How We Walked 500 Miles | S2E17 "Arrivederci, Fiero"

Summary

Podcast Summary: How We Made Your Mother Episode: "How We Walked 500 Miles" | S2E17 "Arrivederci, Fiero"

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby) and co-creator Craig Thomas take a deep dive into one of How I Met Your Mother’s fan-favorite episodes: Season 2, Episode 17, "Arrivederci, Fiero." The discussion nostalgically explores the making of the episode, the behind-the-scenes camaraderie, and the wider significance of the Fiero to both the show’s lore and their own lives. Through letters from fans, confessions of continuity errors, and fond memories, Josh and Craig use this “filling in the lore” episode as a springboard to discuss chosen family, growing up, change, and the intersection of story and real experience. The conversation maintains its signature blend of warmth, irreverence, and genuine emotion characteristic of the series.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Remix Music Surprise & Entry into the Episode

• [02:52] Josh is surprised by Alec playing a remix of Josh’s song "NYC," which serves as the podcast’s theme. Josh describes it as perfect "walking around New York music," while Craig likens it to "driving through LA, but thinking of NYC."
• [03:49] Josh reveals more about the remixes done by Jeremiah Dunlap, explaining his delight in their unexpected production.

Why "Arrivederci, Fiero" Is Vivid in Memory

• [05:13] Josh notes this particular episode stands out clearly in his memory, unlike others that blur together.
• [05:45] Craig calls this the "most College Ted" episode, referencing the line:

  “You know, my parents live in Ohio. I live in the moment.” (Radnor, 05:55)

• [06:03] Craig confirms he wrote that line and reflects on its meme-ability and resonance.

Playing "College Ted" and the Transformative Power of Costume

• [06:52] Josh talks about how wearing the College Ted wig and glasses changed his sense of physicality, referencing drama school techniques of mask and clown work:

  “…when I would put on the College Ted wig, something came out of me that was just different. It was just a different speed.” (Radnor, 07:33)

• They discuss the visual details (e.g., Ted’s changing hair textures and decorative spectacles), college-level insecurity, and the humor it brings.

The "Poor Man’s Process" and Filming the Car Scenes

• [09:23] Josh gives technical insight on shooting car scenes on set, not on location, and how crew manipulated the car physically to simulate movement (“[it] feels very fake…Poor Man’s Process”).

  "I mean, it was one of those things you always felt like this feels very fake. I see the seams…" (Radnor, 10:01)

Filling in the Lore vs. Plot Advancement

• [11:14] Craig distinguishes between "mystery" episodes and "filling in the lore" episodes, with this one being devoted to backstory—how Ted and Marshall became best friends.
• These episodes allow for vignettes (mini-stories), not full B- or C-plots, giving freedom for small gems, such as Lily and Robin’s Thai food mishap and Barney’s driving lesson.

Art Imitating Life (and Vice Versa)

• [15:27] The story of Barney’s hilariously boring car accident comes directly from episode writer Chris Harris’s real life.
• [21:05] Josh tells a story about running out of gas on a road trip to Sedona, mirroring the episode’s plot ("…this happened on How I met your mother. This is an actual thing that happened to Ted and Marshall." Radnor, 22:08).

The Episode as a Friendship-Forming "Laboratory"

• Craig highlights the depth of character relationships:

  “…that’s what’s great about this episode. It’s like the Fiero is like this friendship forging device…Some kind of honesty or something comes out inside that Fiero.” (B, 23:19)

Iconic Moments & Quotes

• The "I hate it!" Barney Scene [24:00]: One of the cast's biggest laughs resulted from Neil Patrick Harris’s dramatic 180° head turn and line delivery.
• Barney Knows He’s in a Sitcom: The hosts reflect on Barney’s meta-theatricality and how only his character can get away with such heightened moments.
• The "Zitch Dog" Game & Structure: Chris Harris’s inventions, like "Zitch Dog" and the intricate series of running gags, are praised as "Rube Goldberg machines" of comedy [25:13].
• The Power of Props & Objects: The Fiero acts as a metaphorical memory bank, prompting a larger discussion about objects, nostalgia, letting go, and the paradox of holding on to meaningful possessions [30:31–32:47].

Touching on Social Progress and Regrets

• [41:12] The hosts briefly address a dated, now-offensive term used in the episode, expressing regret and emphasizing their ongoing efforts to learn and improve.

The Show’s Place in Personal and Cultural Memory

• Memories of first cars, family-owned vehicles, and "stuff" mirror the themes of change, nostalgia, and the passage of time.
• Craig and Josh both muse on the "rites of passage" marked by letting go of things—a move, a car, a house, or a beloved TV show set [33:36–34:39].

Fan Letters: The Real Impact

• Ross P. (Fiero Breakdown and New Friends) [53:28]:

  “But I only made it about 30 minutes before my Fiero's engine turned off and would not turn back on…But before my poor car was diagnosed with engine failure, I was given my very first friends at college…So on my first weekend at college, I got in my Fiero and drove as far from campus as I could.”
  (Read at 53:28–55:44)

• Avery (The Olive Theory and Chosen Family) [57:21]:

  “You taught me that family isn't just who you're born to. It's the people you choose…It was such a small moment, but in that instant, I knew. I told Jake right then. She was the one.”
  (Read at 57:21–61:24)

Both letters underscore the enduring emotional impact of the show as more than entertainment: a handbook for friendship, love, and vulnerability.

The Episode’s Music: "500 Miles" and Lasting Legacy

• [29:34] Craig celebrates "I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers—how it became the series' road trip anthem and credits Chris Harris for integrating it perfectly.
• [53:02] The annual "music of How I Met Your Mother" fundraiser always ends with this song, inviting cast and fans alike to join in.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Letting Go:

  "Things and stuff, they hold this charge of memory, but there's also a weight to them. They hold us down…You feel lighter. Like something in you internally gets emptied out and rearranged." (Radnor, 32:31–32:47)

• On Chosen Family:

  “You taught me that family isn't just who you're born to. It's the people you choose. The ones who show up for you…” (Letter from Avery, 57:21)

• On Continuity Errors:

  “Our default defense is unreliable narrator.” (Radnor, 50:05)

• Josh’s Confession on Car Learning:

  “I learned to drive on a stick shift. Like that's how serious my dad was about it.… That was the stick shift I learned to drive on with a cassette player.” (Radnor, 19:47–27:33)

• On Ted’s Persona:

  "He was still trying on costumes of persona…just trying stuff on, see what works." (Radnor/Thomas, 40:01–40:08)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:52: "NYC" remix surprise and theme song discussion.
• 05:45: The iconic "I live in the moment" line and College Ted's vibe.
• 09:23: Behind-the-scenes filming techniques ("Poor Man’s Process").
• 15:27: Chris Harris’s real-life driving story becomes Barney’s gag.
• 21:05: Josh’s own "Fiero-like" stranded road trip.
• 23:19: The Fiero as a friendship-forging vehicle.
• 24:00: Neil Patrick Harris's classic "I hate it!" scene.
• 30:31: Discussion of objects/mementos and the letting-go process.
• 41:12: Apology for outdated/slur term usage.
• 53:28: Fan letter from Ross about his own Fiero experience.
• 57:21: Fan letter from Avery on love, chosen family, and the olive theory.

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Tone and Language

The conversation is candid, affectionate, thoughtful, and occasionally self-deprecating. Both hosts mix humor with genuine emotion, encouraging the audience to see the deeper emotional spine connecting sitcom gags to universal rites of passage.

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Closing Thought: Craig and Josh repeatedly underscore the series’ central message: time passes, objects come and go, but shared experiences and chosen family endure. From the Fiero’s last ride to a fan’s olive theory moment, “Arrivederci, Fiero” encapsulates the show’s ability to make the small stuff matter—and to turn sitcom moments into life’s real milestones.

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For further listener reflection, the episode invites fans to share their own stories at howwemadeyourmother.com, highlighting the community built around the show and the podcast alike.

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Notable closing exchange: “You have a really nice way about you.” (Radnor recounting Jason Segel’s on-set quip, 47:12 and throughout)

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For anyone who’s never listened, this episode offers a warm, funny, and emotionally resonant look behind the scenes—capturing both the laughter and the lessons that have kept HIMYM, and its fans, walking 500 miles and more.

Transcript

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[A]

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. Whoa, that sounds good in my ears.

[B]

We ambushed you with this.

[A]

It's got a little of the White Lotus shriek in there. That. Yeah, I'm so pleased. This is a remix of my song nyc, which is the theme song to How We Made youe Mother, which is the show we're on right now. And Alec decided to surprise me and drop my buddy Jeremiah Dunlap, one of the producers of my album. That song did these remixes that are incredible and that's nyc. You know I was thinking like nyc as I wrote it is kind of like the perfect walking around New York music. That's like driving through LA music, don't you think?

[B]

Yeah, Driving through la, but thinking of NYC for New York.

[A]

Finding Mulholland at Dusk. Yes, definitely.

[B]

Definitely.

[A]

Well, thanks for. Thanks for playing that, Alec. Did you have more to add, Craig?

[B]

No. Well, we had a little email volley of. We should ambush Josh with this. Just one random episode because we both like it so much. This came out a few weeks ago. It's awesome. Everybody go check that out on John.

[A]

They're called the Skeleton and Spirit remixes.

[B]

It's a couple. There's a few of them, right?

[A]

Well, two tracks, Learning and NYC did two of each.

[B]

They sound great. Bravo. Bravo to Jeremiah. Really, really well done. It said they sound like totally different song, but the same song. Really successful remix.

[A]

Awesome. He really. It was just something I asked him to do a remix of Learning because it was something I always thought would be fun. And then he just surprised me with these four tracks that I'm delighted by. So we were really happy to release them and we're really happy to be here with you all. For one of my actual How I Met yout Mother favorite episodes, Arriva Dirchi Fierro from season two. This is, by the way, the podcast where me, Josh Radner and Craig Thomas, co creator of How I Met yout Mother with Carter Bay. We go back through the show. We're, we're, we're. We can't even believe how far along we are into season two. This is episode 17 of season two, Riva de Chiero, written by, I believe, Chris Harris.

[B]

Chris Harris. A classic Chris Harris episode.

[A]

Classic Chris Harris episode. Alec. When did this episode air?

[D]

On February 26th in the year 2007.

[A]

That sweet 19 years ago. That's lucky number 19.

[B]

That shouldn't hurt every time. Every single time that hurts when we say the date. Oh, you think it would get less, but it doesn't.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

How is it that long ago?

[A]

It's so strange because some episodes like that we've been talking about, I have very dim, if not amnesiac memories. Like I like some of them have been memory hold. For some reason, this episode is incredibly vivid in my memory. Both what happens, what the jokes were and the actual filming of it. I remember very vividly. I don't know why that is. I mean, maybe it's very visceral.

[B]

I mean, part of it is that you're playing this other Ted in so much of the episode you're playing College. This is the most College Ted in any episode to date.

[A]

This is the most College Ted we get. Yeah. I think that if there's a College Ted iconic line, it's. You know, my parents live in Ohio. I live in the moment.

[B]

Yes. One of my. I will. I rarely jump in to take credit. I think that was my line. And I.

[A]

That was your. I know it was yours.

[B]

That is one of my favorite TED lines that I've ever. That I ever wrote. And it's for past Ted. It's not for past. You can meme that it has been memed out. I'm always honored by that. This is a great Chris Harris episode. That one little thing was mine. Maybe I got a few other little ones, but that one is one of my favorites. It's just been your performance of it. It also kicks off like that. That's the flashback. That's the beginning of the flashback where we meet College Ted. You realize we're gonna be with College Ted a bunch in the episode. And it's just such a great way into, like, this is who Ted was in college. We're gonna see a whole adventure with this guy.

[A]

Is this the introduction to College? I feel like we've seen him before.

[B]

We've seen him before. You've glimpsed him before. But we really go. We go on a literal journey with him in this one, which I love. You have a lot of fun playing College Ted. It's very palpable how much fun you're having.

[A]

You know, when we would do, like, mask and clown work at NYU and drama school, there's a thing, like, you put on, like, a mask or. Or you. You. You develop a clown where it gives you, like, a. Like, there's a. There's a kind of. It's both obscures something about your physicality and also reveals something about your physicality. And you can see when people, even people who are not particularly like comedic actors, if they, like, quote, unquote, find their clown, everything they do is hilarious and amazing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I feel like when I put on the College Ted wig, much like Barney putting on, like, barista Barney.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Kind of changed his whole walk and his whole rhythm of body language.

[B]

Totally everything.

[A]

And when I would put on the College Ted wig, something came out of me that was just different. It was just a different speed.

[B]

Yes. Yes. You become a different person. It's still the same guy. There's still. But it's brilliant. I love you as college dad. The spectacles that turn out to be decorative.

[A]

Yeah. I always used to Joke. I don't remember who I would joke with. Maybe Chris Harris or you. But in high school, Ted had, like, pretty straight hair. He gets to Wesleyan, and for some reason, he has this massively curly. It was like. Was the humidity insane in WESLEY?

[B]

Apparently.

[A]

Soon, 1993 or whenever they were in school.

[B]

Yeah, let's go with that theory. That's why Ted was using a lot of product in high school. Said I'm going on natural in college, then went back to the. Even more product later.

[D]

Maybe.

[A]

But he also. Your. I mean, my spectacles, you know that he was wearing decorative spectacles.

[B]

Oh, the decorative spectacles. And just so insecure. Can't handle not being as good at zichdog. Just gets dumped by Karen. Tries to play like it was mutual. Mutual. That lines here with Kat where it's

[A]

like, she brought it up, but it was totally mutual.

[B]

Who's no fun now, Karen, when he decides to get off the highway and Tony looks him over, It's. He's going through so much. That's why you. It's you. You're very, like, loose and, like, you have so much fun. Cause he's just in total turmoil. He doesn't know who he is yet. And you just get. I don't know, it, like, unlocks something in your performance where you're just having so much fun with it. He's just such. He's such a lovable mess. But he's also like, I love him. I love college dead.

[A]

I do. I do, too. I do remember, you know, it's funny. Like, you know, we're doing that snowstorm, me and Jason. Like, that's on the stage.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Like, we're not. We're not outside.

[B]

Yeah, that's on the stage.

[A]

It's all created and. And just, you know, whenever we'd be driving, you'd have George just rocking the car.

[B]

Yes. Just moving the car a lot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's so weird. That must have been so weird to act in that situation where there's just, like, blackout all around you. You're seeing a crew guy like. Like. Like leveraging a car up and down. Some kind of device moving or was it just pressing on the side of the car? I don't know. I forget if they had, like, a device to do that.

[A]

Well, they'd have, like, a. Like, literally, like a. Like a. Like a big piece of wood.

[B]

Yeah. And the car was on it.

[A]

Like, pull, like, levied or whatever. Like, whatever that's called. And he would just be pressing on it to make the car look like

[B]

it was driving just trying to act while that's happening.

[A]

I mean, it was one of those things you always felt like this feels very fake. I feel. I see the seams and the. Yeah. I mean, it's called Poor Man's Process.

[B]

Poor Man's Process. Because you're not even bothering to do like a blue screen behind. You're just making it very dark and just saying, all right, that's it. Maybe you see.

[A]

But then you're going to fill it in. Like it always. The car scenes always looked pretty good. You could fill them in and they'd look. They'd look good. Or the lighting, you know, they just like throw headlights at night.

[B]

Yeah. So you'd see some headlights going by, you'd see some wind, you'd see there's enough to sort of fake out your brain. But it's. It is. They call it poor man's Process that for those nighttime shoots, it's not. It's really weirdly unsophisticated, really.

[A]

I do remember in the snowstorm, Jason, like pushing it with me. He didn't do anything gross, but he held me like very tight. Like he. Jason and Neil are not breakers as much. I mean, Neil was the. As we said, he has the stoniest visage.

[B]

Total ninja. Yeah. It just never breaks.

[A]

But Jason would try to get you to break quite. And I do remember. I think it's on the blooper reel. I think there's a number of.

[B]

Where he got you.

[A]

Where he got me in this. Yeah. So I have a strong. I just have a strong memory. And this is one. This is not quite a mystery episode. This is what I call filling in the lore episodes, right?

[B]

Yeah, it is. It's filling in the lore and it's kind of. There's another episode coming up soon called or maybe in season three. Like How I Met Everybody Else. Yeah, How I Met Everyone Else. Which it's just. Yeah, it's filling in how everybody. Like this is the story of how they became best friends. They were not friends when they got in that car. And then it was a life altering journey. It's true. This episode doesn't really move the present day story forward at all, but it fills in the gaps in this way that makes you love the characters more. We see two best friendships form and we see Barney learn to drive. Those are all momentous things. That's the logline. We're getting to it late. But that's the log line.

[A]

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[D]

City.

[A]

We'll be right back.

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[A]

And now back to the show. It must also be fun in the writers room when you're like, okay, Lily and Robin getting Thai food all over the Fiero and then coming up with this big lie to cover it is not enough for a B story or even a C story. It's just like a little.

[B]

It's mini vignette.

[A]

Yeah, it's mini and it's a vignette. And even Barney driving, which gets a little more airtime. It's like it's not enough. But you can. When you're just doing these filling in the lore episodes, you can hit them.

[B]

And the many, many, many stories like the suicidal cat. Yeah, that's the quick pops. It's great. It's great because yeah, you normally would have that idea and you go, ah, that's funny. But it can't be a whole episode, so forget it. Coming up with the right kind of structure where you can fit in these little gem kind of mini stories is so great. And I just want to say Before I forget, the story of Barney's super low speed car accident in quotes really happened to Chris Harris, the writer of this episode. Chris Harris, when he was being taught how to drive with his dad, had basically exactly that experience with a dog. Came and just kind of. And Chris had like a two mile an hour, like, freak out. He didn't realize that he could just stop and sort of pulled off into some hedges. Like really was the same exact story. It's so stupid. I'm continually amazed on this podcast when we break that stuff down where the parts of the episodes that are true, you would never even guess. That seems invented and stupid. But Chris Harris is like, no, I had the least exciting car accident of all time. We're like, that's going in there.

[A]

It's like the marathoner whose legs wouldn't work.

[B]

Exactly. It's like, that's the true part of that episode, which is insane.

[A]

Yeah, I noticed when I look back, even, God, 19 years later, I do remember I can tell when I'm actually laughing, you know?

[B]

Yeah. Are you laughing in that scene with Neil?

[A]

In the car with Neil? I am genuinely laughing.

[B]

It seemed very genuine. It caught my eye. I was like, that seems like Josh's real laugh. Because you're saying insane shit. You're saying, like, throw me the idol and I'll throw you the whip. You're, like, holding Indiana Jones. There's like, the stuff you're yelling in that scene is really weird. And we like, you can't really even. It's almost inaudible, but you're laughing that whole time in this really genuine way.

[A]

Well, I was laughing because Neil was just making me laugh. Like, he was just being. It's so ridiculous.

[D]

Can I just throw in that Marmalady boy just says, I need to know. Was Josh Radner really laughing his ass off from Neil's hilarious performance? You were definitely caught by a couple of.

[A]

I definitely was. Yeah.

[B]

But it's great. It's great. I think that's a huge part of the show's superpower that we capture those moments on the. Like, you guys are. There's funny people that are making you laugh. Like, you should laugh. That's. Ted would laugh.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

And again, that was a thing we decided early on. Like, we should laugh when it's laughed. Like, these are funny. Lighthearted. You know, we had enough serious stuff. But, like, it's funny. Funny stuff happens on this show and the characters know that it's funny.

[B]

And seeing Barney be that helpless would make Ted laugh. Like, Barney puts up Such bravado. And then when you get a peek under the hood, so to speak, like. Yeah. Pun intended, I guess it's funny.

[A]

Well, it's also. It's a great thing to give Barney because, again, it's like he needs regular dings in his armor. Like, he needs to be dented off regular.

[B]

Yes. Regularly scheduled takedowns. So it's not just pure male toxicity.

[A]

I do have to say that Jordana, my wife, found it hilarious, the driving stuff, but also because he says, I grew up in the city, you know, and I. So I don't know if a lot of people know this, and I didn't really learn this until I got to college and met all these New York City kids. And. Alec, I don't know. You grew up in New York City, right? Are you. Did you know. Did you learn to drive at 16?

[D]

No, no, I learned late. Maybe late 17s. And by the way, at night.

[B]

That's early, though, for city.

[D]

At night in Manhattan is how I. Is how I learned, which was completely insane.

[A]

Wow. Yeah. Well, that's rare because a lot of New York City kids as. As sophisticated as they might be growing up in this huge city. Driving is one of the common things that a lot of New York City kids like.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They don't get it till much later, if at all. There's. There's a bunch of people who grew up in New York City that are like, yeah, I don't drive.

[B]

That's a very real thing. I know people in their 30s and 40s who still don't really drive in Maine and Maine ever. In New York City, it's very common.

[A]

Jordana told me she got her driver's license at 21 simply so she'd have the ID to get into bars.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Like, that was why she did. And then she didn't drive again until her 30s. Really?

[B]

Yeah. I totally believe it. I totally. Rebecca, my wife, maybe somewhere in her 20s, she got her license. Like, maybe because we're moving to la, but I think it was before that maybe, like. But she really was not a confident driver. She never drove. She grew up in Brooklyn. The only flaw with that, and I'm so glad we did that story, because it is a very real city thing. Barney did grow up on Staten island, where you. You definitely would drive more than you would in Manhattan. We were watching it last night. I was like, oh, that's a slight flaw in, like, trying to totally nail what the city kid thing is. But it's close enough. He's still kind of a City kid. He took the train. Yeah, but, but y. That's a very real NYC thing.

[A]

Yeah. And then when we were spending some time in la, when I, when I still had my place in la, she, she was, she was like, I'm going to use this time. And she, she had this driving instructor, Perla, shout out to Perla and she did 24 hours of driving lessons. Wow. She would do two, she did 12, two hour lessons. And, and she's a pretty good driver. She still gets nervous, but she's, she, she, she's got herself up to speed.

[B]

So that's just last year like. Or in the last year?

[A]

No, no, in last couple years.

[B]

That's. That's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, it's true. It's very, it's a. I'm glad we captured. I love when we capture those very real New York details that. Yeah. People from other places like, no, why wouldn't you? You drive, you learn to drive. The second you can learn to drive, it's like, no, no, no, there's no reason to drive.

[A]

I learned to drive on a stick shift. Like that's how my serious, my dad was about it.

[B]

Oh, you did same.

[A]

Yeah, in reverse. I learned to drive down our driveway in reverse was the first.

[B]

That's a high degree of difficulty. I know that's also a little bit. We're old. That's old tech. We're getting a little over. There's an old tech moment in our lives. But yeah, my parents, my dad had a stick shift. I think. That wasn't, that was not. He was a car lover. That was just. He was cheap. He just had kept it a long time and he wasn't that great of a car.

[A]

You know what else was really funny in this episode? Teenage Marshall with his brothers. Very funny.

[B]

With the head, the chicken head. The chicken headcock thing. They're like, he does that thing and

[A]

the zit, the perfectly placed zit and the braces.

[B]

The super hardcore mullet spikey. Like that was brilliant. That whole sequence is funny. Again, it's fun for you guys playing long term characters to go back and kind of play a different version of those characters, play the young versions. And I can see how much fun you guys are having with that. Those brothers, the seven foot tall brothers.

[A]

So I've got a weird story about this episode. So I started noticing that certain things would happen on the show that then in some sort of weird rhyming almost sometimes literal, but more like rhyming way would start to happen to me in life.

[B]

Huh?

[A]

The summer, I think between. Yeah, this summer, I think between second and third season. My friend Bram, my best friend from high school, we decided to, like, go on a road trip and we drove to Sedona, Arizona. This is before gps, like phones and stuff. Or right about. But I didn't have it on my phone. But I remember MapQuest. I printed out the directions on MapQuest, but I must have done something wrong. So we drive and we get stranded on a country road in Arizona.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

And ran out of gas. Like, we ran out of gas. And we found a little counter gas station, and we kind of. We, you know, on fumes. We just pulled in and we just had to, like, roll back the seats and close our eyes and go to sleep. We didn't have to hold each other.

[B]

Until it opened the next day.

[A]

Yeah, until it opened the next day. And then it was like 7am it opened, we figured out how to get. And we finally got there. But as we were. As it was happening, I was like, dude, this happened on How I met your mother. This is an actual thing that happened to Ted and Marshall.

[B]

And you just slept in the car. Did you actually sleep? At some point you're just like, let's lean this.

[A]

We probably got like a good 90 minutes. Like a solid 90. But, you know, it's a lot. It was alarming.

[B]

It was like. You were afraid, though. I would totally be afraid.

[A]

It was the middle of Arizona.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, it was fun. It was fun in the way that when you survive something like that, you look back on it and laugh, but in the moment, it was no fun.

[B]

Terrifying. Yeah.

[A]

And also, like, really annoyed at myself.

[C]

Like.

[B]

Like, then I have the direction and there's no solution. There's. We didn't have smartphones. You just have your shitty MapQuest printout. You're like, I guess this is wrong. So what the fuck are we going to do? Yeah. You feel so helpless.

[A]

It was like the last moment where some. It was literally like the last moment on Earth. Something like that could happen, like a

[B]

month later, you could have solved that problem. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Old stack. That's really funny. Well, I mean, did you guys. Did you guys bond more or were you just annoyed by the experiment?

[A]

Oh, it's a great. It's a great story. He didn't. He spoke at my wedding. I don't think he mentioned it in

[B]

the wedding toast, but there he was at your wedding. Like, that's the thing. That's what's great about this episode. It's like the Fiyero is like this friendship forging device. You know what I mean? Like, we see two best friendships form and we see Barney be vulnerable. Barney's like, I can't drive. And he has this incredibly embarrassing experience with Ted. Everyone winds up closer to each other and knowing each other better. Like some kind of honesty or something comes out inside that Fiyero. It's like this weird little laboratory for creating friendships.

[A]

Another biggest laugh among the cast that I remember so strongly was Neil Lovett turning around to the wall.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Whipping his head around, going, I hate it.

[B]

Having to restart himself to get the proper wind up to. That was so funny.

[A]

We had to do many takes of that. Like, I don't know. It's similar to the Buttafuoco pants that

[B]

also has the chicken headcock from Marshall.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Like, we really had to. I just found it so strange and inventive and in the same way, like Barney, you know how we said the meta question is, does Barney know he's in a sitcom?

[B]

He does.

[A]

He knows. He knows.

[B]

He on some level knows

[A]

he is able to get away with, like, such heightened theatricality that none of the other characters really would be able to get away with.

[B]

So true.

[A]

And that was one. I don't remember. Was that written in the script or was that just Neil?

[B]

No, that would have been written in the script. I think that's a solid Chris Harris joke. I mean, Neil killed it and, like, hit it out of the park. But that's. That's definitely. That's a Chris Harris. Chris Harris is good at, like, creating weird little rules of what's gonna happen. Like that self restart thing. That's very Chris Harris. The Zitch dog thing, that's also. I think Chris Harris's family might have invented Zitch dog or it's a twist on some other game that his family and people like. Sure.

[A]

Play Zish dog.

[B]

Oh, definitely.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

When they wake up and it turns out they were right there next to a motel and that that dude has his dog who's like, thinks they're chases them away. It seems homophobic towards them. The fact that the dog is yet another Zitch do Marshall gets and Ted doesn't. That's like such a classic Chris Harris joke. Chris Harris creates these, like, machines, these Rube Goldberg machines that are just like these elaborate, like puzzle boxes and just stuff just comes back and you don't know what to set up. Jokes are told in reverse. You know, like he's. That's. That he's very good at that. So, yeah, that he would have. He would have written that wind up in, I think, for Neil. Good Pulp Fiction reference. There's a Pope pulp Fiction reference. Soaking up the brains.

[A]

Oh, my God. Harvey Keitel.

[B]

Harvey Keitel. You know, Robin is Keitel in that scene. You gotta soak that soup up.

[A]

She's the fixer.

[B]

She's the fixer.

[A]

She comes into fixer.

[B]

She goes in fixer mode.

[A]

Yeah, I liked it. Kind of like the birthday countdown with Marshall's dad. Or the clock.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The odometer gives it a kind of framing. That's really cool.

[B]

I love that odometer. Yeah, it's great because it gives you that feeling of years passing, history passing. We all know how long it takes to go from 100,000 to 200,000 miles. And that. The idea. And that's the other thing I think this episode services. It's just the history that the shared. Like, how far they've all come together as a group. I really. I think this episode really captures them as a family.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because how many.

[A]

Who do you.

[B]

Who do you put 200,000 miles on a car with your family? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

And it's also like, you know, sometimes cars are annoying status symbols. Like, I'm not a car person. Like, I don't. I just want it to work.

[B]

Yeah, same.

[A]

But. But a car can also be like a house. Like, it can have. It can be a storehouse of enormous amounts of memories of road trips. And it's also like, there's something. We live in a material realm where we gotta get these annoying big bodies from place to place.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And a car is like. That's how we do it. You know, Mostly. You know, that's how we do it. But you're not gonna get as. You know, most people aren't gonna get as attached to an airplane, but you really. There's something. Each stain on a car, especially the car. My dad had this 1984 Honda Civic hatchback. This is the stick shift I learned to drive on with a cassette player.

[B]

Was it white? Yeah, that's my dad. That's the same car as my dad.

[A]

It was.

[B]

So that was basically the same car,

[A]

but we all drove it to high school. And, I mean, eight to ten blocks away.

[B]

Right.

[A]

By the time my little sister Joanna was driving. I think I called the car Lucy. But by the time Joanna. Joanna was driving Lucy to school. And maybe even by the time I was. We were forbidden from taking it on the highway. Like it was too unsafe. It was these rusted kind of. It looked like Bullet holes in the side. Like, it was literally just like the car you hold onto so your kids can practice driving.

[B]

And that's same. I inherited the car that was just like not good enough for my dad to drive to New York City from Long island anymore. And then I like figured out how to fit an entire drum set in this little shitty Honda Civic.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When I was like going to play drums places.

[A]

But then when the car. I remember when we all. We kind of like bid farewell. I. I think, you know, I was in college, but like when, when Lucy went away, there was like a real heart.

[B]

Why Lucy, by the way? Why Lucy? What was the.

[A]

I have zero idea. I feel like maybe it was like a female name. Like a ship has a female name.

[B]

Totally.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I think that's B.B. king's guitar too, isn't it, Lucille? Very close.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

That's really funny.

[A]

So, but, but, but a car can really hold a ton of memories.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, especially that first car. That first one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know.

[B]

Yeah. It went from Marshall's brothers to him. And then it basically it became the vehicle of this little family. I mean, literally, there's a scene of Ted trying to teach Barney how to drive. Like he's Barney's dad or he's Barney's older brother. It's so like there's something intimate about being in a car together. Marshall and Ted almost die. Like Lily and Robin invent this lie that bonds them forever. Like, it'. It's great. It's this little. And go us for also making an episode so dynamic and interesting that's basically in a little metal box. Most, you know, 60% of that episode is two people sitting in a car.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I'm impressed that the episode was so dynamic and kinetic and huge. Shout out to 500 miles and the Proclaimers, by the way, for helping that happen.

[A]

Oh, geez. We'll talk about that. But had you introduced the Fiero? That Marshall had a Fiero before?

[B]

Yeah, we had. We saw him drive it to Philadelphia in Sweet Taste of Liberty. We've seen, We've glimpsed a few times, which I'm so happy about because I hate on sitcoms where you have to invent like, ah, this thing has been so important. It's been with us all these years and you've never seen it before on the show. It's total bullshit. But this, I, we, we saw just enough times for it to feel meaningful enough again.

[A]

It operates as like, oh, isn't this a silly, funny episode about funny, silly things that happened In a car. But it also, much like most really great How I Met yout Mother episodes, has this undercurrent of pathos and reality to it, which is time is passing.

[B]

Yeah. And who am I now? Who am I? If I let go of this thing, who am I?

[A]

Loss is woven into a life.

[B]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[A]

And. And when you, you know, relinquish a kind of object or memento, much like stuff in a way, like you're, you know, that, that was less the, you know, the pillow from the girlfriend or whatever. But, but objects take on a kind of frequency or resonance when, when we have them for a while.

[B]

Yeah. It was good to begin this episode with that idea of, like the little things we cling to. The guy with the tattoo and the woman with the little, you know, the piercing. Like there's those things you hold onto. You think, well, this is me. This grounds me as me. And when you let go of those things, whether it's letting go of a childhood home or a pet dies or like, these are rites of passage, it's not as huge as, like a person in your life dying, but it's like there's all these little funerals, right? There are those little memorializations that we have along the way. And this is one of them. This is.

[A]

Yeah. And it's attached to the object is a kind of like, stand in or representative for the person we were and the person we no longer are. My older sister Melanie helped me move out of my house in la, which I sold this past summer. And I spent three days just sifting through a life, like my whole life in la. And a lot of it was like, How I Met yout Mother stuff. You know, I saw every, you know, cast photo book that we made and all these different, you know, letters from people and photos, and it really felt like I saved the stuff. That felt really like, no, I'm going to want this. I'm going to want to see this in 19 years. But a lot of the stuff, I just said goodbye to it and I kind of thanked it. And then 1, 800, got junk, took it away. Shout out, by the way, to 1, 800, got junk. Today's company brought to you by 1, 800, incredible company. They came twice and they just haul it all away, no questions asked. It's unbelievable. But, but it also, there's a. There's a kind of paradox, which is that things and stuff, they, they, they hold this charge of memory, but there's also a weight to them. They hold us down. I mean, everyone yeah. You know, when you. When you do a purge of your. Your house or your apartment.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You can feel you. You feel lighter. Like something in you internally gets emptied out and rearranged.

[B]

Yes. It's like it's shedding a skin a little bit. There's something like to. To move forward, you have to let go of some of that stuff. And y handful. I mean, I held onto that, my house in la for like several years after. How much Mother. I moved back to New York and held onto this house and rented it to a friend. It was just like reluctance to let it go at some point because it was so many. That was my How I Met yout Mother house. That was where I made. That was where I lived for most of the series that the show bought me. That house. Just a modest little house in Culver City, by the way. It was nothing fancy. It was like I bought it in season two. But, oh, man, letting go of that house was. Was painful. But then once I did, it's like now I really lived back in New York. Something about holding onto it didn't quite seem like I fully had made the move or something. Even though I did. I lived here, my kid was in school here. Something about it, it's an interesting thing.

[A]

And it's also like, you can't take it with you. Like it's all going away eventually.

[B]

Yes. You cannot take it with you. You get the memories. And that's the gift. That is the gift.

[A]

We had a hilarious woman come over. We hired a woman to help before our son was born to help us. We have a big, like a big ish for New York storage closet. And we needed help. Like, we were like, what do we keep? What do we. And she just went through. And she was merciless, but in the funniest way.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, and a lot of the things she was like, we were like, we can't get rid of that card from 2021 or whatever. She'd like, take a picture of it. Put a file. Get a file of. These are things that mean something to you on your phone. Take a picture of it. Throw out the actual thing. And yeah, she was.

[B]

I'm so bad at that. I gotta get better at that.

[D]

I sort of created a middle ground version where I've taken pictures of things and now I'm making a photo album of it. So it's still physical in some way, but I just know that I'm gonna look at that photo album a lot more than I'm gonna go into my

[B]

garage and Open that into a junk closet. Yeah, that's the thing. The stuff becomes inaccessible anyway by being all stacked in a closet. Like, it's. Yeah, totally.

[D]

There's also about feeling lighter. The difference of getting rid of something literal, physical. When it's gone, it's so gone. There's a lot of decisions you sort of make in your head where you could kind of go back one day and you could rethink something, but once you've thrown the thing out and that lighter feeling is, I move a lot, so I purge a lot. Briannar, by the way, points to all of this. He says, I love how they talk about the Fiero like it was an old friend. It gives the feeling that the car was a character on the show throughout the entire series. Craig Carter, the writers and the actors themselves really made us. Really made us viewers feel the nostalgia and memories each of the gang expressed so vividly. It tends to make me think of my own life and experiences, which is an indescribable feeling to get from a TV show. It's one of my favorite things about him.

[B]

That's nice. I mean, this is in miniature. That's what. That's what this episode is. It's Marshall growing up. Right. We're getting married. I'm gonna have to get a different kind of job and drive a different kind of car. I'm going to be somewhat of a different person. And it's like the letting go of that and the acceptance of change. And there is something kind of deep at the end of this episode.

[A]

And also, it is a character. Like, if him. Him was a Western, they'd be bidding farewell to a horse or a stagecoach or something. You know, like, it's. The car is a very kind of American thing, you know, that you can get really attached to these people.

[B]

Yeah. Marshall's from Minnesota. And like, they, you know, just like, it's his roots. It's his roots.

[A]

And he drives to Connecticut.

[B]

He drives to Connecticut from Minnesota and. Yeah. And Ted's from Ohio and like, they're outsiders. That Fiero got them to and from Wesleyan all those years. And he met Lily driving that car,

[A]

you know, and this old man, he must admit he fell in love with New York City.

[B]

And now commercials.

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

End of commercial. Back to show.

[A]

Because my wife is on a bit of a maternity leave from her. I don't know if she'll come back as our resident clinical psychologist who's never seen how I met your mother, but she did tell me a thing that sparked something in. And I think I might have mentioned this before, but she told me there's a studied psychological phenomenon that is if you. If you start a relationship with someone in a slightly adversarial, like, you're suspicious of them. Have we talked about this?

[B]

No.

[A]

Oh, okay. If you're like suspicious of them or you have like some crossed wires with a person, but then you eventually become friends with them, you actually feel more fondness to them. That's interesting because there was a. An initially a kind of hostility or suspicion. And I think it's funny that Ted and Marshall did not start out day

[B]

one fun being good friends, not love at first sight.

[A]

It was not love at first sight.

[B]

Distant roommates and where. This is what, this is the Thanksgiving break that they're driving back for. That's why it's snowing and it's.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. So they had a couple months of like chilly. Like, I guess we're gonna be friends with different people, but we live in the same room.

[B]

Yeah. And then it goes so deep, so much deeper because of starting off average hour. That's really interesting. Well, yeah. Then we did something psychologically accurate. Yeah.

[A]

I also when. When Ted, when he gets his spectacles knocked off, I always love saying my spectacles.

[B]

My spectacles. So intentional.

[A]

He said, sorry about your spectacles. He said, it's okay. They were decorative. And my lovely wife stood right next to me. What a dork.

[B]

Oh, my God. And just like the fact that Marshall calls them spectacles was a gift in and of itself because you could tell Marshall probably did not enjoy having to call them spectacles. But Ted, clearly, like, these are my spectacles.

[A]

My spectacles. Yeah.

[B]

Josh, I'm listening to the audiobook of that John and Paul a love story. The Beatles book, you know, about their. Their friendship and their. It's so good. I've been obsessed with it. Josh recommended it, and I'm pretty sure that those, like, classic John Lennon spectacles that he wore. I think there was a detail in that book that those were. Those were also decorative. I think he did have bad vision and did have prescription glasses, but I think he started wearing those, like, empty, like, without anything in them. And it was like Ted's. Ted's doing the exact same thing as John Lennon.

[A]

Well, it was also like, you could see that Ted was still trying on costumes of Persona.

[B]

Just trying stuff. See what works.

[A]

He was trying stuff on.

[B]

You know, trying stuff on. Oh, my God. One thing. Speaking of wives, my wife watches on me last night. And when Marshall is like, they're all shitting on the making of origami cranes.

[C]

My.

[B]

My wife is like, what the fuck, man? Because we really did that at our wedding. And my wife folded 1001 origami cranes. And it was beautiful and I loved it. I can't do it to save my life, but she enlisted friends. It was like this gorgeous thing. Their cranes made for life. There were like. And it was gorgeous all over all the tables and was this whole thing, like, everything about it was great. I loved it. I didn't hate it all. And she. I had forgotten that at the beginning of this episode, right at the beginning of this episode, they shit all over that. And Rebecca looked at me like, what the fuck, man? Like, why are you gonna shit on my origami crib?

[A]

Rebecca, call me. We'll start a support group for things that are nice about your personal life, that the how I met your mother writers ridicule them.

[B]

I'm wondering if she's down the hall hearing me say this right now, actually. Maybe she'll run in. I know we could be real dicks for some reason every now and again. For no. Really, for no reason. Sorry about that.

[A]

There is an unfortunate word. We just wanted to meet a culpa at the beginning of this episode.

[B]

I forgot about speaking of things that I didn't like at the beginning.

[A]

Not good.

[B]

Lily said something, said a word that has appeared a few times that is not beloved in 2025 by the trans community. And we apologize for that. We've talked about that in other episodes and I'm always surprised and really bummed out that past selves thought that was okay.

[A]

Alec, do you remember the episode where Craig and I, at the beginning of the episode, went pretty deep on words and the meaning of them and why we try to do this. Do you remember what episode that was?

[D]

I do not.

[B]

We'll put it in the notes.

[A]

We'll put it in the notes. Because it was, I thought, just as an exploration of two people in this world who were trying to tell stories and try to, you know, update themselves. And I. I thought it was really good. I thought it was really good.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. We want to own those things when. When we notice them. And I. I'm glad you said that about this one, too. And it always goes by and it's always. It's always like, the episode would have been better. The episode would have been better without it. Like these little things that just go by and you go, ah, I wish that wasn't in there. And we didn't.

[A]

Well, it's. It's kind of the onus. You feel like, okay, every 20 seconds, gotta get a joke. You know, that. That. That kind of burden.

[B]

You stumble onto a bad one once in a while and it doesn't age great. So we. We do apologize about that.

[A]

I did wonder Shirt was a Ohio State Buckeye reference because it's very scarlet and gray, that flat shirt. And I liked it.

[B]

That would be a great. That would have been a great inside reference by our wardrobe folks. I wonder if that's true. Yeah.

[A]

Who knows? God damn it. I don't remember. It was totally mutual. Made me laugh. There's something 500 miles associated with How I Met yout Mother has long outlived this. It's outgrown this episode like it's become a real thing.

[B]

And we see that it became a runner through the whole series. When they go on road trips, we'd hear it and it comes back in flashbacks and stuff. One of what's funny, there's this movie that's coming out long enough from now that I did some rewrites on for a while. It's called the Sheep Detectives. Hugh Jackman's in it. It's got a great cast. It's a really cool movie. I got to write on it a little bit. I'm not the main writer by any means, but I got to do some work on it. And one thing I did was I wrote in that song into that movie, weirdly enough. And at one point it was very featured in the movie, and then it shrunk down. It's only lightly feature in the movie, but the trailer just dropped for it yesterday. And it's that song, because I wrote that song into that movie. And I just want to say, I don't think anyone in the world has made the Proclaimers more royalty money than me, which is the strangest and lamest brag of all time, but it might be true. So, yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome.

[A]

It's not lame. To the Proclaimers.

[B]

You're welcome, Proclaimers. Scottish. Two Scottish twin brothers. Where did.

[A]

So I remember in the limo episode, you guys had a fight to the death over whether it was gonna be you give love a bad name or what was the other needle drop that you were considering?

[B]

Any way you want it by Journey.

[A]

Journey.

[B]

Yeah. So Lord was really just going. He was going down with that ship. And yes, it almost came to blows, but.

[A]

So was there any. How did you land on 500 miles as this one stuck cassette, I think.

[B]

I mean, it was this. There was no argument once we hit upon it. It was just. It was the perfect song. And it was just like, what song? Just be the way it begins. And that chorus just over and over and over. And that idea of the song that goes away and comes back again where you hate it, but then you can hear it again a little while later and love it all over again. It just was the perfect song. And again, another great Chris Harris joke. Setups and payoffs. That little moment where they think they're dying in the freezing cold in the pitch black, and they say, let's just turn on the heat for one second, and it comes down so fucking loud for like three seconds. That made me laugh. All that. That's a great Chris Harris joke there, where it's just. You've forgotten about it just the right amount of time when it comes back that it's the.

[A]

That Marshall calls it a kissingle.

[B]

A kissingle. Yes. Yes. Big laughs in my house on the word kissingle. And that would. Again, you have to explain that we should really spend more time explaining stuff to the people in their 20s. The idea that just a single one song at a cassette was sometimes in the 80s, called a CAS.

[A]

Single. When you read Shakespeare, you see that, like, you have to look in the glossary of, like, what does this mean? Because there was so much slang. There was so much. And Elizabethan audiences understood everything. Like, you didn't. They understood it all. It was mass entertainment.

[B]

Yeah. It was all, like, topical references.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Casingal. I think there's people listening to this podcast that don't know what a cassette is, much less a casingal.

[A]

Again, the poor English as a second language people who are trying to learn your, like, let's just tell you now you're not going to need kissingle.

[B]

No, no, you don't need it. But it's nice to have it in your backpack.

[A]

It's nice to have. Will only be fun for other How I Met yout Mother. Oh, may you rust in peace is a great pun.

[B]

It's a good. It's a solid dad joke.

[A]

It's really good. Okay, so one of the biggest laughs is a tiny little throwaway. So who says, like, I'm sure Robin's had some disappointment and Cody's disgusting.

[B]

Where she just like, yeah, she's shakes it off. Like, that's just Koby coming up with that. I don't think that's in the script. I think.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

I think so. I think that's just Koby. Like, no, fuck, I've been awesome the whole time. What are you talking about?

[A]

It was one of my favorite. It's almost like she becomes Barney in that moment.

[B]

Yes. Which is great. It plants that seed of the two of them having connection. I don't think we scripted that. I would almost guarantee that was just Kobe finding that.

[A]

The guy who played the mechanic was really great. He seemed like a mechanic. He was really. And he was a nice guy. Like, he was just nice on set. We liked talking to him. And on the final day of filming, I guess it was a Friday we wrapped. I think we filmed that last on a Friday. But we say goodbye to him. We're all standing there. Or maybe it was me, Kobe and Jason. I think it was just the three of us. And the guy says, all right, goodbye. And he starts walking away. And he's like halfway down the stage, and for some reason, Jason goes, hey, hey. And the guy turns around. Jason goes, you have a really nice way about you.

[C]

You.

[A]

And the guy looks at me, thank. Thanks, man. For years, Jason and I have been saying this to each other. It's just like, he's like, why did I say that? Like, what. What came over me that I needed. We'd already had, like a nice goodbye, but he was just like, hey, you have a really nice way about you. Like, it was like an old timey Coke commercial or something.

[B]

Like the football player.

[A]

The kid says something to the kid. Or the kid says something to the football player.

[B]

That's really funny. It feels like Field of Dreams, like Moonlight. Graham. Hey, you were good.

[A]

Hey, you were good, kid.

[B]

You were good, kid.

[A]

You have a really nice way about you.

[B]

So the guy just looks back, is confused, and probably keeps walking. And that's just it. And Siegel's like what. Why did I. What happened there?

[A]

Why did I say that? Like, what came over me? But also, like, here. In Jason's defense, the guy had a nice way about him. Craig said, text Jason. Hey, you have a really nice way about you with no context. With no context.

[B]

19 years later.

[A]

Do I put it in quotes or.

[B]

No, no, just say. Just say it.

[A]

He will.

[B]

I promise you.

[A]

He will know. We'll see if he gets back to us.

[B]

It needs to be.

[A]

You have a really nice way of it.

[B]

It needs to be. The response will needs to clearly show that he remembers it or else I'm going to be saying, I hope.

[A]

I hope he remembers what I'm talking about. We talked about it enough. Like we were talking about it in season nine. Like it was a runner.

[B]

I've never heard this story before. I love it so much.

[A]

It was a runner. That was enough that stuck around long enough that I think he'll know what I'm talking about.

[B]

You know, we were up in the writers room so much. There was things happening down on set that we didn't know about. And this is. This makes me happy and sad at the same time. Sad that I missed it at the time, but I'm glad to know it now.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Hey, you have really nice way about you.

[D]

I've got, you know, our fans have very nice ways about them. And I've got two sort of simple questions before we get on to two Fiyero inspired letters. You know, I, I know the, the breaks in logic are not, you know, are to be understood.

[B]

It happens.

[D]

It happens. Many people wonder when Barney learned to draw drive because it says Emily Brown on Facebook says, in this episode, Barney doesn't know how to drive. Which gives us a hilarious scene in an episode. In a later season, Barney's storyline is that he's trying to get out of speeding tickets and he keeps getting pulled over. When did Barney learn to drive? Did you guys realize after that future episode that he previously hadn't known how to drive?

[B]

Oh, boy. I don't. I, I could. I can definitely picture us having screwed up the math on that. Although I don't. We didn't say exactly what year that was. That flashback of him and Ted learning. I don't.

[A]

Also, our default defense is unreliable narrator.

[B]

Older time unreliable narrator. Who remembers dates all the time. Where I thought you were going with this is another critique I've heard of this episode. Just logic wise, people love the episode. But there's other times. Marshall allows food and drink in the Fiero in series. I think I think that's been pointed out before and I'm pretty sure that that's right. And we did fuck that one up because I think you see other flashbacks where they're talking about eating beef jerky and drinking tantrum on a road trip and it's like, clearly that rule was not in effect at that point.

[A]

But it's a lot. You know, it's hard to keep the logic of like a two hour movie in your head.

[B]

You guys were keeping nine years. Yeah, nine years.

[A]

Like there's gonna be. And I think in some ways that's part of the shaggy charm of a long running show.

[B]

Yeah. And boy, you're right. The unreliable narrator piece. Let's just keep going to that and get it a jail free card

[D]

on Instagram. Mark Brittner has a musical question. How did you get the triumphant instrumental version of I'm gonna be 500 miles? Did you hire an orchestra or was it made with.

[B]

No, our brilliant composer, John Swihart, who Alec, we should have on some episode. Maybe. I mean, I don't. Maybe we can choose one that had a really featured good like original song that we did. But he, he and his. And Brian Kim who. Who worked with him as a co composer and a junior composer who then did more More as the series went too. We would just say to them orchestral 500 miles by the Proclaimers and they'd be like, yep, I got you. And it would come back in and they just, you know, it's not, it's not a real orchestra. Although when we did the 100th episode Suits musical. That was a real orchestra. That was amazing. We'll get there.

[A]

You know, I'm just remembering. Remember when I used to do Song of the Day on Twitter, Craig? For years. So the day of the finale airing that morning, my song of the day was by my friend Ryan o' Neill who records a Sleeping at Last. Did you guys ever use a Sleeping at Last tune on the show? I don't know, but he's amazing and he's got this huge career. I saw him at Carnegie Hall, I think last year or the year before. But he did this achingly sad and beautiful, stripped down, kind of slow version of 500 miles.

[B]

Oh, wow, that's so cool. We should post that, Alec. We should put that in the notes. I don't know that. I don't remember that.

[A]

Or maybe it'll be so beautiful. And it was very moving to people that I put it on as the song of the day that day.

[B]

Yeah, totally. That's amazing. I'm having yet another pang of regret that we didn't think to do that late in series on How Met yout Mother. That would have been great.

[A]

I don't know that. Oh, yeah. No, I guess it would have existed. I think it had been really least like you might have actually locked the picture before it was released.

[B]

That's very cool. Yeah. We also play the Solids, our band that we still do an annual fundraiser concert of the music of How Much yout Mother. We always play that song. Edit. We were doing it about your ballroom again.

[A]

It's usually the closer, right?

[B]

That's usually the closer. We bring everybody out. You've jumped out and sang on it. Cristin Miliotti has Matthew Coz from Not a Surf. We've had everybody come out and sing that song with our eyes.

[A]

I feel like Ashley Williams, like really rocks out to it.

[B]

She does.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We really do. We really have. So. So please, we will advertise when that show is. It's going to be in June this year. Come sing 500 Miles with us in person.

[D]

All right, we've got two letters here. You guys want to take one than the other?

[B]

Okay. This letter is from Ross P. And it says the following. Hello, Josh and Craig. I've been specifically waiting for this episode. You see, I own a Fiero. And for those of you who are wondering how reliable a Fiero. For those of you who are wondering how reliable a Fiero actually is, it is not. Well, pause now and say that Fieros, they're not a sponsor, nor sadly, will

[A]

they ever be after this.

[B]

Does it still exist?

[A]

Do they still make Fieros?

[B]

I don't. That's a great question, Alec. Can you, while I'm reading this letter, look up when Fieros ceased to be made, which I feel like was a while ago, unless. And then it's even worse slander if I'm saying they're not made anymore than they are. So we'll edit this all out. Here we go back to trashing Fieroes via Ross P. This episode of Himyan was actually the first episode of the show I ever saw saw. As I was looking for a YouTube video about Fieros, I stumbled upon a clip from this episode and decided I would watch it. As you can imagine, having not seen any of the previous episodes, I was very confused and just assumed Lily and Robin were super enthusiastic about origami. I'm currently a sophomore in Michigan and I'm very happy. But before college, I was nervous about it. As an Oklahoman, my college plan required That I pick up everything and move. It was an all new experience with an all new location and all new people. And I wanted something that I new. Something that reminded me of who I was as I was bombarded with new things, like Marshall. So I took my Fiero. The first week of college was difficult, and meeting new people was not my specialty, nor was it going well. So on my first weekend at college, I got in my Fiero and drove as far from campus as I could. But I only made it about 30 minutes before my Fiero's engine turned off and would not turn back on. I was obviously devastated. However, just like Marshall's, Fiero gave him a token of appreciation in its final moments, I too was given a gift. Before my poor car was diagnosed with engine failure, I was given my very first friends at college. Having been stranded in the middle of nowhere, Michigan, I called the number of the only person I had talked to at any length during my first week, and she and some of her friends came and picked me up. So in place of a cassette tape, I was given my first three friends. And so when I watched this episode and I mourn for my car alongside Marshall, I drank a hypothetical celebratory beer. I'm not 21 yet.

[A]

Ha.

[B]

Thanks for creating a show that makes friends so desirable and stories so much more fun to tell. Sincerely, Ross P. Man, great letter.

[A]

What a great letter. Yeah, awesome.

[B]

Love that. Thanks, Ross.

[A]

Thank you, Ross. And Rip. Your Fiero.

[B]

I know. Rip.

[D]

The last of which rolled off the lines on August 16, 1988, two days shy of Craig's 13th birthday.

[A]

Isn't it funny? We're like, ooh, don't offend the Fiyero makers. They haven't been at it since 1988.

[B]

I would have guessed, like, the 90s or early 2000s. I did not realize it went off. I mean, I guess we know why they're not the most reliable car, but they looked cool and they're. That is a cool name.

[A]

So I bet for car people, like, for real car people, my friend Kia is like a car guy. I bet Fieros are, like, some of the most fa. Like, if you spot a Fiero and you're a car person.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

You'd be thrilled.

[B]

Yeah, totally.

[A]

How did you land on Fiero? Like, where'd that come from?

[B]

I don't remember. Maybe it was Chris's choice. I think we just wanted something that was very dated. Was. And turns out to even be old in the 90s, right? When Marshall got this in the. In the early mid-90s from his brothers. It didn't stop being made years earlier. I think. I think we're looking for very. Something that was like old and. But kind of cool.

[A]

And it was also like cool at one moment and just like.

[B]

Yeah, I think just the name, honestly, the name Fierro, it's just a cool name. It was maybe not the.

[A]

It's like Baba Ganuj.

[B]

Baba Ganuj. If you're gonna say that over it a lot of times make the title. It's gotta be a co. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Well, if you want, we have one more letter to read. That's terrific. But if you want to share your own Fiero memories or how I met your mother memories related anything to the show that you. Why you watch it, why you love it, what. What has stayed with you all these years, please reach out to us at how we made your mother.com h wm y m.com go to contact and follow the instructions. You can leave us a written note, you can leave us a voice note. Then maybe we'll will play at the beginning of the show. We love hearing from you guys. And here is another a Riva di Fiero related note. This one's from Avery. Dear Craig and Josh, I want to start by taking you Back to season two, episode 17, Arriva d'. Fiero. In that episode, we learned how a beat up old Fierro became the vehicle, literally and figuratively, for Ted and Marshall's friends. Friendship. Those road trips singing along to I'm going to be 500 miles created a bond that transcended the miles traveled. I'm writing to you because my own life has a red Mustang version of that story. During my undergrad years at Marquette University in Milwaukee, my best friend Jake and I took countless road trips in his red Mustang. Like Ted and Marshall and the Fiero, those drives became our sacred space. The place where a friendship transformed into bright motherhood. And on those trips, windows down and the road stretching out before us, we bonded over our mutual love for how I met your mother. I came to Marquette carrying the weight of a difficult family situation. Your show arrived in my life at exactly the right moment, offering something I desperately needed. A roadmap. You taught me that family isn't just who you're born to. It's the people you choose. The ones who show up for you in your best times and stand beside you through your worst. The gang at McLaren's wasn't just a friend group. They were proof that you could build your own family. Jake became my brother. And through Him. I found my own gang. A group of friends who are still my family to this day. We lived and breathed the show. We suited up. We accepted challenges. How I met your mother wasn't just something we watched. It became the language through which we understood friendship, love, and what it means to really show up for each each other. A few years after we graduated, I called Jake after my first date with a woman named Andrea. We'd met at a cocktail lounge, ordered drinks and appetizers, and talked for hours. And then it happened. The olive theory. Right there. On our first date, our appetizers arrived, and without thinking, she immediately reached for the olives while I instinctively pushed them aside. We both stopped, looked at each other, and laughed because we both knew what that meant. It was such a small moment, but in that instant, I knew. Knew. I told Jake right then. She was the one. Your show became part of Andrea's and my love story from that very first date. And earlier this year, when we got married, Jake stood up as my best man and said, andrea, to quote Avery's favorite show, how I met your mother, you passed the front porch test. I'll see you guys on the porch in 50 years for our daily match of bridge. But beyond the laughs and the catchphrases, your show taught me something profound. It's okay to be vulnerable. It's okay. Okay to feel. It's okay to fail. Because the best things in life are worth waiting for. Looking back now, I'm grateful for every heartbreak, every hardship, every wrong turn because they all led me to Andrea. They led me to the life I'm living now. Married to the woman of my dreams. Now listening to how we made your mother and hearing the behind the scenes stories of how you crafted these moments. I'm reminded all over again of the intentionality and heart you poured into every episode. Episode. It's been such a gift to revisit the show through your eyes. Thank you for creating something that became so much more than entertainment. Thank you for giving someone navigating a difficult family situation a vision of what Chosen Family looks like. Thank you for the laughter, the tears, and the belief that our stories, no matter how meandering, are leading us exactly where we need to be with immense gratitude.

[B]

Avery, it's fantastic. I. And it's so cool how this show has turned out. This show about love has turned out to be a part of so many real life love stories. Yeah, it's really cool.

[A]

And, you know, I was thinking about this, that we can talk about this if we. If we, you know, we'll talk about this more as the years go on. But I, you know, we talked about, like, there was something about Ted that felt a little out of fashion or a little bit out of step with the times. It was still like a real Dudes, dudes on the air. And I always was like, I know I'm playing this very vulnerable guy who leads with his heart. Heart on the sleeve is vulnerable feelings, but he's got this emotional resilience that I found to be very heroic and strong. But it's so wonderful to hear a letter like that. Said, he taught me it's okay to feel, it's okay to fail. And that's why I think Ted and the show as a whole has aged pretty well. There was. There was some real. I don't know, there was just a feeling of, like, stop with this vulnerable guy. You guys even got notes from the network like, you know, who would be like this? And you're like, we're like this. But it's just so nice to have it reflected back that our gamble on a character like this paid off.

[B]

It ages well because it's true.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's the truth of how people and how men are. You know, it's the pretending otherwise that seems to cause all the problems.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks, Avery. Thanks, Ross. We just loved reading those letters.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we love talking. I love talking about this episode. This was really fun, Craig.

[B]

Yeah, this is a great one. Go, Chris Harris. Go, everybody. Everybody was firing on all cylinders except the Fiero boom.

[A]

And that's how you end an episode. I am guilty. Please acquit me. All sins are forgiven in New York City.

[D]

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

[B]

the real

[A]

question it just hit me. Am I in love with you or just New York City? You have a really nice way about you.

[D]

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[B]

That's the og it kicked off this

[D]

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[B]

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[A]

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[C]

relax and let go of whatever you're feeling carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast.

[A]

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[C]

Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

[A]

1-800-contacts.