How Everything Went | S3E19 "Everything Must Go"

How We Made Your Mother

Josh Radner and Craig Thomas revisit Season 3, Episode 19, 'Everything Must Go,' discussing its rushed production during the Writers' Strike

Key takeaways

• The episode was part of a frantic nine-episode production cycle following the Writers' Strike.
• Britney Spears played the character Abby, which the hosts found both funny and endearing.

Main topics

• Review of 'Everything Must Go'
• The impact of the Writers' Strike on production

Notable quotes

I never feel more famous than in Paris.

Conclusion

The episode highlights how the show's legacy extends beyond the screen

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:02) Hi, Josh. Hi, guys. Recording this from Bordeaux, France, where I live, and where my story with How I Met Your Mother all started almost 20 years ago. My name is Guillaume. I'm French. I'm a speechwriter in politics. 20 years ago, on my very first week, my very first days as an adult, as a grown-up, fresh out of my parents' house, I met my soon-to-be best friend, Vincent. at arriving in business school here in Bordeaux. We knew nobody else. We just met and he told me, why don't you come home this weekend? I want to show you something. And he showed me how I met your mother. And I spent the whole weekend binge watching the show. It was the first time I was binge watching anything on the couch of my future best friend, Vincent. And that's the story of how I met my best friend. So thank you for all of that. Take care and lots of love from here in Bordeaux. Speaker 3 (1:03) In New York City When I see you Please permit me To tell you everything New York City Speaker 4 (1:16) Welcome to another episode of How We Made Your Mother. I'm Josh Radner. I'm here with Craig Thomas. Hey, Craig. Hey, Josh. And we're talking about How I Met Your Mother, a TV show we made that apparently has been uniting French friends since 2005. That Speaker 6 (1:30) was the way we pitched the show. We said, if this can bring two French friends together. It's Speaker 4 (1:34) going to bring Speaker 6 (1:34) a lot of Speaker 4 (1:35) friendship to people in France. Speaker 6 (1:37) It's the best. I love that story. That is such a great story, Guillaume. Thank you for sharing that. I believe in France, a lot of people refer to it as not a joke. I think they just call it Al-Mamit and it stops there. I learned that because the finale are in America and I went to France for that summer. I lived in Paris for almost three months. My son was very young. My wife is a huge Francophile and she had lived there in college. And we went there and I did like a little because the final season launched when I was there. You know, there's like a lag. It ended in America, but it was launching that summer. And 20th then, you know, who then owned the show, it's now Disney, said they set up a press tour for me. It launched season nine. It was me and like 15 French journalists. And I learned that they call it Al-Aimit. And that it's very big there. I think it's very far Speaker 4 (2:26) ahead. Speaker 6 (2:26) Oh, Speaker 4 (2:26) I Speaker 6 (2:26) never feel Speaker 4 (2:27) more famous than in Paris. I'm telling you. Is that right? Say more about that. Speaker 6 (2:32) Say more about that. That's fascinating. Speaker 4 (2:33) I don't know. The few times I've been to Paris since the show. has been on and been popular, it's just like, oh yeah, a lot of people in Paris watch this show or know this show. That's so cool. Paris, the best place Speaker 2 (2:46) on Earth. Speaker 4 (2:46) I get very good tables in Paris. Oh, man. Speaker 6 (2:49) Okay, I got to drop your name next time I'm there. I don't know. No one cares about me and my tables, but I love Paris so much and I love France so much and I've been to Bordeaux and it's beautiful. And Speaker 4 (2:57) you've been to the German How I Met Your Mother bar. I've been to Speaker 6 (2:59) the German How I Met Your Mother bar. That's a whole other story. We should talk. Man, we should have those guys on and talk to them about what's Speaker 4 (3:03) it Speaker 6 (3:03) been like to run the How I Met Your Mother bar in Germany for Speaker 4 (3:05) 20 Speaker 5 (3:06) years. Speaker 4 (3:06) I know that people will be listening to this. later because we have a lag obviously when we do this but we are two days away from the New York Knicks winning the NBA championship and were you in the city on Saturday night? I Speaker 6 (3:18) was at my son's graduation weekend from high school he's up in Cape Cod going to this residential school amazing school called Riverview So he went to his prom that night at that school, and we rushed out of the prom to go watch the second two-thirds. We barely missed any of the next game. The prom was very tight. They kept it tight. Everyone got out. And so we saw most of the next game and saw them winning. It was phenomenal. Yeah, we were at a Speaker 4 (3:44) spot in Fort Greene, not far from us. And after they won, we walked down the street. I'll send you a video of it, Craig. It was... the biggest spontaneous party you could ever imagine. That's fantastic. I was sad Speaker 6 (3:59) not to be in New York City. And then we walked Speaker 4 (4:01) all the way down to Cobb over to like Spike Lee's, you know, offices, which are there, which have a Knicks banner from, you know, 1972, 73. So great. And there's a Knicks thing, a paint, you know, a mural that everyone's taking pictures in front of. But everything was shut down. I mean, it was like New Year's Eve meets Burning Man. I mean, it was an insane. moment and you knew You knew the moment was happening as it was happening. Like, you're like, oh, this is like a massive, it was like an uncorking of spontaneous joy. People just wanted Speaker 6 (4:34) happiness. We were all so hungry for just joy and spontaneous, like unfettered, no asterisk on it, happiness. Yes, yes. And yeah, I was so sad not to be in the studio. I Speaker 4 (4:45) was Speaker 6 (4:45) very happy to be supporting my son. My son is the biggest Knicks fan of the family. Like, he made me a huge Knicks fan. I made him a huge Mets fan. which I apologize for often. And he made me a huge Knicks fan. Same colors though, right? Aren't Speaker 4 (4:59) they Speaker 6 (4:59) both orange and Speaker 4 (4:59) blue? Speaker 6 (4:59) Orange and blue. And I give him so much credit. I'm like, I fell in love with the Knicks because of you, Elliot. He was the earliest adapter. He's been like, he's been in for years and years and years before I was really in. He's been like this Jalen Brunson guy. He was very early. He was like early on, like that was his favorite guy. And he's just such a joy to watch, Jalen Brunson. I'm so happy for him because he's Speaker 4 (5:21) just a joyful player to watch, whether they're good or not. You know what? Just watching him, it's just like, he just like, he, I don't know, he feels like he's on the side of good. Yes, yes. There's something about that guy. There's certain people that are incredible players, but they feel like they're on the dark side. Yes. I Speaker 6 (5:39) think maybe some of the opposing team had a little bit of that energy going, at least in that series. But Jalen Brunson Speaker 4 (5:45) just seems like he, I don't know, like he's certainly like a blessed, gifted player, but he also like... plays with so much heart. It feels like Luke Skywalker or something. Yeah. He's just like, Speaker 6 (5:56) he was the chosen one. The force is strong in him. The force is strong. It really is. It really is. I Speaker 4 (6:01) read a statistic that I thought was so incredible that the Spurs were ahead in the series 72 % of the time. It's Speaker 6 (6:09) crazy how dominant they were in games Speaker 3 (6:12) they lost. But Speaker 6 (6:12) not only that, when Speaker 4 (6:13) you crunch the numbers of like history, like who's come back from how many deficits and whatever, the Knicks... had a, and I'm not kidding, one in 250,000 chance of winning this series, which they won. Speaker 6 (6:28) Oh, you see 3PO over here. Never tell me the odds. That is unbelievable. I like, I could not believe they came back to win some of those games. I could, my brain couldn't handle it. I Speaker 4 (6:41) know. It almost felt like they couldn't click into their magical superpowers until they were perilously far behind. Speaker 6 (6:47) Yeah, I love what Brunson said. He's like, the game starts at 8.30, we show up around 9. That's what he said. He's like, Speaker 5 (6:52) that's just our thing. Oh, that's amazing. It was so Speaker 6 (6:55) funny. Speaker 2 (6:56) I grew up in the 1980s, where I got to, after the Knicks and the Yankees did all their winning in the 70s, I got to watch no winning whatsoever the entire time I was in the city from those two teams. And then I leave, and the Yankees start winning everything, and then the Knicks. It's just, I haven't watched basketball in decades. Hey, Speaker 6 (7:13) you Speaker 2 (7:13) got Speaker 6 (7:13) the Dodgers. Shut up. I have the Mets, Speaker 2 (7:16) and Speaker 6 (7:16) you have the Dodgers. Speaker 2 (7:16) But it was just... You know, Speaker 4 (7:18) Craig, it seems like one of those things, like it was such an event that if How I Met Your Mother was on the air, You could set an episode against that. I have had so Speaker 6 (7:26) many people write me on social media saying, what would the gang, like, what would everyone's thing have been for the game? I love that because it makes me feel like people still feel like, well, they still live there in the city. These are real humans. What did they think of when the Knicks won in 2026? I'm like, okay, I guess I'll go ask them. Hey, Ted, what do you think? I think Josh Radner, who plays Ted, seems very happy and invested. So let's say that we know that much. Speaker 4 (7:52) Yeah. Speaker 6 (7:52) He Speaker 4 (7:52) was. I can confirm he was very happy. No, it was a joyous night. It was great to be in the city. And it was great to, I don't know, just to feel the, like New York's already a great city. But there was something about the unified joy of it all. Just what we're missing. It's what we're missing Speaker 6 (8:12) in America and in civilization. That communal, that feeling, that joy in person, live. We're all watching it. Joy. Yeah. I mean, that's what was. I miss that about how I think How I Met Your Mother airing that way was great. I love that people binge watch the show. I love that Guillaume and his friend binge watched it. But there's something about knowing eight o'clock at night on a Monday, people were watching How I Met Your Mother. There's something about that that I think is lost. in society, in pop culture now. And it's Speaker 4 (8:40) just no one, it's just sports. We love moments of shared joy. I mean, it's, you know, the Olympics does it a little bit. Olympics will give it to you. But I mean, a lot of them get co-opted and commodified. Like the Super Bowl really feels like commercials that are interspersed with a football game. I Speaker 6 (8:57) agree. Speaker 4 (8:57) I don't feel Speaker 6 (8:58) joy watching that most of the time. Speaker 4 (8:59) But this, for some reason, this transcended capitalism. Like, I know it's like the biggest business in the world, NBI, right? But it somehow lifted it into the realm of the mythic. Yeah. Like, Ananobi's tip, like, there was a freeze frame of it. And they had also this, like, classical painting. And they were just like, put it in the Louvre. Yes, I know. It's Speaker 6 (9:25) like Speaker 4 (9:25) the Speaker 6 (9:25) hand reaching to God. Yes. There's Speaker 4 (9:28) something immediately iconic and mythic about it that transcends. all differences all um rancor you know all partisanship it was magic it was one of those Speaker 2 (9:39) pointed out that a lot of what has brought new york together and a lot of big cities together is uh tragedy and that this is yes this gives us Speaker 6 (9:47) that Speaker 2 (9:47) feeling yeah Speaker 6 (9:48) joy often there's this type of unity in new york when some bad has happened and this is just so good and pure Yeah, let's go Knicks, man. We were not born yet. Any of these old guys on this screen right now were not born yet when they last won. So let's Speaker 4 (10:03) go Speaker 6 (10:03) Knicks. It was magic. It reminded me of the 86 Mets. I was 11 when that happened. It reminded me of Game 6, Mookie Wilson, Groundball Energy. And it was just like magic. It Speaker 4 (10:12) immediately entered the annals of the greatest teams, the greatest games. And you felt like, I don't know, there's a feeling of like, oh. history is happening right now. History is happening in New York City is a Hamilton line. But it's like, you know, when you're living through it and you just knew that this was a real thing. It was, dare I Speaker 6 (10:33) say, legendary. I think it's worthy of Speaker 4 (10:37) dropping our own catchphrase. Here, I'll connect it to our episode. This comes back to the bracket. Which is a basketball-themed episode. Speaker 6 (10:46) Yes. Speaker 4 (10:47) We started the episode and Jordana said, wait, didn't we watch this? Because is Barney getting slapped? Yep, yep. There was a Speaker 6 (10:55) basketball link. You brought it around. I was going to say, okay, and that ends two months late sports chat or whatever people are hearing this. But you brought it. You saved it. And I wrote Speaker 3 (11:05) you this little ditty to sing to you in New York City. Speaker 4 (11:13) We'll be right back. And now back to the show. Speaker 4 (11:27) So, today's, we're on episode 19 of season three. This is, by the way, a podcast where we talk about How I Met Your Mother. Yes, that's usually. Which Speaker 6 (11:36) is Speaker 4 (11:36) a show that I made with Craig and a bunch of other great people years ago that people still love and are talking about. So, we're talking about it. We're re-watching it. My wife, Jordana, is watching it for the first time. I'm, as if I'm watching it for the first time in certain ways. But this is episode 19. It was written by. Tell me, Craig. This Speaker 6 (11:55) was a rare co-write, a random co-write pairing, not a writing team, but just paired up. And this was, I saw that and I immediately flashed back to the only times we've ever done that twice were both during the Writer's Guild strike. This episode was written coming out of the Writer's Guild strike and we had to shoot something like nine, we had to shoot nine episodes in something like 11 weeks. And it was insane. And so Chris Harris and Jonathan Groff, not the actor, the writer, former head writer of Cone and Irvine, great writer. He's a little bit into the other Groff shadow right now, but I want to say our Jonathan Groff is wonderful too. And he and Chris Harris