How We Made Your Mother: "How We Met Robin Sparkles" [with Cobie Smulders]

Episode: S2E9 “Slap Bet”

Date: December 22, 2025

Hosts: Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas
Special Guest: Cobie Smulders

Episode Overview

This episode of How We Made Your Mother delves into “Slap Bet” (Season 2, Episode 9)—the iconic How I Met Your Mother episode where Robin’s popstar alter ego, Robin Sparkles, is revealed and the legendary Slap Bet is born. Josh and Craig are joined by Cobie Smulders (“Robin Scherbatsky”) for an in-depth, heartfelt, and hilarious breakdown of how this landmark episode came to life, its cultural legacy, and how stepping outside the sitcom formula helped transform HIMYM.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Letters: What the Show Means to Fans

• The episode opens with a moving letter from Isabel in Breckenridge, Colorado, about how HIMYM has carried her through hardship and life changes.
  • “What Star Wars is to Ted is what Himym is to me.” [01:31, Isabel]
• The emotional impact of the show and podcast on fans is a recurring theme.
  • Craig: “That's an honor. I'm so happy the show and the podcast found you.” [03:33]

2. Welcoming Cobie Smulders

• Craig introduces Cobie as their “amazing special guest” to unpack Robin Sparkles and “Slap Bet.” [04:03]
• Playful banter about Cobie’s “French countryside” wallpaper sets an intimate, friendly tone.
  • Cobie: “It is my personality. It is who I am.” [04:14]

3. The Origin of Robin Sparkles

• Reflecting on how Cobie first heard the pitch: Robin’s secret past as a Canadian pop star.
  • Cobie: “I was very surprised and excited…I think you came to me and you're like, we're gonna do a music video, and you're gonna be singing. And I’m like, I mean, I can sing like, when I'm by myself, like, or in the car.” [05:59]
• Cobie’s background in musical theater (“Putting on the Ritz” in high school) [06:47], but admits this request felt “outside the realm” of what had been done on the show.
• This new direction was “outside the box”:
  • Cobie: “I was kind of scared but really excited that you took a chance…It was outside the realm of what we had been doing.” [07:48]

4. How the Idea Came About

• Craig credits Greg Malins with suggesting Robin’s secret pop star backstory, partly inspired by Alanis Morissette. [09:51]
• The writers wanted the reveal to be more than a gag:
  • Craig: “We figured out it’s about this idea of when you're newly in love with someone…does this person have a secret?” [10:11]
• The structure: The signature HIMYM mystery—why does Robin hate malls?

5. Creating and Shooting “Let’s Go to the Mall”

The Challenge

• The creators had to lobby CBS to fund a full-scale music video (“giant mall set, 100 dancers, and a robot”).
  • Craig: “We had to ask CBS…for an entire other shoot day to build a gigantic mall set…a full day shoot with choreography you learned, right, Cobie, over many days.” [16:01]
• The plan: upload the full video to MySpace (pre-YouTube virality).

In the Studio

• Recording details:
  • Craig recalls going to composer John Swihart’s studio with Cobie. Nerves were high.
  • Cobie: “He gave me a green apple first—which is something, I guess, the pros use…cuts the phlegm. Didn’t really do the trick! I had a shot of whiskey, and we just kind of found our groove.” [17:59–19:10]
  • John Swihart’s reassurance: “Don’t worry, we can fix stuff.” [19:54]

Choreographing and Filming

• Shooting was “an enormous production number,” four minutes long with a large faux band and dancers.
• Cobie’s gratitude for feeling supported:
  • “It brought me so much joy because it felt like I was not alone in this process. Like, they were very in…and that also just made the day even more wonderful.” [23:39]
• Shout-out to the hair, makeup, and wardrobe teams: “There’s a lot of bedazzling!” [23:39]
• Craig: “It was one of the most fun things we ever did on the whole show.” [25:20]

Notable Production Memory

• They had to improvise and work quickly, with a “nine to seven” day for the music video.
• Pam Fryman, normally directing sitcom episodes, was asked to direct a full music video. [25:44]

6. The Episode’s Mystery Structure & Emotional Core

• The episode is rooted in a relationship mystery—hiding embarrassing pasts and deepening intimacy.
  • Josh: “If people know this, I won’t be loved…But in fact, you know, even Ted, I think, says it like, I love you more knowing this.” [31:31]
• The cultural context—pre-viral video era, and how such a secret could exist.
  • Cobie: “Robin Sparkles was so dead and buried for Robin Scherbatsky that she never, ever thought that this would come up.” [32:45]

7. Reception and Legacy

• Initial Canadian reaction: “General excitement” from Canadians, especially family, but cult fandom grew over time. [14:40–15:54]

• The music video went viral years later, even becoming a playable song on Just Dance 3, alongside Britney Spears and Aretha Franklin!

  • Craig: “I looked up the lineup…Kobie, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Aretha Franklin, Robin Sparkles.” [49:31]
  • Cobie: “It makes sense.” [50:08]

• “Let’s Go to the Mall” had its roots in a melody Craig wrote as a teen (“Jumping in the Snow”).

  • Craig: “If it sticks in your head for 15 years, there’s probably something to it.” [40:25]

8. The Character After Robin Sparkles

• Did playing Robin Sparkles reshape Cobie’s approach to Robin?
  • Cobie: “I just kind of thought, you know, she might be more fun…allowed to be goofier…It made her…a better sense of humor afterwards.” [43:01]
• The protective effect of costumes: “It gave you a lot of armor to be ludicrous in a way that looked liberating.” — Josh [44:47]
• On her daughters: Her kids haven’t watched the show, except maybe the pilot and the Sparkles video! [34:57]

9. Episode Highlights and In-Jokes (General Impressions)

• Many “general impressions” called out:
  • Ted’s “guys, guys, guys” as an inside joke about their 1st AD Michael Shea. [45:36]
  • Barney’s nose for age: “I just turned 30” scene. [46:22]
  • Marshall’s Sasquatch concern. [46:33]
  • “Premature slapulation.” [53:01]
  • The slap bet’s enduring legacy and the chemistry of the ensemble.

10. The Emotional Impact & Fan Letters

• Cobie reads a touching letter from Sarah about the existential comfort and philosophy of the series:
  • “There's a certain churning in the chest, a bubbling energy that’s hard to name that How I Met Your Mother stirs in me…It’s a fingerprint, a time capsule, a reflection of who I was, who I am, and who I hope to be…The story is always bigger than the end.” [55:57–58:54, Sarah]
• The hosts and guest are visibly moved.
  • Craig: “We’re all trying to fight back tears and, like, hold it together.” [59:24]
  • Cobie: “I wish she (high school me) knew where she was going. I wish she was gonna be an international faux celebrity.” [50:37]
  • “How could we have known? When you were eating an apple and drinking whiskey in that studio that it would lead to somebody feeling that way?” — Craig [59:54]
• Josh: “You were not hired because you could do a Canadian pop star!” — marveling at the series’ evolution and Cobie’s flexibility. [61:01]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Cobie Smulders (on getting the Robin Sparkles news):
  “I was kind of dazzled by the request…and just not knowing how to really proceed, but really excited to just try something.” [09:22]

• Craig Thomas (on the genesis):
  “It couldn’t just be a one-off…this has to be about something.” [10:48]

• On recording “Let’s Go to the Mall”:
  Cobie: “I had a shot of whiskey. And then we just kind of found our groove.” [19:10]
  Craig: “It was one of the most Hollywood things we had done.” [22:41]

• On vulnerability:
  Josh: “If people knew this about me, I wouldn’t be loved. But in fact…I love you more knowing this.” [31:31]
  Cobie: “I just kind of thought she might be more fun…allowed to be goofier…It made her a better sense of humor afterwards.” [43:01]

• On the show’s legacy:
  Craig: “Pop culture—beyond the Mondays at 8:30.” [54:45]

• Fan Letter (Sarah):
  “It’s a fingerprint, a time capsule, a reflection of who I was, who I am, and who I hope to be. It’s home. And every time I press play, it reminds me that sometimes the longest way around really is the shortest way home.” [58:01]

Timestamps for Significant Segments

• 03:52 – Cobie Smulders joins the episode.
• 05:28–09:22 – Cobie recalls learning she’d play a Canadian popstar.
• 09:51 – The backstory pitch and emotional depth of the episode.
• 14:25–16:01 – Discussing the Canadian reaction and the show’s growing cult fandom.
• 16:01–22:41 – Creating, recording, and filming “Let’s Go to the Mall.”
• 25:44 – Directing the music video, surprise at the “porn” intro video.
• 31:31 – On secrets, intimacy, and the episode’s emotional heart.
• 34:57 – Cobie’s kids and their relationship to Robin Sparkles.
• 49:31 – “Let’s Go to the Mall” lands on Just Dance 3.
• 55:57–58:54 – Cobie reads Sarah’s fan letter; everyone gets emotional.
• 61:01+ – Reflecting on the gift of long-running stories, the joy of saying “yes” in creative risk-taking.

Summary Takeaways

• Robin Sparkles’ origin was an audacious, creative leap, grounded by Cobie Smulders’ game, comedic performance and the writers’ commitment to emotional depth.
• The music video was a huge gamble and wild production for a sitcom—ultimately a fan-favorite moment that exemplifies the show’s willingness to swing for the fences.
• The Slap Bet and Robin Sparkles became two of the show’s most enduring, meme-able, and meaningful elements.
• The episode reminds both cast and audience that sitcoms can be both riotously funny and deeply moving—“a philosophy class disguised as a sitcom.”
• Fan relationships with the series are intimate and lasting, often serving as comfort and nostalgia, intertwining with listeners’ real-life milestones and struggles.
• How I Met Your Mother’s willingness to take creative risks, challenge sitcom “rules,” and be emotionally vulnerable is what keeps it resonant years later.

For Listeners Who Missed the Show

This podcast episode is much like “Slap Bet” itself—hilarious, nostalgic, emotionally rich, and full of behind-the-scenes gold. It’s a love letter to HIMYM fans and creators who said “yes, and…” to creating something uniquely heartfelt and enduring.