes more sense. I think that's something we said in the first episode. And then Jo says that immaculately sums up what I've always found so comforting about Haemyan. It reminded me that no matter how lost and confused I felt, I would inevitably make it to the other side, where I would then look back and see how those times of pain served a greater purpose in my life. Boy, that's beautiful. I'm so glad.

[Josh Radnor]

Thank you for that. This is from becoming my future self, which is a great idea. I honestly don't know if I'd be alive today without How I Met yout Mother. It might sound crazy to some, but during the darkest moments of my life, this show was the one thing that kept me going when everything felt hopeless. Himyim gave me something to hold onto. A little light, a little laughter, a little hope. I mean, that's the nicest thing you could ever hear about something you made.

[Craig Thomas]

That's the dream. It's humbling and honoring to hear that. I'm so happy the show is that to you. Moving on from trying not to cry from that one at Magda Ryback 2009 says. I was watching the show as it was airing. I was 12 when the first season began. Living in Greece at the time. I used to make Greek subtitles for the new Himiam episodes right as they released. That's amazing.

[Josh Radnor]

Josh.

[Craig Thomas]

Big fan of Greece. I know you are.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh yeah, it's true.

[Craig Thomas]

I love Greece and also of the place mentioned in the next comment.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh that's true. This is from Pajota610 Hey, a real big fan of the show from Mallorca, Spain. I wonder if it's the bar owner that I was friends with. My wife and I spent hours of our time watching it when we were teens, adults, a married couple and now parents. Parents. You're part of our lives together. Congrats for the show and for this podcast. Thanks so much.

[Craig Thomas]

Ndrewhoravath7324 says. So excited for this podcast. Just finished watching the show for the first time and absolutely loved it. It really shows the importance of having a core friend group and never giving up hope, even through all the ups and downs of relationships and life in general. Can't wait to hear you guys unpack this all over the next few years. That's awesome. Thank you for I like hearing a first timer. I wonder if the podcast tells helped helped you discover the show. That's very cool to hear.

[Josh Radnor]

My tree 5265 says hi himyim team. I'm on from Vietnam and Himyim has been through with me through thick and thin when I was a teenager beginning with the adulting journey to when I am now a grown up with the same issues that the characters had and still will be in the. And I still will be in the future. So himeon will stay and be friends with me a bit longer. Thank you for everything, for creating this magic.

[Craig Thomas]

Lovely. Edricbale7403. I hope I said that right. Says, whoa, Do I believe in destiny? Well, as it happens, I just finished rewatching the whole show for like the 30th time last week. Talked about it yesterday evening with a friend. Planned on talking about it today as part of a segment on a local radio show. Finally this morning, having a suggestion from YouTube for a podcast and finding out of nowhere that you guys were doing, we're going to do this thing and revisit the whole show. Yes. If I didn't believe in destiny, now I do. Thanks for this amazing gift that you're bringing us. Love the show so much. Since the very first watch back in 05, that is. That's my kind of destiny right there.

[Josh Radnor]

I love, I love that he's. He's having a Mosbyish destiny moment, but it's about discovering our podcast.

[Craig Thomas]

Hearing us talk about Ted mosby. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

From Virai6500. Hello. And love from China. Last weekend, my high school friends and I were talking about how this show became our comfort TV series and how we both rewatched him. Yeah. More than dozens of times in the past 10 years. You have accompanied us for our whole adolescence. And so much love to you guys. Just kind of overwhelmed.

[Craig Thomas]

Amazing the number of viewings we hear about from some people. And I just, I take them all. I'm just going to assume that's true. We've heard 30s. We've heard 40s. Alec, didn't we hear one? That was a hundred some odd times.

[Alec Lev]

We broke 100 yesterday.

[Craig Thomas]

Yesterday we couldn't tell if we believed that. If you. If that was you, write back to us to reaffirm, reconfirm that number. But it's amazing. Thanks, everybody. That's just amazing. And hello from China. I love China, Vietnam. We're hearing all over the world. So cool. And finally, sorry from 6035. I just want you guys to know that your show meant a lot to me. I do not watch podcasts. I'm not into the podcast, but this is the podcast I'm going to watch and listen to. I'm now watching, but I needed to leave a comment first. I'm going through a whole lot in my life, things that are just very. And the first thing I did today when dealing with a lot of stress was put on an episode of How I Met yout Mother because even when I'm dealing with things that make me want to do nothing but crawl up in a ball and cry, I can put on this show and it can bring a smile to my face when it's very hard for anything else to I just wanted you guys to know you made a great show and this will be the first podcast I'll ever pay attention to in my life. Take that smartness. Thank you guys very much for doing this and making a great show that even in the darkest days can still bring out a little smile and nothing else can. How nice is that to hear Josh.

[Josh Radnor]

And boy, he really he has no interest in podcasts.

[Craig Thomas]

No, just driving three towns over to shit on podcasts for no reason.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's almost like How I Met yout Mother is a good sitcom for people who don't like sitcoms.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh well.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh boy, you know.

[Craig Thomas]

Well said. Hit stab there, Alec. It's not getting any better than that. Mic drop. Boom.

[Josh Radnor]

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. 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 Doug 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 mother.com 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 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.

[Josh Radnor]

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