How We... Dary! | S3E1 "Wait for It"

Summary

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How We... Dary! | S3E1 "Wait for It" | How We Made Your Mother

Podcast: How We Made Your Mother
Hosts: Josh Radnor & Craig Thomas
Episode: S3E1 - "Wait for It"
Release Date: May 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

The new season opens with Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas diving deep into How I Met Your Mother’s Season 3 premiere, “Wait for It.” The episode is both a spirited rewatch and an honest, heartfelt reflection about how the show—and life itself—transformed the hosts and their collaborators during a pivotal time. With signature wit, sincerity, and a focus on the series’ themes, the hosts unpack the emotional, comedic, and even cultural energy packed into this fan-favorite episode.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Summer Hiatus Reflections

(04:00 – 10:36)

• Josh and Craig catch up:

  • Craig recalls his trip to Philadelphia (Liberty Bell) and Boston (Cheers bar) with his daughter, connecting it to iconic HIMYM episodes. Reflects on how fans “licking the Liberty Bell” became a cultural footprint for the show.
  • Josh shares about flying solo with his infant son for the first time, noting the unique experience of being a dad in a public space and the support he got.

• Impact of life events on the show:

  • Craig reveals the summer between seasons was life-changing due to the birth of his son, Eliot, who faced critical health challenges (“my introduction to parenthood… it was really hard”—Craig Thomas, 11:07).
  • Both plan to record a separate bonus episode about how their respective intense summers influenced the creative direction and character work in S3.

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2. Behind the Scenes: Emotional & Creative Shifts

(12:43 – 14:54)

• Comedy and grief:
  • Craig and Carter’s private mantra: “Now go be funny”—facing personal darkness, they leaned on the writers’ room and production as a much-needed healing space.
  • Josh shares how a spiritual trip to South America (ayahuasca in Brazil and Colombia) led him to quit drinking and return to the show with “clearer eyes.” He notes a visible shift from pre- to post-Ayahuasca Ted onscreen.

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3. Deep Dive: “Wait for It” Breakdown

(14:54 – 39:12)

Episode Structure and Themes

• Episode picks up right where S2 ended:
  • “I love that we ended before the final syllable… then we finish it, but have to wait all summer to finish a single word.” (Craig Thomas, 14:37)
• Ted’s 'breakup beard':
  • Originated partially from Josh showing up post-hiatus with a real beard. The writers and Josh collaboratively adjusted the script for comedic facial hair reveals (“No man…with a full beard shaves just completely. You shave in chops, you shave in a soul patch…” —Josh, 16:23).

Winning the Breakup

• Main plot: Ted and Robin vie for post-breakup “victory,” leading to jealousy, new partners, and comic rivalry.
• B-plot: Marshall and Lily negotiate loyalty between Ted and Robin, hilariously falling for Enrique Iglesias as Gael.

Character Evolution

• “Each season, we really shook up the Etch A Sketch… the dynamic has really changed right away. And it’s fraught.” (Craig, 26:27)

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4. Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On flying with kids:

  • “A man alone in an airport with a baby, you’ll be treated like a king.” (Josh, 07:47)

• On HIMYM's cultural footprint:

  • “There’s like now a dedicated guy who’s, like, and now you’re the lick. You’re the lick guy…” (Craig, 05:26)

• On personal transformations:

  • “To me, I look like I’m clearer behind the eyes. I look like there’s been some kind of change, because I also stopped drinking… I felt so much healthier when I came back for season three.” (Josh, 13:53)

• Ted’s beard sequence:

  • “You stop and you see, what would I look like with a mustache?...They comment on it. Like, he just comes out, and he’s in his own thing.” (Josh, 17:04)

• On making comedy during tough times:

  • “How do you go make comedy when you’re going through the darkest thing that you can almost possibly go through?” (Craig, 12:23)

• On codependency in relationships:

  • “You end up kind of wedding yourself…there’s just more codependency.” (Josh, 26:03)

• Ted’s semi-autobiographical tattoo adventure:

  • “Ted should get a butterfly tattooed in the tramp stamp positioning. And we did it.” (Craig, 30:28)

• On iconic show terms entering the lexicon:

  • “We didn’t invent [tramp stamp], but we definitely boosted that one…and cougar, too, I think.” (Craig, 31:04)

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5. Honoring Character and Storyline Continuity

(39:12 – 56:46)

• Choices: Hats, Haircuts, or Tattoos
  • Josh brings up the “hat, haircut, tattoo” metaphor for life decisions—“Hats are…very little consequence. A haircut…will grow back. A tattoo…it’s there. You’re inked.” (Josh, 47:58)
• Karma in HIMYM universe:
  • “There are consequences to actions…especially in the 20s era, they’re still trying on hats.” (Josh, 50:31)
• On embracing darkness in Ted:
  • “He is not his best self…His motivations are very impure…He wants to hurt Robin’s feelings the way that his feelings have been hurt.” (Craig, 49:28)
• Network tension:
  • CBS was wary of making Ted too much like Barney, wanting to maintain his singularity as “the Mooney-eyed rom com guy.” (45:46–47:27)

Robin & Ted's Doorway Scene

• “The scene with Ted and Robin at her apartment door is actually, weirdly, one of my favorite Ted and Robin scenes…” (Josh, 27:54)
• “I wasn’t trying to win it. I was trying to survive it.” (Kobe Smulders/Robin, paraphrased by Josh, 54:23)
• “They’re connecting…She lets him yell. She says, I’m in pain, too. It’s actually a lovely scene.” (Craig, 56:09)

Fan-favorite Gags

• The “Siegel” pan:

  • “That Siegel land. Is that a meme?” (Josh, 34:12)
  • “A pan Freyman. It was a pan Freyman.” (Craig, 34:29)

• On character “burns” and group dynamic:

  • “Amy’s burns to Barney are really funny…and Barney needs the piss taken out of him…” (Josh, 39:12)
  • “Barney wants to be out on the hunt…he just wants to be together for a while before success.” (Craig, 40:43)

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6. Letters, Community & The HIMYM Legacy

(59:43 – 67:23)

• Hearing from behind-the-scenes crew:
  • Kelly, former production assistant & coordinator, shares how S3 “changed my life and will always hold a special place in my heart.” (60:15)
• Fan letter (Ava, CA):
  • Shares how HIMYM and the podcast got her through hard days as a public health nurse. “It brings lightness to my day and somehow always leaves me feeling a little more hopeful.” (63:32)
• On the show’s humanity:
  • “How I Met Your Mother is, like, pretty team human.” (Josh, 66:17)
  • “It’s a team human show. There’s not a lot of tech. There’s just beer and laughter and relationships and quirky, interesting, fun characters.” (Josh, 66:18)

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• On “Now go be funny”:

  • “I looked like a shell of a human being…We’d look at each other and go, now go be funny.” (Craig Thomas, 12:22)

• On the significance of breakups:

  • “It’s such a human thing…to want to win the breakup. To be the more okay person.” (Josh Radnor, 27:05)

• On HIMYM's pop culture footprint:

  • “That’s how…the cultural footprint that this show has left has affected everyone. Even if you didn’t watch it.” (Josh Radnor, 05:33)

• On growth and show legacy:

  • “It’s just an honor, really.” (Josh Radnor, 65:37)
  • “HIMYM is…team human.” (Josh Radnor, 66:17)

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Important Episode Segments

• Hiatus Stories & Emotional Backdrop: 04:00 – 14:54
• Season 3 Premiere Rewatch & Scene Analysis: 14:54 – 39:12
• Exploring Character Change & Dark Ted: 39:12 – 51:00
• Fan Letters & Behind the Scenes: 59:43 – 67:23

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Episode Takeaways

• A deeply honest and playful episode, offering both loving nostalgia and meaningful reflection on the ways art and life intertwine.
• The hosts emphasize the genuine bond between cast, crew, and fans—the community effect at the heart of HIMYM’s enduring popularity.
• The S3 premiere & its themes mirror real-life transformations, loss, and renewal that shaped the creators and cast.

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For new and longtime fans alike, this episode is a rich, funny, and soulful look back at the making, meaning, and cultural resonance of “Wait for It”—offering new context and warm company for your own journeys through breakups, friendships, growth, and healing.

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Transcript

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, like, once every few years.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, yeah, it's.

[Craig Thomas]

It's ridiculous.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Yes, please.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Wait, what?

[Craig Thomas]

Rocket Money, I say.

[Josh Radnor]

You heard me, Rocket Money.

[Craig Thomas]

You heard me.

[Josh Radnor]

Tell me. Tell me more about it.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

I don't remember signing up for this.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Snapple Real Fact 1667 Lovebirds are actual

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Snapple RealFact253 the first TV remote control introduced in 1950 was called Lazy Bones.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Hey all.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's the office ladies, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinzie.

[Craig Thomas]

And we are so excited to present to you.

[Jenna Fischer]

So season three of How We Made youe Mother with Josh Radner and Craig Thomas.

[Craig Thomas]

Enjoy. Woohoo.

[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. Welcome back to How We Made youe Mother. This is our first episode of season three. Can you believe it, Craig?

[Craig Thomas]

I cannot believe it. It's going too. I guess we're having fun because it's going too fast. That's crazy. I'm actually freaked out that we're already in season three.

[Josh Radnor]

Let me ask you this, Craig Thomas, my co host of How We Made youe Mother.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, hi.

[Josh Radnor]

What did you do on your three week summer hiatus?

[Craig Thomas]

We had the shortest summer hiatus ever.

[Josh Radnor]

That was. Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And it wasn't summer, which was also weird for summer hiatus. You know, my daughter was studying the Revolutionary War. So we went for her spring break to February, Philadelphia, where I saw in person the Liberty Bell for the first time.

[Josh Radnor]

Yes.

[Craig Thomas]

Even though we wrote a whole episode about licking it. I had never been there in actual life.

[Josh Radnor]

Did you? I think I tweeted about this years ago. I said, I seriously want to talk to a security guard at the Liberty Balance. How many HIMYM fans they had to

[Craig Thomas]

tackle or I should have asked it. And I didn't. But then I posted a picture of me there. Um, and a lot of people then sent me their pictures of them, like pretending to lick it. Like sort of a Trompe l'. Oeil. Like they're sort of looking at their 10ft in front of it and kind of like they're licking it. And then I regretted that I didn't do that photo because it was like, just go back, check it out.

[Josh Radnor]

When was. So first season was like 2005. So you work at. You work at the Liberty Bell. You're like, you're working there and all

[Craig Thomas]

of a sudden there's a wave of

[Josh Radnor]

weirdos coming to the Liberty Bell and licking it. And you're like, you don't know. You don't know. You've not watched how I. Your mother.

[Craig Thomas]

There's like now a dedicated guy who's like, and now you're the lick. You're the lick guy. You're. You're the stopping people from licking it specialist.

[Josh Radnor]

That's how much. That's how the cultural footprint that this show has left has affected everyone. Even if you didn't watch it.

[Craig Thomas]

Fans sent me many, many pictures of them pretending to lick it. I don't know. I would love to know if anyone knows this, if anyone really ever did lick it fully.

[Josh Radnor]

Not the joke. If you have licked the Liberty Bell or know someone who's licked Liberty Bell

[Craig Thomas]

or read a local story in Philadelphia about the guy that got arrested for licking it, and then we should probably be like, buy that guy dinner.

[Josh Radnor]

Or we know that there's people who've. Who've done the Naked man, which I think is illegal in most states. So we're thinking, yeah, most states. Yeah, every state.

[Craig Thomas]

Every state.

[Josh Radnor]

Don't do the Naked Man. But if you want to lick, don't lick the Liberty Bell. Wink, wink.

[Craig Thomas]

I want people to lick it. We can't advocate it.

[Josh Radnor]

Let us know if you've been to Philadelphia and just like Greg. But that's fantastic.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. I felt a sense of completeness that I always felt a little bit like a fraud because we did all this whole episode and I had never been. It was good. It was good to get there and really do. And then went to Boston and saw more Revolutionary War stuff because my daughter's studying that. And I got to go to the Cheers bar, which is Cheers is my all time favorite sitcom. And I'd never been there. And I went there and I brought my daughter and my wife in and as I talked about my love for Cheers, I started to cry slightly. And then every time we. Our hotel was. That's how much that show meant to me. And then every time we would pass the Cheers bar during our time in Boston, My daughter would go, is dad gonna cry again now? So I was getting heckled about my love.

[Josh Radnor]

She seems like she would have done well on the How I Met yout Mother couch, rolling her eyes.

[Craig Thomas]

You have no idea just how.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, that's fantastic.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, but it was fun. What did you do? What were your. What was your.

[Josh Radnor]

I raised a child. I've been raising.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, is he. He's a full grown adult now.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, he's off. Off to Wesleyan in the fall.

[Craig Thomas]

You really sped through that. That was a. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

I was like, I'm not. I'm not going to waste time on this. Let's get him up and running. No, I, you know, we mostly been here. I did take him to Columbus, Ohio, to see my family. Jordana's best friend had a bachelorette thing in Maine that she was at and I was going to go see my family and I had to fly with our son for the first time.

[Craig Thomas]

Ooh, that's early.

[Josh Radnor]

Just 24 hours.

[Craig Thomas]

That's a little dude to fly with. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Five and a half months. Although I was told, and this is true, they said, a man alone in an airport with a baby, you'll be treated like a king. Everyone thinks you're a hero.

[Craig Thomas]

Do you know that? Was that true?

[Josh Radnor]

100%. Especially on the way back. For some reason it was even more. But yeah, it was.

[Craig Thomas]

That's really funny and there's a lot.

[Josh Radnor]

But I learned, you know, I met a woman who. Her son was nine. I met her the weekend before at a thing, and she. Her son's like a world traveler. Like, they've been everywhere with this kid. So she sent me like a huge list. There's all sorts of tricks. Like you feed a bottle when they're taking off because it helps with the ear, the cavity pressure and all that stuff.

[Craig Thomas]

A bottle of gin.

[Josh Radnor]

So it ended up to be okay. And also my sister's kids are like 14 to 19. Like, they're much older. And my sisters are actually great with babies. So the moment I got there, I was like, take this baby. You know, and they just like immediately took. Took him off my hands. And we're just.

[Craig Thomas]

Huge respect for flying by yourself with a five and a half month old baby. I definitely 100% never did that with either one of my children. So at that young of an age. So well done.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And a woman doing the exact same thing wouldn't get shit. She'd get. No one would say anything.

[Josh Radnor]

It's so sad. But. But that was a big. I felt a Lot of, like, dad self esteem, you know what I mean? Like, I felt like I did this. I can move.

[Craig Thomas]

And also, like, I can move through the world with this baby. Right? It's not just a hostage situation in your lovely apartment in Brooklyn. I get to move through the world sometimes, too.

[Josh Radnor]

And it's nice to remember that I can see family. And so that was great. I mean, that was a big, notable thing over our little tiny hiatus. What did we have for how I met your mother? We had, like four and a half months. Like, I mean, you could really do things.

[Craig Thomas]

The actors had more than the writers. That's true. He said he's come up bitterly.

[Josh Radnor]

This is always a thing I forget.

[Craig Thomas]

This is my little ax to grind. What did you guys do this summer? Wrote the goddamn show. Actors. Nice, T. But you looked super tan and what?

[Josh Radnor]

Super tan.

[Craig Thomas]

That happened every time in August when you guys came back. But we take, like, what we would take May and June and start up sometime the writers room in, I don't know, late June or July. I'm probably getting it wrong, but something like that. So that we had five or six scripts written in some state of being written by. When would be shoot? Mid August, late August. And this was a bit. We were talking about this before we started recording. This was a big. Between season two and season three. That was a big hiatus in your life and my life in very different ways. A lot happened in our personal lives and in our psyches and in our souls during that time. So much so that we're gonna talk about it as its own separate bonus episode.

[Josh Radnor]

Let's just tee it up a little bit. So that was the summer your son was born, Eliot, between seasons two and three?

[Craig Thomas]

Yes.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

My son Elliot was born between seasons two and three and talked about this on the pod before, but it was very unexpectedly challenging and chaotic. He was born with a. With a rare genetic syndrome. We had no idea on utero. Like, he was born and something was wrong. And he was lower weight and he wasn't breathing quite right. He turned out he had multiple heart defects. It's rare genetic syndrome. He needed open heart surgery at 2 weeks old. And Children's Hospital Los Angeles saved his life without question. And this was all happening between. We finished season two and season three was the barreling towards me, and it was like I was in the neonatal intensive care unit at chla. We were there for almost six weeks. And this is my first kid. This is my introduction to parenthood. And, you know, being told he's gonna have all These challenges in life, and it was really, really hard. So coming back to season three was weird and hard and also so healing and great to get to come back and be creative with these people. I love yourself very much included, and so I have a lot to say about that journey at some point.

[Josh Radnor]

What was the name of the podcast you wanted to do?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, well, maybe we'll still do this one day. We wanted to do a podcast. So when I would come to the writer's room at the very start of season three, first I'd go to Carter's office or my office and sit just with Carter and me, alone in a room, knowing that we had to launch season three, day one of season three, and day two and day three. And every morning, we would sit down on the couch and we'd just look at each other. And I looked like a shell of a human being. I was just gray, and I just looked like I was dying. And we look at each other and go, now go be funny.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, now go be funny.

[Craig Thomas]

I wanted to and maybe still want to do a podcast, or maybe we could just sort of Trojan horse it into this podcast and just talk about it here. But just that idea of how do you go make comedy when you're going through the darkest thing that you can almost possibly go through? And that was the now go be funny of it all. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Wow.

[Craig Thomas]

Well, I was good to have to go do that.

[Josh Radnor]

It was really looking forward to doing a deeper dive with you. Just talking about those summers, that summer in particular.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, me too.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll just tee up mine. I. Maybe due to some kind of weird combination of, you know, being destabilized from losing anonymity and being on this show and. I don't know, I just needed something. I needed a spiritual, chiropractic adjustment. So I ended up going to Brazil and then Colombia. I worked with an ancient Amazonian plant medicine called ayahuasca. This is 2007, and it really changed my life and opened me up in all sorts of wonderful, magical ways. And it kind of changed my relationship with the show. It changed my relationship. But interestingly, because this does segue into. I told Jordana when we were watching it, because we have that flashback to the end of season two.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And I said to. I pointed to her, I said, pre Ayahuasca. And then it cuts back to me in season three, and I said, post ayahuasca. And I'm telling you, to me, I look like I'm clearer behind the eyes. I look like there's been some kind of change because I also stopped drinking. And I remember I was drinking a lot in season two, and I could kind of see it in my face. And I just felt so much healthier when I came back for season three. I mean, so much felt different. And it was strange to be thrown back into this network sitcom after those, you know, crazy adventures down there. But I actually found myself loving these first two episodes that I watched last night with Jordana. But we're talking about episode one of season three right now, which is called.

[Craig Thomas]

Which is called wait for it because we ended season two in the middle of a. We ended it on a Wait for it. Mid word. I love that we ended before the final syllable, the final two syllables of the dairy. And then we finish it. We have to wait all summer to finish a single word. I really. That's one of my favorite.

[Josh Radnor]

It's kind of the Marshall making popcorn, but longer.

[Craig Thomas]

It's this full summer popcorn.

[Josh Radnor]

Full summer popcorn.

[Craig Thomas]

But, yeah, it's funny, just to go off what you just said, I did feel like you had a very loose, like, in the pocket, in the flow kind of energy right off the bat in this episode. Like, it very much begins. It begins with Ted cold open. If we're just diving into talking about it, where you have this beard, Josh Radner has this beard, and Ted has this beard. And it was your pitch, which, again, is like, you came in cooking, you were like, I got to get rid of this beard in real life. And I actually am going to shave this beard. And you said, whenever a guy shaves a beard.

[Josh Radnor]

Hold on real quick.

[Craig Thomas]

No, you help me tell it.

[Josh Radnor]

No, no, no. But I just want to make sure. Was the breakup beard. It was in the script before I even said this.

[Craig Thomas]

And I can't remember chicken or the egg because maybe you told us you were coming home with a big beard, and we said, great, because it's a breakout beard. I don't remember if we thought of that.

[Josh Radnor]

It's also funny. Isn't it funny? This is just occurring to me. It's all about Robin had been in South America, but I had actually been in South America.

[Craig Thomas]

It was so weird. It's so weird. Robin's plot was actually what you did. It's so weird.

[Josh Radnor]

I had sex with a guy on a windsurfing.

[Craig Thomas]

Really attractive dude. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

I had sex on a windsurfing board. Yes. No. So here was my memory of it. This is how I remember it. The breakup beard was written, but the way it was in the Monday draft We read was he goes into the bathroom and he comes out and he's clean shaven.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes.

[Josh Radnor]

And that's when I pulled you and Carter aside and I said, no man in the history of the world with a full beard shaves just completely. You shave in chops, you shave in a soul patch, you shave in a goat cheese.

[Craig Thomas]

You stop and do pitbits.

[Josh Radnor]

You stop and you see, what would I look like with a mustache?

[Craig Thomas]

What would I look like?

[Josh Radnor]

Here's me as Hitler. We didn't do Hitler, but, you know, like, here's what I would look like. So I pitched that, and people ask me, like, oh, how much did you guys. And there's a couple things that I remember I pitched, and this was one of them. I didn't write all the jokes that you guys came up with. Chester A. Arthur, Persian, nightclub owner.

[Craig Thomas]

Like, all of those.

[Josh Radnor]

That was writer's room, but I gave

[Craig Thomas]

us a candy store to go play in. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

I said he should come out each time with a different variation. And also, one thing I really like about it is he doesn't comment on it. They comment on it. Like, he just comes out and he's in his own thing.

[Craig Thomas]

He's in his own thing about Robin and about just a little. Yeah. And coming back. Yeah. Did you literally how that was done? Was it like we would shoot those takes? Cause I was watching with my wife, Rebecca, and she was like, you must have had to be very confident. You got those takes right before Josh runs off and, like, hair and makeup takes more off that beard. And I was like, yeah, I guess we really had to be sure that we really. The audio was good.

[Josh Radnor]

I do remember that they wouldn't. They didn't shave me on set. Like, I had to go outside to the hair and makeup trailer. Each time.

[Craig Thomas]

Each time I forgot that I was wondering if someone was waiting right off, but I guess not. You had right off the face.

[Josh Radnor]

We had time, you know, we had time. So we. I. Yeah, I do remember that. And I. I think beards are makeup. Right. So that was Lona. Who would have been shaving me.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Yeah. And they all looked great.

[Josh Radnor]

Or maybe Jen did. I don't remember.

[Craig Thomas]

You had a hell of a beard. Yeah, that was a beard. That was a big. That was like a full. That was very fun. Those bits were great. And so it's shot out of a canon right away. I love picking up on the derry. I just love. I love the way we ended season two coming right back on that. And then that way of getting through the summer and jumping all that time and you have a beard. It feels like a summer passed because it really did. Time has passed.

[Josh Radnor]

That was again, like honoring. Like, we did Halloween when it was Halloween. We did New Year's when it was new.

[Craig Thomas]

We were. Which wouldn't happen anymore on streaming.

[Josh Radnor]

No, it doesn't happen.

[Craig Thomas]

No one does this anymore. But we really did wet ourselves to the. To the air dates, in a way.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. And I wrote you this little diddy to sing to you in New York City. We'll be right back. If you've been reading the news lately, Craig, you. You've been known to read the news.

[Craig Thomas]

I read the news from time to time.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Wow.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

That's terrifying.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, well, you have what you have. You have options. You have options your dad did not have, for example. That's true.

[Josh Radnor]

That's true.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

I believe Serena Williams is enjoying this product. Is that correct?

[Craig Thomas]

One of my all time heroes.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

And by the way, by the way, just to say, big How I Met yout Mother fan, she's tweeted about it. I say I have a screen grab of it from 10 years ago. It's very sad.

[Josh Radnor]

Her husband, I believe his name is Alexis, used to write me on Twitter and say that people said he looked like me.

[Craig Thomas]

Maybe that's why she likes the show.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, he said he felt like that was a compliment, which is very nice of him to say. Go to RO Ko your mother to see if you're eligible for the new GLP1 pill on RO. That's Rob to get started on RO. Go to Roe Co Safety RO CO Safety for a boxed warning and full safety information about GLP1 medications. Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. Grief can feel so lonely. But talking about it and listening to others share their experiences helps. It's probably the only thing that's really helped me on my podcast. All There Is. We explore grief and loss in all its complexities. You'll hear deeply moving and honest discussions with people who have faced and are living with life altering losses. Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. Craig, I've been struggling and I gotta talk to you about it.

[Craig Thomas]

Please. I'm here.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, I've just been. I've been carrying around these bulky drinks. Yeah. And I've been cleaning melted candy out of my pockets for far too long. But I have a solution.

[Craig Thomas]

What's the solution? I need to know.

[Josh Radnor]

I've discovered Fruity Rainbow five Hour Energy Shots.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Five Hour Energy is giving caffeine a serious flavor upgrade. Five Hour Energy shots now come in 17 flavors, so there's something for every mood. But this fruity rainbow one is definitely having a moment.

[Craig Thomas]

It is. Plus, it's big flavor in a tiny bottle. Just 2 ounces. Super portable, easy to toss in your bag or pocket. No sticky wrappers, no bulky drinks. Just grab and go get candy flavored

[Josh Radnor]

chaos with fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots available online at FiveHouseEnergy.com or Amazon. And now back to the show. So for people who haven't seen or maybe haven't seen it for a while, just remind us what happens in this episode. Like, what's the general shape of this episode?

[Craig Thomas]

General shape, Nice general. And many beard shapes. The big question of this episode is this idea of who's winning the breakup. Ted and Robin broke up at the end of season two, and it's that thing of like, well, we're all still gonna be friends. I guess. She was away for a bunch of the summer. They haven't seen each other. What's it gonna be like? She comes back with this really hot dude, Enrique Iglesias, and Ted realizes it's on. The competition is on. I have to prove that I have to win this breakup. She's trying to win it. She's clearly trying to win it, but I have to win it. And I think that's a very. That's a very real thing. And then the sort of B plot of it is this other interesting philosophical question of what do you owe to your friend? Or what if, God forbid, two of your friends were in a relationship and they break up? And of Lily and Marshall go so much further back with Ted, but they love Robin. And is it their duty to just abjectly hate Robin's new guy and admit that and agree with Ted that Robin is trying to win the breakup and being nefarious? Or are they allowed to think, well, Robin's happy and you're wrong, Ted, this is not some conspiracy against you. And so I love them being sort of seduced into liking. They can't help but sort of fall in love with Enrique Iglesias. So those are the two threads.

[Josh Radnor]

The power of it is over. It would overwhelm anyone.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes, and they get very seduced, Marshall included.

[Josh Radnor]

I remember really thinking it was funny when we were all in the booth mispronouncing, like, like our inability to pronounce his name.

[Craig Thomas]

Girl, girl.

[Josh Radnor]

How did you guys decide on Argentina? Like, where did that come from? Like, like, I know, I know. It was planted. That Robin, like, didn't she say in the break, I'll be, I've never been to Argentina. Like, that was kind of like, that's

[Craig Thomas]

why we called the shot. We said, and the minute she's single again, if she's saying, I'm single, I want to be single because I want to go explore the journalist and go have adventures. We thought that she has to go do that. She broke up with Ted to go do things like that free, freely, on her own. And that's. Yeah, that's fine.

[Josh Radnor]

It's a great. You know, because you guys are exploring all aspects of being in relationships and, of course, ending relationships. And then who are you when you're out of a relationship? I know that for me, I didn't have particularly good boundaries in my twenties, certainly in relationships. So relationships, especially the. Those early breakups are so hard because you have. You don't know yourself as well, and you end up kind of wedding yourself. Not literally, but, like, you. There's just more codependency. You just get like. And I think that it's a really great thing to explore. Like, who are you now that you're no longer relationally kind of tied to this person?

[Craig Thomas]

And what does it do to this group? Each season of the show very much mixes up the biological ecosystem of this little world of these people. And that was one of my main takeaways of this episode. I was like. I was proud of us that every season we really shook up the Etch A Sketch and we said, let's draw a new picture. Let's see what this is now. Cause the dynamic has really changed right away. And it's fraught. It's very fraught. I thought you played it great. Just the. I'm not ready. I'm not ready to come. Guile walks in. Okay, I'm ready. Meaning game on. I gotta get back out there with Barney. I've gotta, like, get hook up with whoever I possibly can. And that's what happens.

[Josh Radnor]

It's such a human thing to be to, you know, to want to win the breakup. To be the more okay person.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

You know, to have landed on your feet the best.

[Craig Thomas]

And the second you want to prove that it's ruined, you're not achieving it. The second you're trying to prove it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rebecca. We were watching one of her hardest laughs of the episode was the, okay, I'm ready. And I think it was because it's so. Just so human. It's like, you played that so great. Cause we were watching a whole summer go by. Okay, I'm okay. I'm okay. Okay, I'm ready. And it felt like the starting gun is fired of this race. We're gonna see who's gonna win the breakup. And of course, in the end, it's nobody. And Robin's not even trying to win the breakup. And she was much more hurt and had A much harder time than Ted knew. And thank God she admitted that to Ted in the end. And that's what keeps them friends.

[Josh Radnor]

We'll get there. But the scene with Ted and Robin at her apartment door is actually, weirdly one of my favorite Ted and Robin scenes, I think. It's so spunky and funny and, like,

[Craig Thomas]

it feels like they'. They know each other really well by that point. You know what I mean? There's no bullshit. I love that scene too. I want to hear what that felt like.

[Josh Radnor]

Although I keep thinking about New York, actual mapping, and I'm like, who just darts down to Brooklyn from the Upper west side?

[Craig Thomas]

You can't get over that one. You're like, it's too fucking far out. That really bothers you because you live in Brooklyn now, so you're really. You're on Team Brooklyn when you live in Brooklyn.

[Josh Radnor]

A trip to Manhattan is like, okay, like, get the covered wagon.

[Craig Thomas]

The covered wagon.

[Josh Radnor]

We're making a trip to Manhattan.

[Craig Thomas]

We'll have to stop and make baked beans overnight.

[Josh Radnor]

It's impossible to get to Manhattan.

[Craig Thomas]

The cat will go to the bathroom. Yeah, it is. It's a freaking hike. But. But yes, let's get to that scene. The other thing that I wanted to point out, the butterfly tattoo.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

You had a lot. It's funny. You had a lot of beard stunts and then you had like a tattoo stunt. Like, this is a very. Your body went through a lot in this episode. That's a B is. Yet again, the thing you think would just be completely made up isn't entirely made up. Dave Hemingson, who became a writer on Hemyum season three, who's a great writer. He went on many years later to write the movie the Holdovers by Alexander Payne. It's a great movie. Dave Hemingson, Hemi, very funny. He was a lawyer.

[Josh Radnor]

I remember law school grad, wasn't he a practitioner?

[Craig Thomas]

He's a lawyer. He had been a lawyer. Yeah. He's a really smart dude. And he wrote for him for season three. And we were trying to think of what can Ted do. Know, what insane night does Ted have? And what does he wake up with the next morning? I guess it's a little pineapple incident. But Hemingson said, okay, not long ago, I was on the beach in Venice. I think maybe he lived in Venice beach. And like a bare chested, muscular, like, macho looking guy ran by me, says, hemi. And we sort of watched him go, my wife and I. My wife is probably looking at him like, that guy's pretty hot. And as he ran past us and we saw the back of him, there was a butterfly tattoo right where Ted ends up getting a butterfly tattoo. And it just stuck in Hemingson's head. And he thought he was like, ted should get a butterfly tattooed in the tramp stamp. Positioning. And we did it. I remember being like, we can't do that. But then we did it.

[Josh Radnor]

It's funny to consider, like, you never know when you're being observed by a comedy writer.

[Craig Thomas]

Like, does that guy know? Did that guy see it ever on TV and go, could I have inspired

[Josh Radnor]

also, it was the first time, and maybe I just was not. I don't know. Maybe I don't know things, but I think that was the first time I heard the term tramps.

[Craig Thomas]

It was for me. And maybe it was Hemingson who said that when he was telling that story. And we were. I feel like multiple people in the room were like, what now? What are you talking about?

[Josh Radnor]

I had not heard the cultural lexicon, like, it's pretty universally accepted.

[Craig Thomas]

That's. We definitely. We didn't invent it, but we definitely boosted that one.

[Josh Radnor]

We amplified it.

[Craig Thomas]

We amplified that. And cougar, too, I think.

[Josh Radnor]

Cougar. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's funny how terms that get so. That permeate when you introduce them. It's like, it's a big drum roll, and it actually looks weird when you look back on it because you're like, wait, that's. But that was actually the introduction or. I thought it was.

[Craig Thomas]

I thought the same thing. Watching this last night. I was like, I definitely had not heard that or any of the other euphemisms for it that, like. I think we were, like, just using the Internet to look them up. I think a couple people in the room were like, what are you talking about? You know, Panama City license plate. We're like, what the fuck are you talking? Playing. A couple of people knew these and were like, you're acting like everyone's supposed to know this. I have never heard of this, but it was great.

[Josh Radnor]

I always think it's funny that, like, in. In just like a couple years, like, Ted gets massively blackout drunk and wakes up multiple times, knowledge of what has gone on, and no one pulls him aside and is like, buddy, maybe it's because I had stopped drinking that summer, but, like, why doesn't someone.

[Craig Thomas]

Someone, like, it's concerning and they have

[Josh Radnor]

an intervention banner just sitting there.

[Craig Thomas]

They never do an intervention for drinking. They only do intervention for non drinking.

[Josh Radnor]

It's just like, stop wearing those Crocs. Let's go get drunk.

[Craig Thomas]

It's not. Yeah. You know, they could have at least one time. Like, that's a lot of blackouts. That's actually quite like. It's true.

[Josh Radnor]

There's real consequences. Like a potentially dead woman in your bed tattooed.

[Craig Thomas]

You know what? It was funny how much the tattoo was dropped in the end of the episode. And it does come back. It's a whole storyline later getting rid of this tattoo. But I will say I loved the episode. But in the end of the episode, I really wanted us to have written a scene where they're like, what the fuck are we gonna do about this tattoo, Ted? Like, this has gotta come off. The fact that we just dropped it. And now it's just like, Ted and Robin are working this thing out. Ted's got a fucking butterfly above his ass. This is a real problem. But I love that line. And just hung over. Ted's irrationally trying to, like, use water on it, as if that's gonna get it out. And Marshall's like, you might wanna try some club soda. That I really. That line really.

[Josh Radnor]

You know what else made me laugh, though? When you see the, like, writers trying to do a hard turn into a transition, and he says, I need some ointment or something.

[Craig Thomas]

That is a sin.

[Josh Radnor]

I do think I sold that as well as you could possibly do it. It. Throw it away.

[Craig Thomas]

It's all the circuits are jammed.

[Josh Radnor]

It's all the circuits are jammed. That's exactly right. Why did I always get those lines?

[Craig Thomas]

I don't know. But I'm really sorry because it's a thankless job to have to say, all the circuits are jammed. Or, I need some ointment.

[Josh Radnor]

I need some ointment or something. And then it's like, wait a minute. Spanish massage oil or whatever that was.

[Craig Thomas]

That was clunky. That was sweaty, as we said.

[Josh Radnor]

But I'll tell you, it cheesed up something so funny. Jordana was laughing so hard at everyone just falling for Gael. And when you land on Siegel.

[Craig Thomas]

That's Siegel land. Is that a meme?

[Josh Radnor]

I feel like people meme that.

[Craig Thomas]

People meme that all the time. Just that shot and it ends on Siegel and people.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

It is so fucking funny. Pam Freyman. Perfectly timed, perfectly directed.

[Josh Radnor]

A great pan. Yeah, a pan Freyman.

[Craig Thomas]

A pan Freyman. It was a pan. Freyman.

[Josh Radnor]

Why did we say that? We really should have.

[Craig Thomas]

We should have.

[Josh Radnor]

Jason had such an ability to commit to ridiculousness like that.

[Craig Thomas]

I was thinking the same thing. He's just God bless him.

[Josh Radnor]

He just looked like he never was. Trying to preserve his. Like, he just. He had no pride about. I really find it impressive. Like, he did the most ridiculous things with the most gusto.

[Craig Thomas]

100 million percent all the time. Like, he just. He just is the epitome of. He knew the assignment. You know, he is a walking. He knew the assignment. He's just like, this is the bit. I know what the bit is. I'm doing it. And when he tucks down below that pillow, or the pillow is covering his mouth and just his little eyes are looking up, it's just so fucking funny.

[Josh Radnor]

And that's all him. I don't remember in the script it said he's hugging a pillow. I think that's what Jason found it. And also, he turns away from the camera. He can't believe how much feeling he's feeling.

[Craig Thomas]

He's got a little.

[Josh Radnor]

It's so funny.

[Craig Thomas]

It was really funny. And we had two big pop stars in one episode, which was not really the plan. It just sort of happened. Iglesias had been pitched to us. I think CBS liked him. Let's get him on. And I think Mandy Moore happened after that. It was kind of like, oh, wait, we just. We just stumbled into two pretty significant pop stars.

[Josh Radnor]

An incredible run of pop stars. On how I met your mother. Like, right.

[Craig Thomas]

Well, George Clinton. Well, George Clinton. But. But, yeah, I was thinking the same thing. And we're not. You know, we're only a few weeks. Few short weeks away from Britney Spears at this point, too.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, one other thing I wanted to say about Gu that I thought was really funny is the characters on the show are. They're all, like, pretty heady people, right? Like, they're brainiacs. They went to college. They sit around a booth drinking and making each other laugh with words. Right. There's a cerebral quality to their repartee.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And then this guy from Argentina comes in and he, like, puts them in their body. Like, he puts them in their senses, right?

[Craig Thomas]

He does.

[Josh Radnor]

And Marshall, Lily and Robin are all like, absolutely. Like, when. You know, when you're led out of your body, like out of your mind and into your body, it's quite pleasurable because you forget you have one.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

You know, you're like, oh, my God.

[Craig Thomas]

Like, he unlocks something for them.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, he unlocks something. Like they're tasting food and they're actually tasting it. He takes them out of their autopilot. So I don't want to shit totally on Gael.

[Craig Thomas]

Like, yeah, there's something to him there's something. He's in the moment and on vacation.

[Josh Radnor]

It must have been absolutely magical.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes.

[Josh Radnor]

You know.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes. Well, that's. And then that's what episode two is about. That's what our next episode of season three is about. But can you transport that back?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Ally really made me laugh when. What did she. She gets embarrassed and she says, I do not.

[Alec Lev]

Shut up.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, my God.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, God. Yeah, that was. That was. That was about Gael. It was about. You laugh at everything he says or whatever. Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

You know what else is really funny is a Marshall. Like. Like, the guy's accredited, but he has a laminated business card. Like, damn it, he checks out.

[Craig Thomas]

It's laminated. Only a professional can have, like, an achieve lamination. Yeah. Yeah. That was really.

[Josh Radnor]

It's like the thing about. I think we talked about this, but, like, you can go in. You. Anyone will let you into any building if you're carrying a clip. Like, there are certain, like, signifiers of, like, I'm official.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Or wearing the lanyard. I think wearing a lanyard will really get you anywhere. But that's kind of a lamin. That's a lamination. Like the necklace thing with the laminated. Like, it doesn't even matter what's in the laminated thing. But I guess that's lamination. Yet again, lamination will get you in anywhere.

[Josh Radnor]

That's really cool. What's the. There. I know we have the old ref. Old tech. We have all those terms.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

There's certain. Just wardrobe choices. When Ted walks in in that western shirt for his big night, that bothered me a lot.

[Craig Thomas]

I said. I said that out loud. I was like, what is happening with that shirt? There was a weird quasi Western moment in wardrobe for two. The old West, I guess. The old West. Yes, it was the old West. And I guess it was mirroring that. That was kind of happening. But it really stood out to me. And I even found myself thinking, was that really happening that much?

[Josh Radnor]

It was also, like, tried to pass off as, like, yeah, I just threw this on.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Oh, my God. That was a rough one. I mean, he's supposed to go out and have, like, a bad decision.

[Josh Radnor]

Would he truly have ended up kissing Mandy Moore in that shirt? I don't know.

[Craig Thomas]

After three seconds, he meets her, and three seconds later, yeah, she's like, I love that cowboy shirt.

[Josh Radnor]

I really liked her. Amy's burns to Barney are really funny.

[Craig Thomas]

Although it's great.

[Josh Radnor]

He calls her Tommy Lee, which I thought was funny, but her burns to him are again, like, we've kind of been tracking this. Like, Barney needs the piss taken out of him with some regularity in the show.

[Craig Thomas]

With frequency. Great frequency. And also that thing of Barney. As much as he talks about wanting to get laid all the time, his tribe is often just wanting Ted's attention. And this is yet another time he hates the Ted's attention because he's like, we were gonna go. This was wingman reborn. This is us back out in town. You're already with somebody now you're supposed to bring a lot of it up.

[Josh Radnor]

It's like the pursuit of women and sex is almost like. It could be anything. Like, if Ted said, let's play laser tag, he'd be like, great. Totally. It's just a way for them to spotlight their focus on something that they can do together.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes. Well, it's like male. This is not my observation, but, like, male friendships are often based on doing something. Like, we've got to do something. We've got to make something together. Here we are, we're all friends, Alec, Josh, and Craig. We're making this podcast. You know what I mean? It makes you hang out and bond to make a thing. As a guy, did you ever hear that thing?

[Josh Radnor]

I can never remember what I was in the previous episodes. But there's that thing that women have, like, chest to chest friendships in that they face each other and say things to each other. And men have shoulder to shoulder friendships where they, like, sit at a bar and watch or watch laughs together or,

[Craig Thomas]

you know, you have to be doing a thing. And for 10 more. Barney wants to be out on the hunt. He doesn't want either of them to succeed necessarily, because then they won't be hanging out anymore. He just wants to be together for a while before success. It doesn't matter if success happens.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, actually. And then at the end, when. And the offer of sex, he's kind of like, yeah, okay.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Radnor]

It's just like, okay, fine.

[Craig Thomas]

Now that Ted's gone, I might as well.

[Josh Radnor]

There was. I remember. I remember that hot tub thing was so funny, though. The. What's Barney's line. Like, Ted has a classic, you know, style never goes out of style.

[Craig Thomas]

And Evergreen, clean cut, clean cut. Evergreen, never goes out of style.

[Josh Radnor]

Season deceased burn.

[Craig Thomas]

It's like this lovely compliment of Ted's love look, but it's. That's a bird. Yeah, it's. That was really funny. That's a really weird.

[Josh Radnor]

For someone who had spent, you know, 44 episodes criticizing his sartorial choices, he really actually respects them.

[Craig Thomas]

And on an evening where he's wearing a stupid cowboy shirt, no less. This is the one evening Ted didn't have the evergreen classic Loki stuff.

[Josh Radnor]

And this old man, he must admit he fell in love with New York City.

[Craig Thomas]

And now commercials.

[Josh Radnor]

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[Craig Thomas]

Well, that's why there's Jack Archer. Jack Archer co makes the Jetsetter Tech Pant. Designed to be the one pair you actually need. Comfortable enough for travel, polished enough for work, and versatile enough for wherever the day takes you.

[Josh Radnor]

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[Craig Thomas]

For a limited time, get 15% off your first order using code [e-mail] again, that's promo code getjack@jackarcher dot com for 15% off your first order.

[Josh Radnor]

Greg. Josh, you know I have a sweet spot for style. Can I describe it to you, please? Here's what it is. I want to look great.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, yes.

[Josh Radnor]

Do you know what I'm saying?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, that's the dream. That's.

[Josh Radnor]

That's what you want.

[Craig Thomas]

That's what you want.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Go with everything. Swap them out with everything.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

End of commercials. Back to show.

[Josh Radnor]

I, I did love getting drunker and drunker is always fun and dark.

[Craig Thomas]

Ted, it was fun to see you go a little dark. This was not Ted trying to have a magical night where he's gonna meet the mother. This was Ted wanting to have meaningless sex to win a breakup with Robin who had a really hot new boyfriend.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, this leads us to a larger question that I have for you. So I remember at the end of season two, you and Carter came to me and said, said, you know, we've had Ted be like hunting, you know, pining for Robin, wanting to be in a relationship, always thinking about relationships. We want to take a little time with Ted where he's just out with Barney on the prowl.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes.

[Josh Radnor]

Remember that?

[Craig Thomas]

Yes.

[Josh Radnor]

And I remember you guys were flexing these new kind of muscles with Ted. I loved this. Like, I thought it was really fun not to be like the mooney eyed relationship guy.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

But I remember Pam told me maybe, maybe you guys told me that the network was like, horrible. Hold up.

[Craig Thomas]

Like right, hold up maybe a little.

[Josh Radnor]

And I remember what Pam said to me was the network said there's a lot of Barneys on tv. And I don't mean to flatten out what Neil was doing, which is a very special meaning. There were A lot of cads on tv. There were a lot of guys who were like just wanted to get laid. There's only one Ted.

[Craig Thomas]

Right.

[Josh Radnor]

Like they knew that he was like a special kind of creature like in his DNA. And they I think went to you and, and said, can you please bring him back to his kind of original.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. That may have been a little later in his. Cause there's a few moments in season three where Ted is dark. Ted's on a bit of a dark spiral. There's this episode no Tomorrow. There's some episodes where he is not his best Ted. And I think that's what's interesting. I think it's interesting to show that. But it's the same tug of war about the network wanting CBS didn't always get how much we wanted to shake up the show along the way and the serialized way and showed we're gonna do a whole arc where Ted is not the Mooney eyed rom com guy. And that, that rattled them a little bit, I think, as I recall.

[Josh Radnor]

Well, I think it's. In some ways it's like that's not the show we bought. We bought, we bought the show about this guy.

[Craig Thomas]

But we said it's a show about growing up and evolution and the chapters you go through. And you're not always the same guy and you're not always the best guy.

[Josh Radnor]

Right.

[Craig Thomas]

None of us are.

[Josh Radnor]

Did we talk now? Remind me. I'm. I'm having. Because I have a small child at home, my brain is a little fried. But did you. You did we talk about that thing about how choices are either hats, haircuts, or tattoos.

[Craig Thomas]

I can't remember either. So say it again because it's good.

[Josh Radnor]

Okay, so this is hilarious because this episode involves a tattoo.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

But I think James Clear might have said something like this. Who wrote Atomic Habits? But the idea is all decisions are either hats, haircuts or tattoos. Hats are. You try it on. Eh. I don't like this. You take it off. Very little consequence to your. That decision decision. A haircut decision is okay. Longer tale of consequence. But it'll grow back, right? Like eventually it'll grow back. A tattoo is a tattoo. You know, a tattoo is like. It's there like you're, you're inked. You know, it's like, yes. And it feels like how I met your mother. Especially in the 20s era. We're still in your. You know, they're now 29. Right?

[Craig Thomas]

Something like that.

[Josh Radnor]

Like, yeah, yeah, you're still trying on hats. Right? Like you're still you're just, oh, this is just one night. This is just like, whatever. But it's funny because Ted gets a tattoo, Marshall gets a terrible haircut and covers it up with a hat. I'm just not.

[Craig Thomas]

All of these happen. It's true.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think it's an interesting framework to look at decisions. Basically, like when people in their 20s ask me, you know, for advice or whatever, and I'm like, just, you know, it's like, try on some hats. Like, try on some different. See what feels good to you. Because. Because if you're careful and not reckless, like, your decisions are like, you can just try on another hat. But then you get older. And I think going from hat to hat, like, living a hat to hat lifestyle, like, in your 40s and 50s, gets really, like, if you haven't made some real decisions and put down some roots and made some real depth centered decisions and forge relationships, it can get a little sadder.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, Yeah, I agree. It's interesting that Ted literally gets a tattoo. This is the perfect metaphor. Even if you've said this before, this is the perfect. And he has this night where he's not himself. He's not his best self. His motivations are very impure. Not just the trying to have a meaningless hookup, but defying winning the breakup. That's not a pure motivation. He wants to hurt Robin's feelings the way that his feelings have been hurt. And he does have a consequence. He gets a tattoo. It's not a hat. It's a fucking tattoo tattoo.

[Josh Radnor]

Right, right.

[Craig Thomas]

And it becomes a little mini arc. I like that about this premiere he has. There is a problem that has to be solved with his tattoo.

[Josh Radnor]

We've talked about this before, but, like, karma exists quite. It's a quite real force in the how I met your mother universe.

[Craig Thomas]

Like, yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

There are consequences to actions. I also love how. How Amy's boyfriend is Steve, the Steve tattoo artist.

[Craig Thomas]

And that Steve. Yeah, that guy's funny.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Your name's also Steve. That guy was really well cast. But it's really fun to watch Marshall and Lily and Barney just, like, trying

[Craig Thomas]

to get Ted to say the word butterfly is Joy trying to get.

[Josh Radnor]

Neil did something that was. So when he first notices the tattoo, he did this thing where he kind of put. He tries to almost put his whole hand in his mouth. And I think, isn't that what Lenny and Squeaky used to do when Lerone

[Craig Thomas]

and Shirley and Squeaky. I do. Yeah, that's. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

Like, they would, like, bite their hands and stuff And I was like, Neil is doing like a Lenny and Squiggy reference, I think.

[Craig Thomas]

I wonder if that was conscious now we gotta ask him that story.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's also funny. Like, what did he ask him to get on the top shelf?

[Craig Thomas]

Like, oh yeah, a fun Dew pot. And then Marshall's just sitting there with a fun Dew pot the rest of the scene. Wait, I didn't notice that. I forgot about that. Go back and look. He's just sitting there as they're trying to get Ted to say bye.

[Josh Radnor]

But also it's funny. Ted is just like, okay, I'll grab you the fondue Potter.

[Craig Thomas]

Rebecca. I was like, why does Ted wouldn't Ted say, but why? It's nine in the morning.

[Josh Radnor]

I also like when Marshall said J. Crew catalog. Who brings two golden retrievers in a canoe?

[Craig Thomas]

That was a good little throwaway.

[Josh Radnor]

Ted has a line in that scene with Robin where he goes to her door with. He says he's like the Cadillac of rebound guys. I have a dim memory that we were sponsored by Cadillac in this episode. Is that true?

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, fuck.

[Josh Radnor]

I'm almost sure that's true. And that it was literally a product placement line that was as good a product placement line as could ever be.

[Craig Thomas]

Do you know something? I think you're right. And that's an amazing deep cut memory moment. Josh. I forgot. I think I blocked that. I blocked things for sure.

[Josh Radnor]

If you, if you got the original broadcast, you'd see a Cadillac commercial that day.

[Craig Thomas]

You are 100% right. You're blowing my fucking mind right now.

[Josh Radnor]

I complete.

[Craig Thomas]

I think I like really put. I file these like soul crushing things back in some very deep file cabinet way in the back of my head. And it was true.

[Josh Radnor]

That's not when you want to remember them. That's not what you want your sharpest memory to be.

[Craig Thomas]

I watched it go by when I watched the episode last night and I thought, that's not really a joke. The Cadillac of rebound guys, like, it's, it's okay, it's something.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's also like this Cadillac is the best of the best. Like that's what the. That's what the assumption is.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, it's not as bad as. Can you get me some ointment or whatever? But it's not great.

[Josh Radnor]

I need some ointment or something.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, I think we're also sponsored by ointment. I think that's why we did that one. No, sadly, we voluntarily wrote the ointment line. Cadillac. We were coerced into doing that. Was it we had to say Cadillac time in the show.

[Josh Radnor]

I love that scene because you're right. You can feel the history. And the last time we saw them together, it's, I would have stolen you a whole orchestra. They're covered in red sauce from an Italian restaurant. They're hugging each other. It's so tragic. And then, you know, Kobe's, you know, still got her kind of windswept Argentinian hair, and Ted's got his. Like, I just got tattooed and I'm probably still shaking off a hangover, but I'm filled with energy and I'm filled with passion. And it's like, he doesn't go there to win her book. He goes there to say, I think this is like, crappy of you to like, parade this guy in front of my face. Which then she says, that's not what I was doing. And it's very moving when she says, like, I cried for however long, like, I couldn't, you know, I, I, I was trying to survive. What did she say? I was trying to survive the breakup. I wasn't trying to win it. I was trying to survive it.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes. Yeah, I was trying to survive it. Yeah, I was trying to survive it, which is actually very scary. Sweet. It's very sweet. She was hurt. She was in pain too. And he needed to hear that. You know, that was a gift she gave him.

[Josh Radnor]

And also, I do think one, I know I say I never wrote anything, but I remember a tweak that I asked you guys if I could do. Or maybe I said it in a run through and then you guys liked it and actually changed it where I said, oh, come on. He, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He massages things. Like I said, I'm pretty sure massaging things was my little tweak.

[Craig Thomas]

I, I think that's true and I

[Josh Radnor]

think you guys liked it and kept it. But I think it's also, you were

[Craig Thomas]

great in that scene, by the way. You really played that scene great. That and your energy of that was really, really interesting. And it was not something we'd seen Ted do quite. It was an interesting ultimatum he was giving.

[Josh Radnor]

I think that's what I liked was I got to shift into a different gear. That was, it wasn't like, love me, love me, be with me, be with me. I love you. Do you love me? Like, it was such a different gear, which is like, I think you're being unkind and I don't like it. You know, there was a kind of like, propulsive energy to it that I really liked.

[Craig Thomas]

I Just need to yell. We never yell.

[Josh Radnor]

I never got to Carter.

[Craig Thomas]

I think that was a Carter line. I think Carter was probably channeling a bunch of his, like, pre marriage breakups in this one. The winning the breakup. I feel like Carter was definitely bringing some real wounds into this. I remember loving. We never did this. We never yelled. So now we have to. And I just feel like. I feel like that was a great Carter observation.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's such a funny. You know, it's such a pedestrian. Like, I like. What did she say? I like the beard.

[Craig Thomas]

I did, too.

[Josh Radnor]

But he's getting a little warm.

[Craig Thomas]

And then going back once it's fallen. Yeah. He's just yelling to yell. He just has to yell something. It's so human. And they're connecting. And she's kind of half smiling at the fact that he's. He just has to yell. And she lets. And then she says, I'm in pain, too. It's actually a lovely scene. That's cool to hear that you like that scene that much. You guys played it really beautifully.

[Josh Radnor]

I really do. And I also think the tag. I mean, the way that they get out of that scene. You're bigger. Is so funny. And also, like, he's fine. He's fine.

[Craig Thomas]

It's very human. It's very human. It's very human. It's very male.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Anderson Cooper]

Like.

[Craig Thomas]

And also needed a little. A little gift.

[Josh Radnor]

I want. Doesn't he say I won at the end with the toasting? Which is.

[Craig Thomas]

We're all humans, man. Right. We all need. He needed to know. The deeper thing he needed to know was that she was actually hurt and she wasn't just blissfully happy and that she was compensating in some way. And the cherry on top was. Ted's got a bigger dick.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Also real quick, though, there's a. The slap bet tag is great.

[Craig Thomas]

That was. I really forgot we did that.

[Josh Radnor]

I totally forgot about that.

[Craig Thomas]

I really forgot we did that at the end of that episode. And I was like, the fucking balls on us that there's not one mention of the slap bet in that episode. It's kind of like.

[Josh Radnor]

But that was a reward for people who had been watching.

[Craig Thomas]

That's it. We're giving. We're really. That is our message in a bottle. To the dedicated viewer. We're saying, we know you're there. We know you're watching the show with that level of scrutiny.

[Josh Radnor]

We really love you. You have a different level of satisfaction with this show that the. The. The drop in viewer doesn't have.

[Craig Thomas]

And but the drop in viewer would be like, what in God's name is this? It's not explained. It's not smart. Maybe it was.

[Josh Radnor]

Maybe it was mysterious enough that people be like, that's intriguing and weird. Yeah, like this show's maybe weirder than I thought it was.

[Craig Thomas]

Well, it was a good one. I really love this episode. I really, again, just to bring it back, we will have a deeper talk about our emotional states headed episode at some point. But this episode meant a lot. It brought me back to life a little bit after I had had a near death hiatus. Certainly an emotional near death and sort of a literal one. And coming back and feeling like this show was firing on all its cylinders.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, my God.

[Craig Thomas]

Really strong season premiere. It's hard. Season premiere is hard. Launch a whole new thing. Launch a whole new condition. Pick up on where you left off, but also spin it into something new. Hard stuff. I actually was really proud of it watching it. I hadn't watched this one in years.

[Josh Radnor]

I felt like every character was saying the thing the character would say, if that makes sense.

[Craig Thomas]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Radnor]

Like Robyn was so Robin and Barney was so Barney and Ted was so Ted. Like, it really, everyone was really finally etched in a way that you want it to feel that way.

[Craig Thomas]

We were just starting to feel like maybe the show could be a hit and you're still trying to just prove yourself and prove who these characters are. And if people are drop in viewers, you're dropping to say, like, I want this to be crystal clear to you, except the tag, which is going to confuse the out of you. But that's also. That's also some of the joy.

[Josh Radnor]

Do you know what Jordana said to me the moment the show, the this episode ended? What? She turned her back to me and she said, massage me like G. We are now at what we like like to call in industry speak, our C block. Alec, what do you have for us?

[Alec Lev]

Well, this season, this season, I think if all goes well and I'm speaking to you all out there who can hear me, we're gonna hear from a bunch of folks who helped make this show kind of behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera. Certainly. And I do have our first hello for you guys. And I'm going to.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, man. I'm talking about doing more of this. Alec, you shouldn't have you old so and so. You did it.

[Alec Lev]

And this one's gonna be from Kelly, who started out production assistant but spent most of her time there as the production coordinator.

[Jenna Fischer]

Hi, guys. It's Kelly. I love that you're doing season three. Season three holds a very, very special place in my heart because it's the season that I started and it's the season that I met all of you and I just. It's basically when I first feel like my career. I had done a couple of shows before, but I feel like it's kind of when my career kind of got its legs. I got to spend seven and a half, I think, glorious seasons with all of you. I learned so much about production and the business and my job and life. And I met so many amazing people who are still, still my friends to this day and a lot of the co workers that I still work with to this day. And I just got to hang out with magical people and do and experience and see so many amazing things. And I just got to start all of it in season three. And so really, season three changed my life and it's always gonna hold a special place in my heart because of that.

[Josh Radnor]

Love you.

[Craig Thomas]

Aww.

[Josh Radnor]

Kelly.

[Craig Thomas]

Kelly. Oh, my gosh. That's so nice to hear from Kelly. Kelly was with us from that moment until the end. Worked in production, and she was an utter delight in a ray of sunshine

[Josh Radnor]

all the time, ever seeing a scowl on Kelly's face. She was always positivity, smiling.

[Craig Thomas]

She was part of the fabric. Right away, right away became that. Kelly. You became that right away. And you were a heart and soul himer the moment you started till the moment the show ended. So thank you. That's so nice to hear.

[Alec Lev]

All right, and now we've also got. Well, we've got. We've got letters, we've got voicemails coming in. Josh, you want to tell us all about that for our new listeners? And we've got our first letter of the season.

[Josh Radnor]

Sure. Yeah. Well, one of our favorite things on the show is hearing from you, hearing from fans, hearing from people who, how they discovered how I met your, your mother, what it has meant to them, how it's impacted their lives. You wouldn't believe the beautiful synchronistic stories we get to hear. It's such a treat. It's one of our favorite things about the show. If you would like to share your story with us, either as a voice note or in a written letter, please go to how we made your mother.comh w my m.com go to contact. And it should be pretty clear from there how to do that, but please let us know. We are always delighted to hear from you. And today we have a letter from Ava Hi Josh, Craig and Alec. My name is Ava and I live in Northern California. I just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying the podcast. It truly feels like the gift that keeps on giving. I first watched Himyim in college and was immediately hooked after the first few episodes of season one Old Tech Alert. I was watching the DVD box set because that's how it was done pre streaming. It has since become my comfort show. I've watched it countless times and we even have a pet named Swarli.

[Craig Thomas]

Amazing.

[Josh Radnor]

I'm a public health nurse and I do home visits to support first time moms. Many of my clients are navigating financial instability, homelessness and interpersonal violence all while adjusting to life with a newborn. As you can imagine, it can feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders Some days I'm so grateful I can listen to your podcast while driving between visits. It brings lightness to my day and somehow always leaves me feeling a little more hopeful. The podcast has also introduced me to so many great things. I discovered Craig's debut novel through the show and immediately knew I had to read it. I even made 10 other people read it too, which is my book club pick. You're welcome.

[Craig Thomas]

I love, I love Ava, Eva, Ava, whoever it is, however you pronounce your name, we love you.

[Josh Radnor]

That's not how it happened.

[Craig Thomas]

By Craig thank you.

[Josh Radnor]

I connected deeply with the characters. My own daughter has health needs and I was 12 when my older brother began dealing with serious health health issues. He has since had two liver transplants and continues to face everything with more grace, hope and humor than I could ever imagine. The podcast also introduced me to some phenomenal music. I hadn't heard any of Josh's work before, but now I can't help but sing along to NYC and have been exploring more of his music. I always knew himyum featured great indie tracks, but I never fully appreciated them until now. I've started to listen to playlists featuring songs from the show and it makes me picture all the scenes and I'm instantly filled with with joy. Thank you for creating a show that continues to make me laugh and smile and for this podcast that adds so much joy to my daily life. I truly appreciate the company on my commutes and the brightness you bring to my days. Also, congratulations to Josh and Jordana on your first baby. I'm here for all your first time parent questions. Lots of love.

[Craig Thomas]

Take her up on it. She knows the sweetest letter, the best. Aren't you so much Aren't you honored by, like, how articulate, empathetic, kind, and intelligent. How Mitch Mother fans are. We get these messages that are just unbelievable.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

It's just an honor, really.

[Josh Radnor]

Very human. Human.

[Craig Thomas]

Very human.

[Josh Radnor]

Humane, caring, you know. Did you. Have you seen that? That little, like, AI kind of meme that's going around of just all the Himyum characters on their phones? Yeah, right.

[Craig Thomas]

I've seen it. Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And it's sad. Like, it's sad.

[Craig Thomas]

It's actually tragic.

[Josh Radnor]

Makes me sad and sick and makes me sad.

[Craig Thomas]

Yes, it does.

[Josh Radnor]

Which I guess I think, you know, Wendell Berry, this great philosopher, farmer, poet, he said there's going to come a time in the future when people are going to have to choose if they want to be humans or machines.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And I feel like how I met your mother is, like, pretty team human.

[Craig Thomas]

It is team human.

[Josh Radnor]

It's a team human show. There's not a lot of tech. There's just beer and laughter and relationships and quirky, interesting, fun characters. And you can hear it back in these letters that these are human beings that felt like they were watching a very human show and it helped them reflect more deeply on their own human experience.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Yeah. It's exactly who you want to believe was watching and is watching our TV show.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. And who we were making it for. Like, who's on the other end of the line. We hope it's Ava's.

[Craig Thomas]

And I think with all this time that has passed and all the ways we now can connect with fans, and some of it, ironically, is through technology. It's a complicated thing. Right. We're getting social media technology. We are getting some good things, too. We're like, we're getting that message, and it's just proof positive that the people we were putting our little messages in a bottle to were finding them. It was washing up on the right shores, our little. Our messages. And we. We're so grateful for that. It's the best part of doing this is hearing from you guys. So keep. Keep them coming.

[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 at and executive produced by Josh Radner and Craig Thomas. And it's presented and distributed by the Office Ladies Network and Odyssey. The show is also executive produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey, and the show is produced and edited by me, Alec Lev. Our co producer is Doug Matica. Our audio producer and mixer is Alex Reeves at Point of Blue Studios. And our Gen Z masters, our digital content producer, Emily Blumberg. And Associate Producer Kathryn Grove Artwork by John Morrow. Please follow, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or your podcast player of choice. It really does help to spread the word. Our theme song is New York City by our own Josh Radner, with additional music by Craig Thomas and Andrew Majewski. Special thanks to Sam Theobald and Elliot Connors. Go Go to how we madeyourmother.com to learn more and click on the contact page to send us an email or a voice message. Your stories and questions are an important part of the show. Subscribe to Josh Radner's Muse Letters on Substack and check out his music and everything [e-mail] Order Craig Thomas Debut novel that's Not How It Happened, wherever books are sold and read his other published writing at Craig Thomas and you could subscribe to My Own Dead Father Society on Substack to learn about how you make a difference, this show's ongoing campaign to raise funds for congenital heart disease research. Check out the Make a Difference tab at the top of our website. 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?

[Anderson Cooper]

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