December 22, 2025 • 50 mins
It’s the crossover you’ve been waiting for when Ted Mosby himself, Josh Radnor, and show co-creator Craig Thomas join Danielle, Will and Rider to go behind the scenes of “How I Met Your Mother.”
With Josh and Craig on their own rewatch podcast journey, they talk to the gang about the emotions they’ve already felt and how it’s already changed their lives.
Plus, they get into the controversial finale and Rider finds a new best friend, on an all-new Pod Meets World!
Follow @podmeetsworldshow on Instagram and TikTok!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm I'm kind of surprised that I made it to
the podcast this morning and it's only one room away.
I'm surprised I've made it anywhere in the last four
days because I've added an addition to my house that
has been taking up.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Are you talking about your batcave bathroom?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yes, I am, because I added something to it that
takes it to a whole other level. What I've gotten
my first ever smart toilet.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
The heck is a smart toilet jealous jealous and it
opens up auto like when did you go?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Oh, it like sprays out this like beautiful scent and
it cleans itself. And the reason I'm amazed I made
it this morning it has an automatic.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Beday yes, yeah, yeah, which I've never used before.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Which one did you get?
Speaker 4 (01:14):
We talked about this because you went shopping for them
when you were doing the house renovation stuff. They were
you said, there were Yeah, they were really expensive. You
were not going to get them, but you must have
found one that tickles your fancy price wise Yeah, literally.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Fancy, Yes, thank yeah, it tickles his least chancy.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
Three words for you, Danielle.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Costco great, So they had it for like an eighth
of what it costs everywhere else.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
It's a Cohler. It's beautiful. I had it installed and
I'm like, there's a remote.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
They got to put the remote up and you press
a button and I'm like, all right, waiting to see oh.
Speaker 6 (01:49):
Like right up the old nether regions.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yes, it does have a seat heater too, uh tars
asking there's a seat heater, a self cleaner, a front
and back oscillating.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Believe, hey, you saw how excited I got when we
were on a plane talking about this. You saw how
excited I got, And I almost purchased them online. Remember,
I was like why right before we were taking off
and you were like how much are those? I was like,
I think they're like two thousand dollars each and I
was like, man, that really is expensive.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
All right, I would need three, so that's six thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Will It was like, you're the only person I know
who can spend six thousand dollars on a on a taxi,
take off on a plane, taking off on a ton
because of course it's there was just too much money
for toilets there at Costco.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
And I got it.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I got it installed, and it is other than playing
music and just telling me like, hey, you've lost some weight.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
It does everything else. It's awf it.
Speaker 7 (02:39):
Should just tell you that.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
It shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Wow, you lost some weight.
Speaker 7 (02:43):
Just left me.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Wait did someone from Costco install it?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
No?
Speaker 6 (02:49):
No, no, I have I have a plumber.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I'm not going to say his name because he's like
a magical guy who doesn't charge much.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
But his name's Tom Tom.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
I know, I know, Tom Tom. You've stolen Tom from.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
You you have, so he came.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And that's the other thing is you have to have
a plug near your toilet, which I didn't, so I
had to have my other guy, Henry, come in and
put in a plug.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
The electrician come in and put in a plug. So
it was it was a like a process.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
But oh what a process because we had an updated
bathrooms in twenty some odd years, right, So to go
from you know, steerage on the Titanic to first class
on the Titanic was pretty wonderful. I don't know why
I used that analogy because everyone ended up dead, but
we Yeah, but it was much like life. It's been great.
It's been, it's been. It's I was not expecting a
(03:31):
stream of water on a bangball to do what it does. Yikes,
it's uh, it's pretty ambasing.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
La la, I've said my phrase, got my I am
part of this conversation.
Speaker 6 (03:51):
Mercy, so it's worth it.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
You watched Full House last night?
Speaker 6 (03:54):
Right again?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
Again?
Speaker 6 (03:57):
You're in?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You're in?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yes, started we started like because it's always a battle.
But what we're gonna watch, what movie we're gonna watch,
whether we're gonna watch the TV show whatever. Indy is
just a contrariant. I don't know where he gets this from. Guys,
we'd no idea.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
That's so strange understanding.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
He's almost like ily created a system where he gets
two votes. Alex and I each get a vote, and
we put it in a hat and we draw what
we're watching, and he, with both his votes put four house,
just to piss me off. I and I we enjoyed it.
Did you started the pilot? No, we just picked up
(04:33):
from where we were watched. So we watched that Christmas episode,
and we watched the one right after that the same night,
and so the last night it watched the next three
and the show is way better than that Christmas episode.
The Christmas episode is hands down the worst one. Okay,
the so much better but of the five, John Stamos
is wonderful, really good at it.
Speaker 7 (04:55):
That's part of the show.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Bob Saggat, I know he was a very funny person,
you know, I met him a few times in life.
Very funny. Not not very good on the show, just
kind of standard like dorky guy, right, and Dave Coolier
is goofy and all over it, you know. But like
Stameles is amazing. Jody's so good show. Again, that's the
(05:17):
first one that I saw of a part in the
three we watched last night, and you I've missed her
like the one we had watched the follows the Christmas
episode was like her hula hooping and she's incredible, Like
she's just so charming and funny and all the things. Yeah,
I'm still very uncomfortable with the old it's not still
and Indy just thinks it's hysterical, like when I explained
to him what you had said Will about the cand
(05:41):
the rattle of so that he just every time they're
on the screen, Andy just loses it. Thinks it's hysterical,
like give him a cookie, where's the eminem bag? Yeah,
it's it's It still makes me uncomfortable, like the opening credits,
and she's just like looking at the camera and like
pointing out the helicopter following them. What this show is weird?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
He wasn't. That was see what if you followed her
process as an actor at the time she was pointing
out the Golden gate Bridge as the drove past it exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, that's what I started to I started to think,
is the whole show from her POV? In other words, like,
is reality morphed into a two year old's world view?
And that's why people act the way they do. That's
why situations working out the way they do.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
The theory about Boy Meets World is that it's from
Cory's POV and when he's young, as brothers a god,
and when he's older, his brother's a goof.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Right, And so that's why full House opens the opening
credits is always close up shot of her and then right,
So it's like saying, this is the this is her
memories that we're getting her like messed up version of
reality that we're getting. And then I'm like, Okay, I
can kind of hang with this. Like people are really
big and over the top and make choices that make
(06:49):
no connections.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Well as we're also going back on this, this journey
of not only rewatching our show, but watching episodes of
other show. Sitcom was just big, especially the ones we're watching.
I mean, Sitcom was just big.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So it's yeah, it was just it was like the
point of every episode is almost like for family members
to be able to wander in and out and like still.
Speaker 7 (07:12):
Get a laugh.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Do you know what I mean that just walk in
It was dual screen. You just said a thing and
then they were to go finish eating dinner or whatever.
It's like, yeah, it's just the I mean, it's kind
of the lowest common denominator, right. It was like, let's
just create a situation where it's like recognizable family members
and they just say funny stuff.
Speaker 8 (07:29):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And like the idea of nuance like you can't you
can't have it because you only have twenty two minutes.
You just want stock characters, you want predictable situations.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
Like everybody can.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Argue that one of the reasons that our show has
endured for so long is that we did have that
nuance a lot of the time.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well that's what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean I think
the best ones do right, or they managed to do
both right, like the best shows managed to have Like
that's why I think The Friends was so fun, is
like everything was pretty big and over the top, but
it was built out of characters that you believe, or
it believed enough that you were like, oh, that situation
is great, and so they could throw out one liners,
(08:05):
they could be very big and obvious in some ways
made me think about Seinfeld too, right, that those characters
are ridiculous. It's not believable by any measure, but there's
something nuanced about it. There's something, there's depth to it
that's still so clever.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I think you also, if we've always compared sitcom to
a play in your home every week, and I think
the thing that I sometimes struggle with I have to
remind myself is that full House is a play for
eight year olds. Friends is a play for twenty eight
year olds exactly. So it's like they're two very different
nights at the theater. But the great shows are the
ones where the adults can go to the eight year
(08:40):
old's play.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
And still have an awesome time.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Right, And then there are some people like I think
you're one of these people, Will my wife is one
of these people. The second they see any play the
actors the way the actors act, she just can't hang
like She's just like, no, that's that's not the way
people talk about like cla acting is just false to her,
do you know what I mean?
Speaker 7 (08:58):
And I think I've.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Always felt that way out sitcom acting, you know where
it's like in theater. I'm okay with it because it's
like we're in a big room and you got to
be you know, there's something about the back of the room.
I'm okay with it, especially with musicals, but like, yeah,
with sitcom acting, I'm like, why, why why are you
doing like don't don't don't don't talk like that.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
A sitcom musical, I don't mean a single episode.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I mean like an actual sitcom that is also I
know they did cop Rock cop Rock, and they do
like Glee and cop Rock.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I wasn't even a multi cam. I think that was
single cam.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
It was.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
It was a single single cam too.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, but they were singing in the context. They weren't
even singing like they were performing within the show, right
the right They wouldn't break into song. They didn't, Okay,
I didn't never see high school musical they did, right,
they would just breaking a song in a private moment
like the movie, right, But Glee it was all about
the actual performances. So yeah, what about a sitcom.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
That's just I wonder if it's just too hard to
have them all breaking in the song every sitcom episode.
Speaker 6 (10:02):
I mean, that must be multiple takes.
Speaker 9 (10:04):
But then you got to do that at the regularly.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
You know what there was one guys, got my crazy
ex girlfriend?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Oh well, but that wasn't multicam. That was single cam.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
Yeah, single what's my crazy ex girlfriend? I don't think
I know that one.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
Oh, it's a huge Rachel Bloom eight ten years ago.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
Oh and it was a musical.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
It was a musical single camera, and the whole idea
was like it was she was chasing her ex boyfriend obsessively,
so it was like you were in her imagination where
there it's like a beautiful love story set to a musical.
Speaker 7 (10:34):
Oh wasn't it was?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
It was like she was delusional pilot Very good.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
Yeah, interesting, Okay, so I've using my bidet.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
And writers watching full house fun fact.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Guys, you know squat toilets, which a huge part of
the world uses.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
You don't get hemorrhids.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Yeah, no, very much healthier for you.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
So we were get a squatty poty, were saying squatty puddings, right, yeah, parties,
but your feet things, they can be comfortable.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And yeah, it's a it curves around the bottom of
the toilet and it's like a It puts you in
the perfect position as if you were squatting to be
able to go.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
No, but then you're being supported. That's the thing.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Exactly, You're not actually squatting.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
They say the same things that we should squattually score you,
we should actually squat it'd be it's good for us,
you know, like taking a getting comfortable, taking your time reading,
looking at your phone.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Why. That's the other thing this smart toilet does. If
you're on too long.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It brings an alarm, no joke, wow, if they're sit
for too long. If you sit for too long, it
beeps an alarm, like hey, get you out of here.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
I'm going to buy one just now that I no
matter what it could it could be thirty thousand dollars
and I would buy one just to get Jensen out
of the bathroom. We can be in the peak, dinner time, bedtime, Jensen.
I'm going to run to the bathroom, and it's never
less than forty minutes.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, oh yeah, Well he's got to send four hund
in fifty texts.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Four and fifty text He started posts to make.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
On my phone this morning. I was I was trying
to record an audition with my wife, and my phone
buzzed thirty times in my pocket, and I'm like, Jensen,
I didn't even Jensen. I know it's Jensen and Will
just one I'm trying to do an audition. My conversation, Oh,
I know you were. I got to read it an
hour later, scroll through the what did you just say?
(12:29):
I think, hey, hold on, hold on, guys, that's my thing.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Guys, guys.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Texts hotel away changes the whole conversation when you realize
both of us are on the toilet the whole.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
Time we were having the conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Next text, you won't believe this.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Next text, I'm about just going to something.
Speaker 7 (12:48):
Next text.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Now we're building the story.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
I answered the phone. Next text.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I had no idea who was next.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Text writer, and I send texts exactly the same way,
just one long paragraph with our thoughts.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yes, but I literally start I know Jon, and then
I am.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Rider is typing, and I'll think we're never going to see.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
What this I just said. I just finally give up.
I'm like, I can't because the conversation moved into four
different directions I have now tried doing.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
You gotta be quick. You want to have conversations with us,
You gotta be quick, my friend, then talk never never Wow.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
So you got to be day.
Speaker 9 (13:29):
He got to.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Lovely.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
It's pretty wonderful. It's also got a button that can
dry like.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Forty minutes in an episode.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
We haven't even talked about it. You haven't even.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Gotten into the fill House episode yet.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Wild I'm Danielle of Fishal, I'm Rider Strong, and I'm
on the toilet Wilfred Hill.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
When it comes to new rewatch podcast announcements, we are
all ears. We know the journey they're about to take,
the laughs, the tears, the weird feelings about haircuts from
twenty years ago. It's like finding out someone you went
to high school with is moving next door. And so
when we heard about How We Made Your Mother, a
show hosted by both the star and co creator of
(14:22):
an iconic sitcom, How I Met your Mother, we put
out the nice china and baked some cookies to welcome
them to the neighborhood, and boy, have they delivered in spades.
The TV show debuted in two thousand and five and
ran for nine seasons, running through twenty fourteen and becoming
one of the century's most successful sitcoms.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Framed as a show set in twenty.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Thirty, main character Ted Moseby recounts the meet cute with
his eventual wife, all told to their children, Penny and Luke,
creating a mystery as to who exactly their mother is
and in the process maintaining laughs for almost a decade.
The series finale was seen by over thirteen million viewers,
(15:05):
and the show was nominated for a whopping twenty eight
Emmy Awards. It would be difficult to visit the history
of modern DAYTV without mentioning its existence. And now, as
their retrospective podcast launches its second season, freshly signed to
our pals the Office Ladies Network, they're experiencing feelings strikingly
(15:25):
similar to ours and we wanted to talk about it.
So this week on pod Meets World, it's sitcom Royalty
and now adjacent podcast participants How I Met Your Mother
co creator Craig Thomas and Ted Moseby himself Josh Radner.
Speaker 10 (15:42):
Hello, hey, well hello, hello, join, Hi guys, how are you?
Speaker 8 (15:49):
I'm doing okay, how are you guys? Craig Thomas should
be joining us?
Speaker 7 (15:56):
Hey everybody?
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Great, Hi, I have to move my chat when out
of the way. It was just blocking both of your face.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
And it's good. It's going to meet you guys.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Welcome, nice to meet you. We are so happy you're
joining us. When we see other people on a similar
quest to what we're doing, it's like passing people on
the way down Mount Everest and we want to talk
to you about what is.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
What we've seen up top, you know, because most people
die on the way down from.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Maybe that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (16:32):
So you just want to share some oxygen tanks on
the way down and yeah, yeah, great.
Speaker 10 (16:38):
Yeah do it.
Speaker 9 (16:39):
You guys paved the way for this whole thing. You
were so early to the rewatch party. You guys are like,
we're the newbies, we're the rookies.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
Thank you guys for.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And we all all of the paving to office ladies,
so you know, they were they were the first, and
then I think we were like the second.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
Right in there. I thought you were before them. Actually
that's cool.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
In our minds, we were Craig, that's really all we
read that.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
We did all the No, we had the idea before
the Office Ladies, but we couldn't convince that unders We
didn't know how to do it. We thought like we
literally were like, oh, we'll release YouTube DVD commentary style tracks.
It's like, oh, you hit play at home and then
we'll talk, you know, quickly. That didn't work, and yeah,
it was. It was hard to understand what this would be. Yeah,
(17:26):
and now it's like a standard form.
Speaker 9 (17:28):
Yeah, I mean it's been and here we are the
billion one copying you and the Office Ladies. We're very like,
what's the opposite of innovative?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
That's the innovation is not what sells it.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
It's chemistry.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And we can talk about all that later, But what
what made you to decide to embark on this journey
twenty years after the show debuted?
Speaker 8 (17:49):
Well, for me, I think that the uh it started
because I got married two years ago and thank you
and my wife, Jordana is a is a big TV watcher.
She watches a lot of TV. For some reason, she
was writing the demographic to have seen and loved how
I May. She never saw an episode. She'd never seen it,
(18:12):
she didn't know anything about it. And this was when
we were getting to know each other. This was actually
a help, as you guys might know. You know, when
you meet people who don't have a preconceipt, you can
actually make a first impression.
Speaker 7 (18:24):
So it was great.
Speaker 8 (18:26):
And then one day I think, I don't remember exactly when,
but we were in LA and she said, I would
actually love to watch the show. I'd love to I
want to see this huge chapter of your life that
I didn't get to be with you for. And then
I just had the idea because I don't see enough
of Craig, and Craig has always been like a dear
(18:47):
friend and I miss him, and you know, we would
always have dinner. This is before I moved back to
New York, but we would have dinner if we found
each other in the same town. But I wanted like
more Craig in my life, you know, so I reached
out to him. I mean, this happened so quick. Jordana said,
I want to watch the show. I called Craig. I said,
my wife wants to see the show. Should we rewatch
it together and do something a little more formal, and
(19:09):
then we literally called our friend Alec lev who's a
podcast producer whiz, and within like forty five minutes, we
had this thing kind of cued up and ready to go,
and we were you know, so I tend to trust
the older I'm getting in this business, Like there's a
kind of idea like things should be hard and you
should work, but I actually really trust ease and flow
(19:32):
and effortlessness. And this was one of those things that
was just like so easy that it was like, well,
we should probably do this. And every time we do
an episode, I'm like, I can't believe this is like
kind of a job now to sit around and talk
about this thing that I am clearly like one of
the world's leading experts in just by the fact that
I was there, you know, like I don't have to
do it done a research, Like I watched the episode,
(19:53):
I take some notes and then we talk about it.
And it's been a delight. It's been really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
The notes will go away, The notes will go away,
not even be taking that's a rookie, Yeah, I remember notes.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yeah, for two of the people on this podcast, the
notes will go away.
Speaker 7 (20:10):
Oh rightsick exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
The best thing writer and I ever did was sit
down and go, let's put Danielle in charge. The best
possible decision we ever made. It just made our lives
so much easier.
Speaker 7 (20:23):
Was great.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
What about you, Craig when you got the call, did
had you ever thought about doing? Like was this something
you had thought about or was this literally like, wow,
I had never thought about that.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
I had not thought about it. So much credit really
goes to Jordana. Like Jordana and Josh's wife was like,
I need to know this part of your life.
Speaker 7 (20:41):
And I love that it came from that.
Speaker 9 (20:42):
It came from this really pure place of like I
married you, I want to know this thing you did
for a decade of your life, right, And I so
understand what Josh was saying that he was so happy
that he met somebody who hadn't seen the show and
had all this preconceived stuff. I see all of you
nodding right now. All of you guys like must have
had that thought in your life at different times, Like
(21:03):
if I'm meeting somebody, are they thinking they already know
me because they've seen me on TV for the better
part of a decade.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Or all three of us married somebody who had never
seen the show.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
General.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
My husband had like maybe been aware of two episodes
but was not did not watch the show.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Will's wife Susan.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Had never Yeah she did, she saw him all because
So my stepdaughter was eleven when I met her, who's
now you know, has my grandchild, so as is you know,
much much older. It's been twenty five years. But she
when she was eleven would run home and watch Boy
Meets World. That I would cry when she would miss
Boymets World. So no, with what you're saying, it's exactly
having that into the show is exactly how we started.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Because Ryder had never seen Boy Meets World. Yeah, yeah,
so he was on.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
The show but never actually saw any of the episodes.
So that was our same kind of thing. It was
a singer conventions and riders like I should probably watch
this show that I was.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
All the fans kept saying stuff to me or asking
for quotes, and I was like, I have no idea
what you're talking.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
I've been to me so much.
Speaker 8 (22:00):
People come up with a very specific gag or bit
or line and I'm and I look at them like
I wish I could participate in this. I just haven't
seen this in twenty years if I even saw it
to begin with, right, I will say that there's there's
there's light and dark, There's there's ups and downs to everything.
And one of the things I really loved about being
on a show that had such a big global reach
(22:22):
was it does make the world seem smaller in a
really sweet way. Like I'm sure you guys have had
the experience, like you go to a foreign country and
you're like, what are we doing this foreign country? And
they're like, come with us to a flamenco show people
we know from TV, you know, and you're like, oh,
this is like my face is like this weird social passport.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
You know.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (22:38):
Yeah, But then when you're when you're talking about like
being a life partner, it can get actually tricky if
they think they're with a person that was on a
character that is not you sure, it's really tricky.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 9 (22:51):
I find that fascinating. And it's interesting that you guys,
right right, you have you had that too. I feel
like you had an answer loaded up to where your
partner had not seen the show ever.
Speaker 7 (22:59):
Either. I was who I needed her.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I like, I couldn't date somebody if they were like
a fan of Ian. Now's weird, honestly, like what it
was just in my twenties, like the idea because like
I met my wife when I was twenty six, like
before that, if I met anybody, because I was only
ten years out from the starting the show, Like it
was just too close, Like I need so everybody I
dated was older than me and had never heard a
boy meet's world.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
It was. That's so funny and I totally get it.
Speaker 9 (23:24):
Yeah, Yeah, that's really that's really interesting, and it's it
is weird looking back on some on stuff we did
twenty years ago. I can only imagine for you guys,
since you started off as as kids and as teenagers
and stuff.
Speaker 7 (23:33):
It's even that's a whole other layer.
Speaker 9 (23:34):
But Josh and I are looking back and some stuff
we vividly remember, and some stuff we it's like this
insane amnesia has happened. We were like, I forgot the
entire BT story of that episode.
Speaker 7 (23:44):
Yeah, and it's better than the A story.
Speaker 9 (23:45):
It's actually the best part of the episode is the thing.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I forgot about and that chle Shane.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Memories are the fun ones where one person will remember
one thing which then leads you down a path of
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
God, I totally forgot about this.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, and then next thing, you know, it's something that
happened behind the scenes that nobody else would remember remember.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Yeah, those are the best ones.
Speaker 8 (24:02):
Or you kind of I like get like when you
get the story wrong, you're like, oh I remember it,
and they're like no, no, no, that actually totally sourcing memory.
It's cool to crowdsource memories because you're our own memories
are so fallible, right, you know, I want.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
To I want to get into the weeds for a moment, Like,
because you guys were a hybrid show, correct, Like you
didn't shoot so did you not have an audience show
at all?
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Never was we didn't have an audience show.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So changed your experience of this because like for us,
we still remember like tape night it was like a
big deal. But so then what I would love to
know what your actual schedule was, Like, do you still
do like run throughs? You still had like a regular
sitcom schedule outside of that, or.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
I feel like our schedule upsets other actors.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Yeah, that's what show. I can't wait.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
So you guys are probably a little so Monday, we'd
come in around ten Craig for a table reading. Sitting
around the table, writers gathered around, you know, the exact
sent we'd go away. We'd go away at ten forty
five eleven, go away for the rest of the day.
Then not the right the writers would stick around notes.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Oh, so you guys Monday was it was a day
off after the table read.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
Yes, oh from the get go.
Speaker 7 (25:11):
Yeah, always always, but they were always there. We took
the last.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
Two or three years we had the Friday off after
table read.
Speaker 10 (25:17):
So that was your tape night was Tuesday, Thursday, Thursday, okay, okay, yeah,
so Craig and the writers would stick around and then
do a rewrite until and then we'd know how long
the rewrite lasted based on when we got the script
and in our email.
Speaker 8 (25:32):
And then we'd come in Tuesday around nine am. We'd
read through the new draft. We'd rehearse Pam frime and
our director would put it on a on its feet,
and then around noon twelve thirty maybe we.
Speaker 9 (25:46):
Do like that, maybe one maybe one early yeah, yeah, we.
Speaker 8 (25:50):
Would just we would just rehearse for like two hours.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
We have school for three hours, so we had school
for three hours. Yes, that's totally different day like our
run through would be like we're people.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
Yeah, I'm you're thirty. The school thing is.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
So much easier.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
But then we would uh, then we'd go away.
Speaker 8 (26:11):
We'd go I was getting my PhD at the time.
We would go away until until the next day, and
then Craig and the writers would then stay work.
Speaker 7 (26:20):
All night, work all night.
Speaker 8 (26:21):
Yeah yeah, and then we would tape. We would block
and shoot Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But you obviously didn't have
to be there, like if there was a big you know,
let's say New York shoot that you weren't in, you
would go home. So and then did you guys do
three weeks on one week off?
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Mean you had three days of taping.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
We did three days of you didn't have a second.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Run, one day of rehearsal.
Speaker 8 (26:44):
Yeah, one day rehearsal on three day taping.
Speaker 7 (26:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Right from the start. It didn't like work your way
into that. That was right from the start.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
That's what that was.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
Wow, we were such Carter Bays and I my my
the co creative to show my writing partner. We we
didn't know what we were doing on such a profound level.
We were like twenty nine, and when we wrote this script,
we had never written for a multi camera show. We'd
written for like late night comedy and animation and singlem
We were these We were complete rookies to it. And
you wrote this pilot that had like seventy scenes in
(27:12):
twenty one minutes, and our producer had to sit us
down and explain to us like how the laws of
time and physics.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Were, and I'm like, oh, so time just moves forward.
Speaker 9 (27:23):
You can't hit Paul okay, great, And there's no audience
show when you have when you want to shoot seventy
freaking scenes.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
There's not enough candy to keep an audience.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
Wait for thirty day pease.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I know you have any of you ever done pure
sitcom in front of an audience?
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Like, can you compare it to what you did?
Speaker 9 (27:40):
Josh has done a lot of theater, but it's but yeah,
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (27:44):
Very very first, I think I got my sag card
on this Jim Gaffigan Christine Baranski show called Welcome to
New York, and I got there and they cut my part,
but they gave me like one line like I gave
something to Eric Pogosian or something, you know, And I
had one word, so I qualified to get my SAG cards,
(28:05):
and there was an audience. There was you know, there
was a tape night. I'm trying to remember. I don't
think it's so weird to have been on this big
iconic sitcom and not really have the experience that you
guys have.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
Yeah, it's really weird.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
I've been to tapings of friends and stuff, so I
not friends, but of friends, and I know, I know
what that energy is like. And I know, like I've
seen James Burrows off to the side, you know, snapping
his fingers and doing all that stuff, and it's fascinating.
It's just it wasn't my experience. It wasn't our experience
of how we made our show.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
Oh what an interesting way to do it.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
Yeah, I mean it was.
Speaker 9 (28:39):
It was cool because our show is probably one of
the more emo sitcoms, I know, like Your Guys is
considered that too in a certain way. Like I I
know that so many hoow I Met your Mother fans
have a huge ven diagram overlap with Boy Meets World fans.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
I hear it a lot.
Speaker 9 (28:53):
It's in fact, like the main way I know Boymuts
World is just how many Hemium fans have told me like,
that's my other favorite show, which is cool. I feel
like we're in a weird little club of like similar
tones or like shows that really wore their heart on
their sleeve and really meant something to their fans.
Speaker 7 (29:10):
Yeah, I feel like there's there's a cool overlap there.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
You know, there's there's also there's a case to be
made that the sometimes for the for the big comedy moments,
you would do it once the crew would laugh, yeah,
and then no more like that was your.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
That was your one laugh moment.
Speaker 8 (29:26):
Yeah, because you know, sometimes they would throw in another
line and it would get a laugh. But it was
largely like you just had to trust your gut on
the comedy. But because we had so many kind of
like you know, serious heartfelt stuff. Yeah, not having an
audience there was actually I think kept us really honest.
I think kept us not grounded, not pushing grounded. So
(29:47):
it was helpful in that regard.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
It was that was my point too.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Yeah, it allowed us a kind of emotional side and
like an authenticity to certain emotional like if we needed
to play sadness, it wasn't like we got to get
through just in a hurry. The people in the back
row are starting to share among themselves, like, no, we
we really leaned into those moments, and I think it
really shaped the tone of the show in a cool way.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
For our show. Even though an audience are you.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Are you trying to say there was no emotional depth
to when my character sneezed the lottery?
Speaker 9 (30:21):
We did an incredible amount of stupid, asthetic Golden.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I have to ask before we go any farther, just
because Creig, you mentioned my my first love or one
of my first loves, animation, I'm just curious what you
wrote for in the animated world.
Speaker 9 (30:37):
Yeah, we were at Carter Carter and I were writing
on American Dada. For the funny thing is we wrote
on season one of American Dad as we wrote the
pilot for How I Met Your Mother, and we left
there and did ten years of how Much Mother and
American Dad is still still going.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I know, that's really weird.
Speaker 9 (30:53):
Yeah, so that was that was cool to get a
taste of that. We got to do a bunch We've
gone into a bunch of different kind of things, but
the one thing we haven't done is the thing that
How I Met Your Mother seems like it is when
you watch it, which is an audience show.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
We're sort of this fraudulent audience show, right.
Speaker 9 (31:07):
We created to seem like an audience audience, audience audience show. Yeah,
and it's it's funny how all of us did this
thing for ten years that we didn't really do.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
It.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
There is something about being in front of an audience
that I think also lends itself perfectly to a show
for younger people where it's okay to be bigger and
over the top, where maybe this the giant gags that
you guys did might have been too big.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
If you were pushing in front of an audience.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Right, So there was something where it's like you almost
like you, like you were saying Josh, like you as
actors as a company kind of kept yourselves in check
as opposed to just having that audience.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Although we had a funny talk on one of the
episodes recently where Neil walks into the room, I think
it's I think it's the top of season two, the
first episode he walks into the apartment and he kind
of glances at the fourth wall and it looks like
he's waiting for entrance applause the audience, and so I
said to Craig. This leads to a meta question. Was
(32:08):
Barney the only character on How I Met Your Mother
who knew he was in a sitcom?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Ever?
Speaker 8 (32:12):
Thought they were like in some living life and he
was in some some weird met universe.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Pause.
Speaker 9 (32:22):
It's a great Barney character trait. He thinks he gets applause.
He hears the clause.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
Everywhere he goes.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I do every room I walk in, it really does.
He has a laugh track constantly.
Speaker 9 (32:34):
I asked you guys a question about the audience show
thing you guys were so young?
Speaker 7 (32:38):
Was it?
Speaker 9 (32:39):
Was it what percentage terrifying? What percentage exhilarating to know
you were going to be thrown out in front of
two hundred fifty people. However many people it was Thursday
Night's barrel. You're barreling towards that Thursday Night. You're like
a teenager with whatever you're dealing with in your life,
and now it's like boom here you aren't from this audience.
Was that like you come alive? Or was it terrifying?
Speaker 7 (32:58):
Like what?
Speaker 9 (32:59):
We don't know what that like?
Speaker 5 (33:00):
It was one hundred percent exhilaration.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Exhilaration. There was you know, we we had each other's backs,
like and we felt like the writers had our backs.
Like there was a sense of like, we just can't
wait to present this. Like by the time we got
to the audience show, it was just like, let's get
those laughs, and like the feeling.
Speaker 7 (33:16):
Was just pure.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It was so fun.
Speaker 7 (33:17):
It was so fun.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
It was an audience of kids, right, So it's like
it's it's a lot different when you've got especially when
the show became popular and now they're waiting in line
to come to the show and it's you know, three
hundred and fourteen year olds, then you know that you're
going to have I mean, it would start, we'd be
backstage and our audience announcer would be warming everybody up
and they'd be slamming.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
Their feet and copy and you could just feel the vibe.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
It was cool, Oh, we're about to hit the stage,
and you just by the time you got out there,
you were just like.
Speaker 8 (33:46):
A reason I had like one of those crag that
we sometimes I mean, I think we talked about it
early on. For the first three to five episodes, they
would bring in an audience and they would show the
of the show and they would they would grab the laughter.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
So it was real laughs, yeah, which was episodes.
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Then we started using I love.
Speaker 9 (34:11):
The machine, but grabbing the laughs makes us sound like
freaking monsters.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
We were also those super well prepared. We had three
full days of rehearsal from and and you know, two
run throughs, one for just producers, one for the network,
and then a full block and shoot day and then
then the tape day.
Speaker 9 (34:38):
Were covens were a lot simpler.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
We did not have flashbacks flash forwards.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
You guys have on the block and shoot day, you
actually grabbed the whole show, so you had it, No the.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
Whole show now sour swing set or something like that,
a big gag piece or something like that.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
We would something that wasn't directly in front of the
New York.
Speaker 7 (34:59):
Street and CBS there, you know, we've shot there.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
It was one of the things on well not unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I think as an actor it was it was exhilarating
at a ton of fun, but for young actors it
was a little daunting. It was our executive producer was
famous for rewriting on the night. Would be sitting there
waiting and he'd come in and scratch out a page.
You go, no, here's what you're gonna do. And we're
like watching going okay, here you go and then action.
Speaker 8 (35:24):
But you also, I mean there's something about that you
get really good at a very particular thing because you
literally have no choice, like exactly get good doing that.
Speaker 6 (35:33):
I have a very particular set of skills.
Speaker 7 (35:36):
Its notes exactly. I heard you.
Speaker 9 (35:40):
I would listen to your guys pilot of this podcast
before before coming on.
Speaker 7 (35:45):
We got Better.
Speaker 9 (35:47):
It's it's great. I really I found it fascinating.
Speaker 7 (35:50):
You guys are great.
Speaker 8 (35:51):
You do.
Speaker 9 (35:51):
You do an awesome podcast here, and you have great chemistry,
and like I was really interested to hear you guys
talk about your memory of getting the notes after the
run through, Like I think you said an hour or
two of notes, Josh. Can you imagine if after the
run through we sat with the actors for two hours,
that's what they said they were getting as teenagers. Ye,
without getting into like that, I had so much sympathy
(36:14):
for you guys. Listen, thinking about giving teenagers and getting
that many notes. I don't want it without like our
picture put you in an uncomfortable spot?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Was that big our big joke, our big impression of
our executive producer, which Will and I because we when
we were wrapping the show. We made a fake documentary.
Will and I went around and shot a fake documentar
of where are they now ten years in the future
of Boy Meets World? And we did an impression of
our our executive producer, which was sitting down to give
a notes and he just goes, this was something really special.
(36:44):
You guys really nailed this.
Speaker 8 (36:46):
This is perfect.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Let's get into notes. Page one, line one, where God,
he would go line page one, Line one is our
because he would he wouldn't. He would just be like
Paige one, line one and yeah, even even if he
was super passive, we would just go line line.
Speaker 6 (37:02):
And by the way, that was I was ever the time,
I was the only teenager.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
They were eleven and twelve, right, And so you would
sit there and we would everybody would take their seats
in the living room set, and our producer would stare
at us, and.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It was it was as much a performance piece as
it was a note session. It was there was very
much about he had been an actor. It was very
much about his.
Speaker 7 (37:23):
Was his moment? Was his moment?
Speaker 4 (37:25):
The number of guest stars we've interviewed who come in
going I don't remember that much, but I do remember
those note sessions.
Speaker 7 (37:34):
That I've never heard of a two hour note session line.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
I mean, we were spared almost all notes, like we
really got you guys ran out.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
They were like Josh Radner shaped a hole in the wall.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Down, it's one pair done for the dead.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah, how much of the arc of your show was
mapped out when you started the show?
Speaker 6 (38:09):
Did you know where you were going to end when
you started the entire series?
Speaker 7 (38:13):
Yeah, we knew.
Speaker 9 (38:14):
We knew where we wanted to end it pretty early on,
but we had it would be dishonest to say, and
we knew we'd get nine seasons and what the whole
shape of that would be. We were you know how
it is like, I mean, you guys were such kids
when you started, but we didn't feel like we had
a show that was guaranteed you to come back the
next season until year four or something, do.
Speaker 7 (38:32):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 9 (38:33):
So we always had these big ideas and things we
knew we wanted to get to, and it was always
this this funny like on the fly math of like
how long can we stretch this condition out? Or sho
should we rush through this because they're going to cancel
us at the end of season five, So we've got
to get through this and forget about that idea.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
We just have to go to this.
Speaker 9 (38:49):
And it was always this kind of like Las Vegas style,
like how long can we let this ride on red
or whatever? And we after a little while, a long
while and a lot of suffering, you realize we're not
going to get canceled.
Speaker 7 (39:01):
We've actually become a hit.
Speaker 9 (39:02):
We've actually like the show got onto Netflix and people
started your four You're five of the show, like really
binging it and catching up and then watching a week
to week, and our numbers just spiked, And at.
Speaker 7 (39:12):
That moment we went, we might get to do this
for a while.
Speaker 9 (39:15):
And we sort of got to play around a little
more in the middle than maybe we thought we'd we would,
but we had some idea of the kind of beginning, middle,
and end generally speaking. But we yeah, we we had
We were very lucky that we got to play for
those middle seasons. We got to play once we were
like exhaling the feel of canceling.
Speaker 8 (39:31):
It's funny when something like runs as long as our
shows do that in hindsight, it looks like there was
some genius master plant. But yeah, when you when you
get into like the center of show base, you realize
everyone's just winging it. Everyone is as they go along. Yeah,
no one, like William Goldman famously is that no one
(39:52):
knows anything right, No one knows what's going to be
a hit. Like you're just making it up as you go,
And like Craig said, like it felt like we actually something.
I think that was really good for us, even though
it was nail biting in the first couple of seasons
whether we'd be back. We were doing just good enough
in the demo that CBS let us stay on the air,
(40:12):
but we weren't a big enough hit that they were
paying that much attention to us.
Speaker 6 (40:16):
That's the best.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
It was the absolute sweet spot.
Speaker 8 (40:19):
Yeah, by the fourth season, by the time we got
on Netflix, we actually became a hit. We were getting
two season pickups. You know, we were doing twenty four
instead of twenty two. We already had this singular voice
that Carter and like, we were already this weird, interesting
kind of indie band that got a little more popular,
and we're playing bigger venues, like you know, and it
was just really fun that we were. I think sometimes
(40:42):
shows can get cursed by getting too big too quickly. Yeah,
and then you start going, well, what do people love?
And then you start second guessing what made it special
in the first place?
Speaker 7 (40:50):
Yeah, were you guys a hit right out of the gate?
How did it grow for you? Like? What was that
our flight?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
We always felt like we weren't a hit. We were
almos under the radar, you know. I mean part of
that was because we were a kid show, so there
was a sense of like mainstream culture was out there
and we were like in our own little sandbox. But yeah, no,
we we felt like we were gonna get canceled pretty
much every every season.
Speaker 9 (41:10):
Really, Yeah, I thought by the end you wouldn't have
felt that way. Maybe maybe my sense of it is
I'm a little bit too old to have like watched
your show and when it was on, But like my
sense and maybe this is a retroactive feeling. People love
it so much now it's an enduring show, maybe not remembering.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Popular now than when it was on. By Yeah, we're
second fiddle to Sabrina the Teenage Witch. To put that
in perspective, Sabrina the te was the big hit and
we were we were the lead in for that, so
we were like the also ran to Sabrina and like,
but now I feel like most people talk about our
show more than they talk about Sabrina.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
And the time, which isn't time funny?
Speaker 7 (41:46):
Like how they take that Sabrina yah, but how how things.
Speaker 8 (41:51):
Age and where they're you know, like we can even
and we don't. I don't want to get into the
weeds on this, but our finale was controversial, and we
have people we hear from people all the time who said,
I was so angry when that happened, and ten years later,
I now things have happened in my life that that
finale makes complete sense to me interesting when I first
saw it. So I think it's nice to take the
(42:14):
long view of things. It's very hard to do when
you're dealing with like ratings and overnights and you.
Speaker 7 (42:18):
Know what's up.
Speaker 8 (42:19):
It's impossible almost, But it's fun that we have like
a like a bigger slice of life now to like
actually see where our shows kind of are in the
constellation of things.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Well.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I'm also I'm very much It sounds Josh like I'm
like your wife because I am a television junkie. I
have been my whole life. Nobody watches more TV than me.
So she and I can have an Olympic TV off,
but neither of us would show up because we'd both
be watching TV. But just just getting to the point
of getting to have a final episode is so rare
in television, right, yeah, right, because.
Speaker 6 (42:50):
Normally it's just your hey, wow, that show's gone. What
the hell?
Speaker 1 (42:53):
So it's really the ones that have endured that get
that goodbye. I mean, just that goodbye is so rare that,
I mean, let alone to have a controversial one. I mean,
you look back on the when Sopranos ended and everyone
was like, what the hell you know you get but
they're still talking about it.
Speaker 7 (43:09):
But there's and it's funny.
Speaker 9 (43:11):
It's almost like, because what you guys said, like maybe
you've been more enduring than some of your contemporary some
of your classmates, even the classmates on TV who seem
like the more popular kids in the TV school, You've
outlasted it somehow, and that means there was something enduring
about what you guys did and what you have energy
you put out there.
Speaker 7 (43:28):
I like to think it's true of how much your
mother too.
Speaker 9 (43:30):
And I think a weird part of it is that
sometimes it was surprising and controversial what we did on
the show, and people like debate it and write think
pieces about it and stuff, and I think that that
echo has actually kept the show more popular than some
of our other classmates at the time.
Speaker 6 (43:43):
I think it's true.
Speaker 8 (43:44):
I also think I mean, I think our show was
really funny, like like properly funny in the way you
want a great sitcom to be funny. And that's been
part of the light is going back to it being like, oh,
I was on something really wondering. It's so hard to
get a sense of what you're on while you're on it,
so when you go back a couple of years later,
it's like, oh my god, this was this was quite good,
Like I understand why people are still watching this and
(44:05):
talking about But I also think there's something like when
and this fell on me a lot as a character,
like shows that dare to kind of do more heart
forward stuff in addition to the comedy, I think they
have a better chance of lasting a little bitter, because
then you're in the realm of like perennial, Like everyone
gets heartbroken, everyone feels like a failure. Everyone longs to connect,
(44:27):
and they you know, they get hurt. They hurt people,
so I think that when I was on the air,
I remember this feeling that I there were there was
a very vocal corner, not not the whole thing, but
there were some people that just did not like my character,
Like I was the vulnerable man, right, and they were
like that guy, like we don't like it, you know.
(44:50):
But I feel like, again, he's aged so well, Like
the character is age so well. Yeah, and I hear
from not just men who relate to him. I hear
from a ton of women ye to him. So I
think that sometimes you dare to put something forward that's
like a little more vulnerable, that risks sentimentality. I have
a big thing about like there's a difference between sentiment
and sentimentality. Like sentiment is like feeling it's good, you
(45:13):
want it. You just don't want to be trite or cliche,
you know, predictable. So I think we did something really
well that secured a place for us, you know, in
the culture somehow.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Well, one of the things that made your show so
unbelievably special. I mean, any television show, especially that comes
out it's pieces and one piece goes away and the
whole thing falls apart.
Speaker 6 (45:34):
So obviously the writing is there the creative team is there.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
But then you get this ensemble cast together, which is
one of the best ensemble casts ever on television. So
is this something that did you write any of these
parts for specific actors and then oh my god, they
decided to do it or did this just fall into
place where wow, these people came into audition and we
were able to somehow put this magic.
Speaker 9 (45:57):
Together almost entirely. The second thing and a little bit
the first thing. The like Josh was the first audition day,
one first person we saw for any role and he
came in and he's ted.
Speaker 6 (46:10):
So that was like that, How does that?
Speaker 9 (46:11):
Does that ever happen? I don't know if it's never happened.
Speaker 7 (46:14):
There's there's two.
Speaker 8 (46:15):
Good ways to get a roll. One is that way,
and the second one is you're the last person they
saw answer the problem. They can't figure it out, and
then you walk in and give them someone who.
Speaker 7 (46:26):
Didn't show up.
Speaker 9 (46:27):
Yeah, So that was Josh, Thank God and thank the
casting gods, and but and everybody else. We I guess Neil.
We had seen Neil in Harold and Kumar.
Speaker 7 (46:40):
Remember Harold and Kumar.
Speaker 9 (46:41):
He steals the movie for several minutes and we were
like God, and we had been envisioning the character of
Barney is maybe like more of a Jack Black, kind
of like John Belushy type of guy, and we knew
there was that version. Then there was like the Vince
Vaughn version, and we're like, Neil is the Vince von
version of Barney. We were one hundred percent coming to
that version, which we were kind of leaning the other way,
(47:02):
and Neil came in and just auditioned and stole that
part away from everybody else. And then my wife I
told my wife Rebecca, we're creating a role a little
bit based on her. It's Marshall. Lilly are kind of
like my me and my wife Jason and Allison's character.
And my wife said, I'm a little weird about big
a paracter on TV being based on me. Here's my
(47:23):
two conditions. We're huge Buffy fans at the time. In detail.
Here one condition is I have to name the character
I wanted to be called Lily. And condition too is
it has to be Allison Haddigan or no deal.
Speaker 7 (47:38):
Somehow we trot. We made her an.
Speaker 9 (47:42):
Offer as one of our first like maneuvers, and we
were such a small pilot created, you know, created by
two nobody's Carter and I, who'd never even been on
staff on a multi camp sitcom. No one cared about
our pilot. Maybe there was like eleven pilots comedies for
CBS that year. We were definitely the eleventh. I already pilot,
and so nobody really cared. They're like, I let these
(48:04):
kids make their little TV show, We'll see if it's anything.
But Alison Hannigan was a star. She was from American Pie,
she was from Buffy, and she had a quote, you
know what I mean. She had a price tag to
get Alison Haddigan.
Speaker 8 (48:15):
That was above It was bigger than mine.
Speaker 9 (48:20):
That's true. And this studio and the network, nobody wanted
to spend extra money on the pilot being done by
these two idiots, Carter and Craig. And we didn't get
her at first because we didn't do They didn't want
to spend the money. And then we saw all these
people nobody felt quite right. And then we brought in
Allison to audition along with Jason, and they were so
(48:41):
charming together as this couple. That's one of the core
pieces of the show.
Speaker 7 (48:44):
This couple. We've got to love this couple and the
studio went, yeah, it's important. Threw a little money so
we got her. But yeah, and Jason, we like studio.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
We had to go above and be on.
Speaker 9 (49:01):
I feel I've disclosed sensitive financial information here on your podcast.
Speaker 6 (49:07):
I think we all know coming off of her career,
she had the bigger question. Not anything special about.
Speaker 9 (49:13):
That Kobe small Kobe smolders like materialized out of thin
air to become Robin.
Speaker 7 (49:17):
She was this Canadian I you know, she'd just done
a little bit of American stuff.
Speaker 9 (49:21):
She's from Vancouver, done a little acting there, but not
that much, never done comedy and walked in and similar
to Josh, and alongside of Josh and I did the
auditions just like she was Robin. It was one of
those It was such a mix of the two mechanisms
of casting you asked about, Wow, that's great.
Speaker 4 (49:36):
We had so much fun talking with Josh and Craig.
We had to split the episode into two parts, so
thank you all for listening to part one. You can
catch part two later today as a special bonus episode.
Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted
by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and right Or Strong. Executive producers
(49:57):
Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production,
Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddy Moore,
engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our
theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us
on Instagram at Podmeets World Show, or email us at
Podmeets Worldshow at gmail dot com
I'm I'm kind of surprised that I made it to
the podcast this morning and it's only one room away.
I'm surprised I've made it anywhere in the last four
days because I've added an addition to my house that
has been taking up.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Are you talking about your batcave bathroom?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yes, I am, because I added something to it that
takes it to a whole other level. What I've gotten
my first ever smart toilet.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
The heck is a smart toilet jealous jealous and it
opens up auto like when did you go?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Oh, it like sprays out this like beautiful scent and
it cleans itself. And the reason I'm amazed I made
it this morning it has an automatic.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Beday yes, yeah, yeah, which I've never used before.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Which one did you get?
Speaker 4 (01:14):
We talked about this because you went shopping for them
when you were doing the house renovation stuff. They were
you said, there were Yeah, they were really expensive. You
were not going to get them, but you must have
found one that tickles your fancy price wise Yeah, literally.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Fancy, Yes, thank yeah, it tickles his least chancy.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
Three words for you, Danielle.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Costco great, So they had it for like an eighth
of what it costs everywhere else.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
It's a Cohler. It's beautiful. I had it installed and
I'm like, there's a remote.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
They got to put the remote up and you press
a button and I'm like, all right, waiting to see oh.
Speaker 6 (01:49):
Like right up the old nether regions.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yes, it does have a seat heater too, uh tars
asking there's a seat heater, a self cleaner, a front
and back oscillating.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Believe, hey, you saw how excited I got when we
were on a plane talking about this. You saw how
excited I got, And I almost purchased them online. Remember,
I was like why right before we were taking off
and you were like how much are those? I was like,
I think they're like two thousand dollars each and I
was like, man, that really is expensive.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
All right, I would need three, so that's six thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Will It was like, you're the only person I know
who can spend six thousand dollars on a on a taxi,
take off on a plane, taking off on a ton
because of course it's there was just too much money
for toilets there at Costco.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
And I got it.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I got it installed, and it is other than playing
music and just telling me like, hey, you've lost some weight.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
It does everything else. It's awf it.
Speaker 7 (02:39):
Should just tell you that.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
It shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Wow, you lost some weight.
Speaker 7 (02:43):
Just left me.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Wait did someone from Costco install it?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
No?
Speaker 6 (02:49):
No, no, I have I have a plumber.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I'm not going to say his name because he's like
a magical guy who doesn't charge much.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
But his name's Tom Tom.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
I know, I know, Tom Tom. You've stolen Tom from.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
You you have, so he came.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And that's the other thing is you have to have
a plug near your toilet, which I didn't, so I
had to have my other guy, Henry, come in and
put in a plug.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
The electrician come in and put in a plug. So
it was it was a like a process.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
But oh what a process because we had an updated
bathrooms in twenty some odd years, right, So to go
from you know, steerage on the Titanic to first class
on the Titanic was pretty wonderful. I don't know why
I used that analogy because everyone ended up dead, but
we Yeah, but it was much like life. It's been great.
It's been, it's been. It's I was not expecting a
(03:31):
stream of water on a bangball to do what it does. Yikes,
it's uh, it's pretty ambasing.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
La la, I've said my phrase, got my I am
part of this conversation.
Speaker 6 (03:51):
Mercy, so it's worth it.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
You watched Full House last night?
Speaker 6 (03:54):
Right again?
Speaker 7 (03:57):
Again?
Speaker 6 (03:57):
You're in?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You're in?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yes, started we started like because it's always a battle.
But what we're gonna watch, what movie we're gonna watch,
whether we're gonna watch the TV show whatever. Indy is
just a contrariant. I don't know where he gets this from. Guys,
we'd no idea.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
That's so strange understanding.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
He's almost like ily created a system where he gets
two votes. Alex and I each get a vote, and
we put it in a hat and we draw what
we're watching, and he, with both his votes put four house,
just to piss me off. I and I we enjoyed it.
Did you started the pilot? No, we just picked up
(04:33):
from where we were watched. So we watched that Christmas episode,
and we watched the one right after that the same night,
and so the last night it watched the next three
and the show is way better than that Christmas episode.
The Christmas episode is hands down the worst one. Okay,
the so much better but of the five, John Stamos
is wonderful, really good at it.
Speaker 7 (04:55):
That's part of the show.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Bob Saggat, I know he was a very funny person,
you know, I met him a few times in life.
Very funny. Not not very good on the show, just
kind of standard like dorky guy, right, and Dave Coolier
is goofy and all over it, you know. But like
Stameles is amazing. Jody's so good show. Again, that's the
(05:17):
first one that I saw of a part in the
three we watched last night, and you I've missed her
like the one we had watched the follows the Christmas
episode was like her hula hooping and she's incredible, Like
she's just so charming and funny and all the things. Yeah,
I'm still very uncomfortable with the old it's not still
and Indy just thinks it's hysterical, like when I explained
to him what you had said Will about the cand
(05:41):
the rattle of so that he just every time they're
on the screen, Andy just loses it. Thinks it's hysterical,
like give him a cookie, where's the eminem bag? Yeah,
it's it's It still makes me uncomfortable, like the opening credits,
and she's just like looking at the camera and like
pointing out the helicopter following them. What this show is weird?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
He wasn't. That was see what if you followed her
process as an actor at the time she was pointing
out the Golden gate Bridge as the drove past it exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, that's what I started to I started to think,
is the whole show from her POV? In other words, like,
is reality morphed into a two year old's world view?
And that's why people act the way they do. That's
why situations working out the way they do.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
The theory about Boy Meets World is that it's from
Cory's POV and when he's young, as brothers a god,
and when he's older, his brother's a goof.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Right, And so that's why full House opens the opening
credits is always close up shot of her and then right,
So it's like saying, this is the this is her
memories that we're getting her like messed up version of
reality that we're getting. And then I'm like, Okay, I
can kind of hang with this. Like people are really
big and over the top and make choices that make
(06:49):
no connections.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Well as we're also going back on this, this journey
of not only rewatching our show, but watching episodes of
other show. Sitcom was just big, especially the ones we're watching.
I mean, Sitcom was just big.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So it's yeah, it was just it was like the
point of every episode is almost like for family members
to be able to wander in and out and like still.
Speaker 7 (07:12):
Get a laugh.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Do you know what I mean that just walk in
It was dual screen. You just said a thing and
then they were to go finish eating dinner or whatever.
It's like, yeah, it's just the I mean, it's kind
of the lowest common denominator, right. It was like, let's
just create a situation where it's like recognizable family members
and they just say funny stuff.
Speaker 8 (07:29):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And like the idea of nuance like you can't you
can't have it because you only have twenty two minutes.
You just want stock characters, you want predictable situations.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
Like everybody can.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Argue that one of the reasons that our show has
endured for so long is that we did have that
nuance a lot of the time.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well that's what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean I think
the best ones do right, or they managed to do
both right, like the best shows managed to have Like
that's why I think The Friends was so fun, is
like everything was pretty big and over the top, but
it was built out of characters that you believe, or
it believed enough that you were like, oh, that situation
is great, and so they could throw out one liners,
(08:05):
they could be very big and obvious in some ways
made me think about Seinfeld too, right, that those characters
are ridiculous. It's not believable by any measure, but there's
something nuanced about it. There's something, there's depth to it
that's still so clever.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I think you also, if we've always compared sitcom to
a play in your home every week, and I think
the thing that I sometimes struggle with I have to
remind myself is that full House is a play for
eight year olds. Friends is a play for twenty eight
year olds exactly. So it's like they're two very different
nights at the theater. But the great shows are the
ones where the adults can go to the eight year
(08:40):
old's play.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
And still have an awesome time.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Right, And then there are some people like I think
you're one of these people, Will my wife is one
of these people. The second they see any play the
actors the way the actors act, she just can't hang
like She's just like, no, that's that's not the way
people talk about like cla acting is just false to her,
do you know what I mean?
Speaker 7 (08:58):
And I think I've.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Always felt that way out sitcom acting, you know where
it's like in theater. I'm okay with it because it's
like we're in a big room and you got to
be you know, there's something about the back of the room.
I'm okay with it, especially with musicals, but like, yeah,
with sitcom acting, I'm like, why, why why are you
doing like don't don't don't don't talk like that.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
A sitcom musical, I don't mean a single episode.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I mean like an actual sitcom that is also I
know they did cop Rock cop Rock, and they do
like Glee and cop Rock.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I wasn't even a multi cam. I think that was
single cam.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
It was.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
It was a single single cam too.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, but they were singing in the context. They weren't
even singing like they were performing within the show, right
the right They wouldn't break into song. They didn't, Okay,
I didn't never see high school musical they did, right,
they would just breaking a song in a private moment
like the movie, right, But Glee it was all about
the actual performances. So yeah, what about a sitcom.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
That's just I wonder if it's just too hard to
have them all breaking in the song every sitcom episode.
Speaker 6 (10:02):
I mean, that must be multiple takes.
Speaker 9 (10:04):
But then you got to do that at the regularly.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
You know what there was one guys, got my crazy
ex girlfriend?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Oh well, but that wasn't multicam. That was single cam.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
Yeah, single what's my crazy ex girlfriend? I don't think
I know that one.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
Oh, it's a huge Rachel Bloom eight ten years ago.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
Oh and it was a musical.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
It was a musical single camera, and the whole idea
was like it was she was chasing her ex boyfriend obsessively,
so it was like you were in her imagination where
there it's like a beautiful love story set to a musical.
Speaker 7 (10:34):
Oh wasn't it was?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
It was like she was delusional pilot Very good.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
Yeah, interesting, Okay, so I've using my bidet.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
And writers watching full house fun fact.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Guys, you know squat toilets, which a huge part of
the world uses.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
You don't get hemorrhids.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Yeah, no, very much healthier for you.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
So we were get a squatty poty, were saying squatty puddings, right, yeah, parties,
but your feet things, they can be comfortable.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And yeah, it's a it curves around the bottom of
the toilet and it's like a It puts you in
the perfect position as if you were squatting to be
able to go.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
No, but then you're being supported. That's the thing.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Exactly, You're not actually squatting.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
They say the same things that we should squattually score you,
we should actually squat it'd be it's good for us,
you know, like taking a getting comfortable, taking your time reading,
looking at your phone.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Why. That's the other thing this smart toilet does. If
you're on too long.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It brings an alarm, no joke, wow, if they're sit
for too long. If you sit for too long, it
beeps an alarm, like hey, get you out of here.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
I'm going to buy one just now that I no
matter what it could it could be thirty thousand dollars
and I would buy one just to get Jensen out
of the bathroom. We can be in the peak, dinner time, bedtime, Jensen.
I'm going to run to the bathroom, and it's never
less than forty minutes.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, oh yeah, Well he's got to send four hund
in fifty texts.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Four and fifty text He started posts to make.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
On my phone this morning. I was I was trying
to record an audition with my wife, and my phone
buzzed thirty times in my pocket, and I'm like, Jensen,
I didn't even Jensen. I know it's Jensen and Will
just one I'm trying to do an audition. My conversation, Oh,
I know you were. I got to read it an
hour later, scroll through the what did you just say?
(12:29):
I think, hey, hold on, hold on, guys, that's my thing.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Guys, guys.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Texts hotel away changes the whole conversation when you realize
both of us are on the toilet the whole.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
Time we were having the conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Next text, you won't believe this.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Next text, I'm about just going to something.
Speaker 7 (12:48):
Next text.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Now we're building the story.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
I answered the phone. Next text.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I had no idea who was next.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Text writer, and I send texts exactly the same way,
just one long paragraph with our thoughts.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yes, but I literally start I know Jon, and then
I am.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Rider is typing, and I'll think we're never going to see.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
What this I just said. I just finally give up.
I'm like, I can't because the conversation moved into four
different directions I have now tried doing.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
You gotta be quick. You want to have conversations with us,
You gotta be quick, my friend, then talk never never Wow.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
So you got to be day.
Speaker 9 (13:29):
He got to.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Lovely.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
It's pretty wonderful. It's also got a button that can
dry like.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Forty minutes in an episode.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
We haven't even talked about it. You haven't even.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Gotten into the fill House episode yet.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Wild I'm Danielle of Fishal, I'm Rider Strong, and I'm
on the toilet Wilfred Hill.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
When it comes to new rewatch podcast announcements, we are
all ears. We know the journey they're about to take,
the laughs, the tears, the weird feelings about haircuts from
twenty years ago. It's like finding out someone you went
to high school with is moving next door. And so
when we heard about How We Made Your Mother, a
show hosted by both the star and co creator of
(14:22):
an iconic sitcom, How I Met your Mother, we put
out the nice china and baked some cookies to welcome
them to the neighborhood, and boy, have they delivered in spades.
The TV show debuted in two thousand and five and
ran for nine seasons, running through twenty fourteen and becoming
one of the century's most successful sitcoms.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Framed as a show set in twenty.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Thirty, main character Ted Moseby recounts the meet cute with
his eventual wife, all told to their children, Penny and Luke,
creating a mystery as to who exactly their mother is
and in the process maintaining laughs for almost a decade.
The series finale was seen by over thirteen million viewers,
(15:05):
and the show was nominated for a whopping twenty eight
Emmy Awards. It would be difficult to visit the history
of modern DAYTV without mentioning its existence. And now, as
their retrospective podcast launches its second season, freshly signed to
our pals the Office Ladies Network, they're experiencing feelings strikingly
(15:25):
similar to ours and we wanted to talk about it.
So this week on pod Meets World, it's sitcom Royalty
and now adjacent podcast participants How I Met Your Mother
co creator Craig Thomas and Ted Moseby himself Josh Radner.
Speaker 10 (15:42):
Hello, hey, well hello, hello, join, Hi guys, how are you?
Speaker 8 (15:49):
I'm doing okay, how are you guys? Craig Thomas should
be joining us?
Speaker 7 (15:56):
Hey everybody?
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Great, Hi, I have to move my chat when out
of the way. It was just blocking both of your face.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
And it's good. It's going to meet you guys.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Welcome, nice to meet you. We are so happy you're
joining us. When we see other people on a similar
quest to what we're doing, it's like passing people on
the way down Mount Everest and we want to talk
to you about what is.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
What we've seen up top, you know, because most people
die on the way down from.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Maybe that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (16:32):
So you just want to share some oxygen tanks on
the way down and yeah, yeah, great.
Speaker 10 (16:38):
Yeah do it.
Speaker 9 (16:39):
You guys paved the way for this whole thing. You
were so early to the rewatch party. You guys are like,
we're the newbies, we're the rookies.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
Thank you guys for.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And we all all of the paving to office ladies,
so you know, they were they were the first, and
then I think we were like the second.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
Right in there. I thought you were before them. Actually
that's cool.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
In our minds, we were Craig, that's really all we
read that.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
We did all the No, we had the idea before
the Office Ladies, but we couldn't convince that unders We
didn't know how to do it. We thought like we
literally were like, oh, we'll release YouTube DVD commentary style tracks.
It's like, oh, you hit play at home and then
we'll talk, you know, quickly. That didn't work, and yeah,
it was. It was hard to understand what this would be. Yeah,
(17:26):
and now it's like a standard form.
Speaker 9 (17:28):
Yeah, I mean it's been and here we are the
billion one copying you and the Office Ladies. We're very like,
what's the opposite of innovative?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
That's the innovation is not what sells it.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
It's chemistry.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And we can talk about all that later, But what
what made you to decide to embark on this journey
twenty years after the show debuted?
Speaker 8 (17:49):
Well, for me, I think that the uh it started
because I got married two years ago and thank you
and my wife, Jordana is a is a big TV watcher.
She watches a lot of TV. For some reason, she
was writing the demographic to have seen and loved how
I May. She never saw an episode. She'd never seen it,
(18:12):
she didn't know anything about it. And this was when
we were getting to know each other. This was actually
a help, as you guys might know. You know, when
you meet people who don't have a preconceipt, you can
actually make a first impression.
Speaker 7 (18:24):
So it was great.
Speaker 8 (18:26):
And then one day I think, I don't remember exactly when,
but we were in LA and she said, I would
actually love to watch the show. I'd love to I
want to see this huge chapter of your life that
I didn't get to be with you for. And then
I just had the idea because I don't see enough
of Craig, and Craig has always been like a dear
(18:47):
friend and I miss him, and you know, we would
always have dinner. This is before I moved back to
New York, but we would have dinner if we found
each other in the same town. But I wanted like
more Craig in my life, you know, so I reached
out to him. I mean, this happened so quick. Jordana said,
I want to watch the show. I called Craig. I said,
my wife wants to see the show. Should we rewatch
it together and do something a little more formal, and
(19:09):
then we literally called our friend Alec lev who's a
podcast producer whiz, and within like forty five minutes, we
had this thing kind of cued up and ready to go,
and we were you know, so I tend to trust
the older I'm getting in this business, Like there's a
kind of idea like things should be hard and you
should work, but I actually really trust ease and flow
(19:32):
and effortlessness. And this was one of those things that
was just like so easy that it was like, well,
we should probably do this. And every time we do
an episode, I'm like, I can't believe this is like
kind of a job now to sit around and talk
about this thing that I am clearly like one of
the world's leading experts in just by the fact that
I was there, you know, like I don't have to
do it done a research, Like I watched the episode,
(19:53):
I take some notes and then we talk about it.
And it's been a delight. It's been really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
The notes will go away, The notes will go away,
not even be taking that's a rookie, Yeah, I remember notes.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Yeah, for two of the people on this podcast, the
notes will go away.
Speaker 7 (20:10):
Oh rightsick exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
The best thing writer and I ever did was sit
down and go, let's put Danielle in charge. The best
possible decision we ever made. It just made our lives
so much easier.
Speaker 7 (20:23):
Was great.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
What about you, Craig when you got the call, did
had you ever thought about doing? Like was this something
you had thought about or was this literally like, wow,
I had never thought about that.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
I had not thought about it. So much credit really
goes to Jordana. Like Jordana and Josh's wife was like,
I need to know this part of your life.
Speaker 7 (20:41):
And I love that it came from that.
Speaker 9 (20:42):
It came from this really pure place of like I
married you, I want to know this thing you did
for a decade of your life, right, And I so
understand what Josh was saying that he was so happy
that he met somebody who hadn't seen the show and
had all this preconceived stuff. I see all of you
nodding right now. All of you guys like must have
had that thought in your life at different times, Like
(21:03):
if I'm meeting somebody, are they thinking they already know
me because they've seen me on TV for the better
part of a decade.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Or all three of us married somebody who had never
seen the show.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
General.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
My husband had like maybe been aware of two episodes
but was not did not watch the show.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Will's wife Susan.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Had never Yeah she did, she saw him all because
So my stepdaughter was eleven when I met her, who's
now you know, has my grandchild, so as is you know,
much much older. It's been twenty five years. But she
when she was eleven would run home and watch Boy
Meets World. That I would cry when she would miss
Boymets World. So no, with what you're saying, it's exactly
having that into the show is exactly how we started.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Because Ryder had never seen Boy Meets World. Yeah, yeah,
so he was on.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
The show but never actually saw any of the episodes.
So that was our same kind of thing. It was
a singer conventions and riders like I should probably watch
this show that I was.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
All the fans kept saying stuff to me or asking
for quotes, and I was like, I have no idea
what you're talking.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
I've been to me so much.
Speaker 8 (22:00):
People come up with a very specific gag or bit
or line and I'm and I look at them like
I wish I could participate in this. I just haven't
seen this in twenty years if I even saw it
to begin with, right, I will say that there's there's
there's light and dark, There's there's ups and downs to everything.
And one of the things I really loved about being
on a show that had such a big global reach
(22:22):
was it does make the world seem smaller in a
really sweet way. Like I'm sure you guys have had
the experience, like you go to a foreign country and
you're like, what are we doing this foreign country? And
they're like, come with us to a flamenco show people
we know from TV, you know, and you're like, oh,
this is like my face is like this weird social passport.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
You know.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (22:38):
Yeah, But then when you're when you're talking about like
being a life partner, it can get actually tricky if
they think they're with a person that was on a
character that is not you sure, it's really tricky.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 9 (22:51):
I find that fascinating. And it's interesting that you guys,
right right, you have you had that too. I feel
like you had an answer loaded up to where your
partner had not seen the show ever.
Speaker 7 (22:59):
Either. I was who I needed her.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I like, I couldn't date somebody if they were like
a fan of Ian. Now's weird, honestly, like what it
was just in my twenties, like the idea because like
I met my wife when I was twenty six, like
before that, if I met anybody, because I was only
ten years out from the starting the show, Like it
was just too close, Like I need so everybody I
dated was older than me and had never heard a
boy meet's world.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
It was. That's so funny and I totally get it.
Speaker 9 (23:24):
Yeah, Yeah, that's really that's really interesting, and it's it
is weird looking back on some on stuff we did
twenty years ago. I can only imagine for you guys,
since you started off as as kids and as teenagers
and stuff.
Speaker 7 (23:33):
It's even that's a whole other layer.
Speaker 9 (23:34):
But Josh and I are looking back and some stuff
we vividly remember, and some stuff we it's like this
insane amnesia has happened. We were like, I forgot the
entire BT story of that episode.
Speaker 7 (23:44):
Yeah, and it's better than the A story.
Speaker 9 (23:45):
It's actually the best part of the episode is the thing.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I forgot about and that chle Shane.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Memories are the fun ones where one person will remember
one thing which then leads you down a path of
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
God, I totally forgot about this.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, and then next thing, you know, it's something that
happened behind the scenes that nobody else would remember remember.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Yeah, those are the best ones.
Speaker 8 (24:02):
Or you kind of I like get like when you
get the story wrong, you're like, oh I remember it,
and they're like no, no, no, that actually totally sourcing memory.
It's cool to crowdsource memories because you're our own memories
are so fallible, right, you know, I want.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
To I want to get into the weeds for a moment, Like,
because you guys were a hybrid show, correct, Like you
didn't shoot so did you not have an audience show
at all?
Speaker 7 (24:22):
Never was we didn't have an audience show.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So changed your experience of this because like for us,
we still remember like tape night it was like a
big deal. But so then what I would love to
know what your actual schedule was, Like, do you still
do like run throughs? You still had like a regular
sitcom schedule outside of that, or.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
I feel like our schedule upsets other actors.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Yeah, that's what show. I can't wait.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
So you guys are probably a little so Monday, we'd
come in around ten Craig for a table reading. Sitting
around the table, writers gathered around, you know, the exact
sent we'd go away. We'd go away at ten forty
five eleven, go away for the rest of the day.
Then not the right the writers would stick around notes.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Oh, so you guys Monday was it was a day
off after the table read.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
Yes, oh from the get go.
Speaker 7 (25:11):
Yeah, always always, but they were always there. We took
the last.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
Two or three years we had the Friday off after
table read.
Speaker 10 (25:17):
So that was your tape night was Tuesday, Thursday, Thursday, okay, okay, yeah,
so Craig and the writers would stick around and then
do a rewrite until and then we'd know how long
the rewrite lasted based on when we got the script
and in our email.
Speaker 8 (25:32):
And then we'd come in Tuesday around nine am. We'd
read through the new draft. We'd rehearse Pam frime and
our director would put it on a on its feet,
and then around noon twelve thirty maybe we.
Speaker 9 (25:46):
Do like that, maybe one maybe one early yeah, yeah, we.
Speaker 8 (25:50):
Would just we would just rehearse for like two hours.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
We have school for three hours, so we had school
for three hours. Yes, that's totally different day like our
run through would be like we're people.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
Yeah, I'm you're thirty. The school thing is.
Speaker 7 (26:03):
So much easier.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
But then we would uh, then we'd go away.
Speaker 8 (26:11):
We'd go I was getting my PhD at the time.
We would go away until until the next day, and
then Craig and the writers would then stay work.
Speaker 7 (26:20):
All night, work all night.
Speaker 8 (26:21):
Yeah yeah, and then we would tape. We would block
and shoot Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But you obviously didn't have
to be there, like if there was a big you know,
let's say New York shoot that you weren't in, you
would go home. So and then did you guys do
three weeks on one week off?
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Mean you had three days of taping.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
We did three days of you didn't have a second.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Run, one day of rehearsal.
Speaker 8 (26:44):
Yeah, one day rehearsal on three day taping.
Speaker 7 (26:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Right from the start. It didn't like work your way
into that. That was right from the start.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
That's what that was.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
Wow, we were such Carter Bays and I my my
the co creative to show my writing partner. We we
didn't know what we were doing on such a profound level.
We were like twenty nine, and when we wrote this script,
we had never written for a multi camera show. We'd
written for like late night comedy and animation and singlem
We were these We were complete rookies to it. And
you wrote this pilot that had like seventy scenes in
(27:12):
twenty one minutes, and our producer had to sit us
down and explain to us like how the laws of
time and physics.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Were, and I'm like, oh, so time just moves forward.
Speaker 9 (27:23):
You can't hit Paul okay, great, And there's no audience
show when you have when you want to shoot seventy
freaking scenes.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
There's not enough candy to keep an audience.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
Wait for thirty day pease.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I know you have any of you ever done pure
sitcom in front of an audience?
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Like, can you compare it to what you did?
Speaker 9 (27:40):
Josh has done a lot of theater, but it's but yeah,
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (27:44):
Very very first, I think I got my sag card
on this Jim Gaffigan Christine Baranski show called Welcome to
New York, and I got there and they cut my part,
but they gave me like one line like I gave
something to Eric Pogosian or something, you know, And I
had one word, so I qualified to get my SAG cards,
(28:05):
and there was an audience. There was you know, there
was a tape night. I'm trying to remember. I don't
think it's so weird to have been on this big
iconic sitcom and not really have the experience that you
guys have.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
Yeah, it's really weird.
Speaker 8 (28:17):
I've been to tapings of friends and stuff, so I
not friends, but of friends, and I know, I know
what that energy is like. And I know, like I've
seen James Burrows off to the side, you know, snapping
his fingers and doing all that stuff, and it's fascinating.
It's just it wasn't my experience. It wasn't our experience
of how we made our show.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
Oh what an interesting way to do it.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
Yeah, I mean it was.
Speaker 9 (28:39):
It was cool because our show is probably one of
the more emo sitcoms, I know, like Your Guys is
considered that too in a certain way. Like I I
know that so many hoow I Met your Mother fans
have a huge ven diagram overlap with Boy Meets World fans.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
I hear it a lot.
Speaker 9 (28:53):
It's in fact, like the main way I know Boymuts
World is just how many Hemium fans have told me like,
that's my other favorite show, which is cool. I feel
like we're in a weird little club of like similar
tones or like shows that really wore their heart on
their sleeve and really meant something to their fans.
Speaker 7 (29:10):
Yeah, I feel like there's there's a cool overlap there.
Speaker 8 (29:12):
You know, there's there's also there's a case to be
made that the sometimes for the for the big comedy moments,
you would do it once the crew would laugh, yeah,
and then no more like that was your.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
That was your one laugh moment.
Speaker 8 (29:26):
Yeah, because you know, sometimes they would throw in another
line and it would get a laugh. But it was
largely like you just had to trust your gut on
the comedy. But because we had so many kind of
like you know, serious heartfelt stuff. Yeah, not having an
audience there was actually I think kept us really honest.
I think kept us not grounded, not pushing grounded. So
(29:47):
it was helpful in that regard.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
It was that was my point too.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Yeah, it allowed us a kind of emotional side and
like an authenticity to certain emotional like if we needed
to play sadness, it wasn't like we got to get
through just in a hurry. The people in the back
row are starting to share among themselves, like, no, we
we really leaned into those moments, and I think it
really shaped the tone of the show in a cool way.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
For our show. Even though an audience are you.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Are you trying to say there was no emotional depth
to when my character sneezed the lottery?
Speaker 9 (30:21):
We did an incredible amount of stupid, asthetic Golden.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I have to ask before we go any farther, just
because Creig, you mentioned my my first love or one
of my first loves, animation, I'm just curious what you
wrote for in the animated world.
Speaker 9 (30:37):
Yeah, we were at Carter Carter and I were writing
on American Dada. For the funny thing is we wrote
on season one of American Dad as we wrote the
pilot for How I Met Your Mother, and we left
there and did ten years of how Much Mother and
American Dad is still still going.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I know, that's really weird.
Speaker 9 (30:53):
Yeah, so that was that was cool to get a
taste of that. We got to do a bunch We've
gone into a bunch of different kind of things, but
the one thing we haven't done is the thing that
How I Met Your Mother seems like it is when
you watch it, which is an audience show.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
We're sort of this fraudulent audience show, right.
Speaker 9 (31:07):
We created to seem like an audience audience, audience audience show. Yeah,
and it's it's funny how all of us did this
thing for ten years that we didn't really do.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
It.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
There is something about being in front of an audience
that I think also lends itself perfectly to a show
for younger people where it's okay to be bigger and
over the top, where maybe this the giant gags that
you guys did might have been too big.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
If you were pushing in front of an audience.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Right, So there was something where it's like you almost
like you, like you were saying Josh, like you as
actors as a company kind of kept yourselves in check
as opposed to just having that audience.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Although we had a funny talk on one of the
episodes recently where Neil walks into the room, I think
it's I think it's the top of season two, the
first episode he walks into the apartment and he kind
of glances at the fourth wall and it looks like
he's waiting for entrance applause the audience, and so I
said to Craig. This leads to a meta question. Was
(32:08):
Barney the only character on How I Met Your Mother
who knew he was in a sitcom?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Ever?
Speaker 8 (32:12):
Thought they were like in some living life and he
was in some some weird met universe.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Pause.
Speaker 9 (32:22):
It's a great Barney character trait. He thinks he gets applause.
He hears the clause.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
Everywhere he goes.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I do every room I walk in, it really does.
He has a laugh track constantly.
Speaker 9 (32:34):
I asked you guys a question about the audience show
thing you guys were so young?
Speaker 7 (32:38):
Was it?
Speaker 9 (32:39):
Was it what percentage terrifying? What percentage exhilarating to know
you were going to be thrown out in front of
two hundred fifty people. However many people it was Thursday
Night's barrel. You're barreling towards that Thursday Night. You're like
a teenager with whatever you're dealing with in your life,
and now it's like boom here you aren't from this audience.
Was that like you come alive? Or was it terrifying?
Speaker 7 (32:58):
Like what?
Speaker 9 (32:59):
We don't know what that like?
Speaker 5 (33:00):
It was one hundred percent exhilaration.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Exhilaration. There was you know, we we had each other's backs,
like and we felt like the writers had our backs.
Like there was a sense of like, we just can't
wait to present this. Like by the time we got
to the audience show, it was just like, let's get
those laughs, and like the feeling.
Speaker 7 (33:16):
Was just pure.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It was so fun.
Speaker 7 (33:17):
It was so fun.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
It was an audience of kids, right, So it's like
it's it's a lot different when you've got especially when
the show became popular and now they're waiting in line
to come to the show and it's you know, three
hundred and fourteen year olds, then you know that you're
going to have I mean, it would start, we'd be
backstage and our audience announcer would be warming everybody up
and they'd be slamming.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
Their feet and copy and you could just feel the vibe.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
It was cool, Oh, we're about to hit the stage,
and you just by the time you got out there,
you were just like.
Speaker 8 (33:46):
A reason I had like one of those crag that
we sometimes I mean, I think we talked about it
early on. For the first three to five episodes, they
would bring in an audience and they would show the
of the show and they would they would grab the laughter.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
So it was real laughs, yeah, which was episodes.
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Then we started using I love.
Speaker 9 (34:11):
The machine, but grabbing the laughs makes us sound like
freaking monsters.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
We were also those super well prepared. We had three
full days of rehearsal from and and you know, two
run throughs, one for just producers, one for the network,
and then a full block and shoot day and then
then the tape day.
Speaker 9 (34:38):
Were covens were a lot simpler.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
We did not have flashbacks flash forwards.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
You guys have on the block and shoot day, you
actually grabbed the whole show, so you had it, No the.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
Whole show now sour swing set or something like that,
a big gag piece or something like that.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
We would something that wasn't directly in front of the
New York.
Speaker 7 (34:59):
Street and CBS there, you know, we've shot there.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
It was one of the things on well not unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
I think as an actor it was it was exhilarating
at a ton of fun, but for young actors it
was a little daunting. It was our executive producer was
famous for rewriting on the night. Would be sitting there
waiting and he'd come in and scratch out a page.
You go, no, here's what you're gonna do. And we're
like watching going okay, here you go and then action.
Speaker 8 (35:24):
But you also, I mean there's something about that you
get really good at a very particular thing because you
literally have no choice, like exactly get good doing that.
Speaker 6 (35:33):
I have a very particular set of skills.
Speaker 7 (35:36):
Its notes exactly. I heard you.
Speaker 9 (35:40):
I would listen to your guys pilot of this podcast
before before coming on.
Speaker 7 (35:45):
We got Better.
Speaker 9 (35:47):
It's it's great. I really I found it fascinating.
Speaker 7 (35:50):
You guys are great.
Speaker 8 (35:51):
You do.
Speaker 9 (35:51):
You do an awesome podcast here, and you have great chemistry,
and like I was really interested to hear you guys
talk about your memory of getting the notes after the
run through, Like I think you said an hour or
two of notes, Josh. Can you imagine if after the
run through we sat with the actors for two hours,
that's what they said they were getting as teenagers. Ye,
without getting into like that, I had so much sympathy
(36:14):
for you guys. Listen, thinking about giving teenagers and getting
that many notes. I don't want it without like our
picture put you in an uncomfortable spot?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Was that big our big joke, our big impression of
our executive producer, which Will and I because we when
we were wrapping the show. We made a fake documentary.
Will and I went around and shot a fake documentar
of where are they now ten years in the future
of Boy Meets World? And we did an impression of
our our executive producer, which was sitting down to give
a notes and he just goes, this was something really special.
(36:44):
You guys really nailed this.
Speaker 8 (36:46):
This is perfect.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Let's get into notes. Page one, line one, where God,
he would go line page one, Line one is our
because he would he wouldn't. He would just be like
Paige one, line one and yeah, even even if he
was super passive, we would just go line line.
Speaker 6 (37:02):
And by the way, that was I was ever the time,
I was the only teenager.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
They were eleven and twelve, right, And so you would
sit there and we would everybody would take their seats
in the living room set, and our producer would stare
at us, and.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It was it was as much a performance piece as
it was a note session. It was there was very
much about he had been an actor. It was very
much about his.
Speaker 7 (37:23):
Was his moment? Was his moment?
Speaker 4 (37:25):
The number of guest stars we've interviewed who come in
going I don't remember that much, but I do remember
those note sessions.
Speaker 7 (37:34):
That I've never heard of a two hour note session line.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
I mean, we were spared almost all notes, like we
really got you guys ran out.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
They were like Josh Radner shaped a hole in the wall.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Down, it's one pair done for the dead.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah, how much of the arc of your show was
mapped out when you started the show?
Speaker 6 (38:09):
Did you know where you were going to end when
you started the entire series?
Speaker 7 (38:13):
Yeah, we knew.
Speaker 9 (38:14):
We knew where we wanted to end it pretty early on,
but we had it would be dishonest to say, and
we knew we'd get nine seasons and what the whole
shape of that would be. We were you know how
it is like, I mean, you guys were such kids
when you started, but we didn't feel like we had
a show that was guaranteed you to come back the
next season until year four or something, do.
Speaker 7 (38:32):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 9 (38:33):
So we always had these big ideas and things we
knew we wanted to get to, and it was always
this this funny like on the fly math of like
how long can we stretch this condition out? Or sho
should we rush through this because they're going to cancel
us at the end of season five, So we've got
to get through this and forget about that idea.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
We just have to go to this.
Speaker 9 (38:49):
And it was always this kind of like Las Vegas style,
like how long can we let this ride on red
or whatever? And we after a little while, a long
while and a lot of suffering, you realize we're not
going to get canceled.
Speaker 7 (39:01):
We've actually become a hit.
Speaker 9 (39:02):
We've actually like the show got onto Netflix and people
started your four You're five of the show, like really
binging it and catching up and then watching a week
to week, and our numbers just spiked, And at.
Speaker 7 (39:12):
That moment we went, we might get to do this
for a while.
Speaker 9 (39:15):
And we sort of got to play around a little
more in the middle than maybe we thought we'd we would,
but we had some idea of the kind of beginning, middle,
and end generally speaking. But we yeah, we we had
We were very lucky that we got to play for
those middle seasons. We got to play once we were
like exhaling the feel of canceling.
Speaker 8 (39:31):
It's funny when something like runs as long as our
shows do that in hindsight, it looks like there was
some genius master plant. But yeah, when you when you
get into like the center of show base, you realize
everyone's just winging it. Everyone is as they go along. Yeah,
no one, like William Goldman famously is that no one
(39:52):
knows anything right, No one knows what's going to be
a hit. Like you're just making it up as you go,
And like Craig said, like it felt like we actually something.
I think that was really good for us, even though
it was nail biting in the first couple of seasons
whether we'd be back. We were doing just good enough
in the demo that CBS let us stay on the air,
(40:12):
but we weren't a big enough hit that they were
paying that much attention to us.
Speaker 6 (40:16):
That's the best.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
It was the absolute sweet spot.
Speaker 8 (40:19):
Yeah, by the fourth season, by the time we got
on Netflix, we actually became a hit. We were getting
two season pickups. You know, we were doing twenty four
instead of twenty two. We already had this singular voice
that Carter and like, we were already this weird, interesting
kind of indie band that got a little more popular,
and we're playing bigger venues, like you know, and it
was just really fun that we were. I think sometimes
(40:42):
shows can get cursed by getting too big too quickly. Yeah,
and then you start going, well, what do people love?
And then you start second guessing what made it special
in the first place?
Speaker 7 (40:50):
Yeah, were you guys a hit right out of the gate?
How did it grow for you? Like? What was that
our flight?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
We always felt like we weren't a hit. We were
almos under the radar, you know. I mean part of
that was because we were a kid show, so there
was a sense of like mainstream culture was out there
and we were like in our own little sandbox. But yeah, no,
we we felt like we were gonna get canceled pretty
much every every season.
Speaker 9 (41:10):
Really, Yeah, I thought by the end you wouldn't have
felt that way. Maybe maybe my sense of it is
I'm a little bit too old to have like watched
your show and when it was on, But like my
sense and maybe this is a retroactive feeling. People love
it so much now it's an enduring show, maybe not remembering.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Popular now than when it was on. By Yeah, we're
second fiddle to Sabrina the Teenage Witch. To put that
in perspective, Sabrina the te was the big hit and
we were we were the lead in for that, so
we were like the also ran to Sabrina and like,
but now I feel like most people talk about our
show more than they talk about Sabrina.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
And the time, which isn't time funny?
Speaker 7 (41:46):
Like how they take that Sabrina yah, but how how things.
Speaker 8 (41:51):
Age and where they're you know, like we can even
and we don't. I don't want to get into the
weeds on this, but our finale was controversial, and we
have people we hear from people all the time who said,
I was so angry when that happened, and ten years later,
I now things have happened in my life that that
finale makes complete sense to me interesting when I first
saw it. So I think it's nice to take the
(42:14):
long view of things. It's very hard to do when
you're dealing with like ratings and overnights and you.
Speaker 7 (42:18):
Know what's up.
Speaker 8 (42:19):
It's impossible almost, But it's fun that we have like
a like a bigger slice of life now to like
actually see where our shows kind of are in the
constellation of things.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Well.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I'm also I'm very much It sounds Josh like I'm
like your wife because I am a television junkie. I
have been my whole life. Nobody watches more TV than me.
So she and I can have an Olympic TV off,
but neither of us would show up because we'd both
be watching TV. But just just getting to the point
of getting to have a final episode is so rare
in television, right, yeah, right, because.
Speaker 6 (42:50):
Normally it's just your hey, wow, that show's gone. What
the hell?
Speaker 1 (42:53):
So it's really the ones that have endured that get
that goodbye. I mean, just that goodbye is so rare that,
I mean, let alone to have a controversial one. I mean,
you look back on the when Sopranos ended and everyone
was like, what the hell you know you get but
they're still talking about it.
Speaker 7 (43:09):
But there's and it's funny.
Speaker 9 (43:11):
It's almost like, because what you guys said, like maybe
you've been more enduring than some of your contemporary some
of your classmates, even the classmates on TV who seem
like the more popular kids in the TV school, You've
outlasted it somehow, and that means there was something enduring
about what you guys did and what you have energy
you put out there.
Speaker 7 (43:28):
I like to think it's true of how much your
mother too.
Speaker 9 (43:30):
And I think a weird part of it is that
sometimes it was surprising and controversial what we did on
the show, and people like debate it and write think
pieces about it and stuff, and I think that that
echo has actually kept the show more popular than some
of our other classmates at the time.
Speaker 6 (43:43):
I think it's true.
Speaker 8 (43:44):
I also think I mean, I think our show was
really funny, like like properly funny in the way you
want a great sitcom to be funny. And that's been
part of the light is going back to it being like, oh,
I was on something really wondering. It's so hard to
get a sense of what you're on while you're on it,
so when you go back a couple of years later,
it's like, oh my god, this was this was quite good,
Like I understand why people are still watching this and
(44:05):
talking about But I also think there's something like when
and this fell on me a lot as a character,
like shows that dare to kind of do more heart
forward stuff in addition to the comedy, I think they
have a better chance of lasting a little bitter, because
then you're in the realm of like perennial, Like everyone
gets heartbroken, everyone feels like a failure. Everyone longs to connect,
(44:27):
and they you know, they get hurt. They hurt people,
so I think that when I was on the air,
I remember this feeling that I there were there was
a very vocal corner, not not the whole thing, but
there were some people that just did not like my character,
Like I was the vulnerable man, right, and they were
like that guy, like we don't like it, you know.
(44:50):
But I feel like, again, he's aged so well, Like
the character is age so well. Yeah, and I hear
from not just men who relate to him. I hear
from a ton of women ye to him. So I
think that sometimes you dare to put something forward that's
like a little more vulnerable, that risks sentimentality. I have
a big thing about like there's a difference between sentiment
and sentimentality. Like sentiment is like feeling it's good, you
(45:13):
want it. You just don't want to be trite or cliche,
you know, predictable. So I think we did something really
well that secured a place for us, you know, in
the culture somehow.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Well, one of the things that made your show so
unbelievably special. I mean, any television show, especially that comes
out it's pieces and one piece goes away and the
whole thing falls apart.
Speaker 6 (45:34):
So obviously the writing is there the creative team is there.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
But then you get this ensemble cast together, which is
one of the best ensemble casts ever on television. So
is this something that did you write any of these
parts for specific actors and then oh my god, they
decided to do it or did this just fall into
place where wow, these people came into audition and we
were able to somehow put this magic.
Speaker 9 (45:57):
Together almost entirely. The second thing and a little bit
the first thing. The like Josh was the first audition day,
one first person we saw for any role and he
came in and he's ted.
Speaker 6 (46:10):
So that was like that, How does that?
Speaker 9 (46:11):
Does that ever happen? I don't know if it's never happened.
Speaker 7 (46:14):
There's there's two.
Speaker 8 (46:15):
Good ways to get a roll. One is that way,
and the second one is you're the last person they
saw answer the problem. They can't figure it out, and
then you walk in and give them someone who.
Speaker 7 (46:26):
Didn't show up.
Speaker 9 (46:27):
Yeah, So that was Josh, Thank God and thank the
casting gods, and but and everybody else. We I guess Neil.
We had seen Neil in Harold and Kumar.
Speaker 7 (46:40):
Remember Harold and Kumar.
Speaker 9 (46:41):
He steals the movie for several minutes and we were
like God, and we had been envisioning the character of
Barney is maybe like more of a Jack Black, kind
of like John Belushy type of guy, and we knew
there was that version. Then there was like the Vince
Vaughn version, and we're like, Neil is the Vince von
version of Barney. We were one hundred percent coming to
that version, which we were kind of leaning the other way,
(47:02):
and Neil came in and just auditioned and stole that
part away from everybody else. And then my wife I
told my wife Rebecca, we're creating a role a little
bit based on her. It's Marshall. Lilly are kind of
like my me and my wife Jason and Allison's character.
And my wife said, I'm a little weird about big
a paracter on TV being based on me. Here's my
(47:23):
two conditions. We're huge Buffy fans at the time. In detail.
Here one condition is I have to name the character
I wanted to be called Lily. And condition too is
it has to be Allison Haddigan or no deal.
Speaker 7 (47:38):
Somehow we trot. We made her an.
Speaker 9 (47:42):
Offer as one of our first like maneuvers, and we
were such a small pilot created, you know, created by
two nobody's Carter and I, who'd never even been on
staff on a multi camp sitcom. No one cared about
our pilot. Maybe there was like eleven pilots comedies for
CBS that year. We were definitely the eleventh. I already pilot,
and so nobody really cared. They're like, I let these
(48:04):
kids make their little TV show, We'll see if it's anything.
But Alison Hannigan was a star. She was from American Pie,
she was from Buffy, and she had a quote, you
know what I mean. She had a price tag to
get Alison Haddigan.
Speaker 8 (48:15):
That was above It was bigger than mine.
Speaker 9 (48:20):
That's true. And this studio and the network, nobody wanted
to spend extra money on the pilot being done by
these two idiots, Carter and Craig. And we didn't get
her at first because we didn't do They didn't want
to spend the money. And then we saw all these
people nobody felt quite right. And then we brought in
Allison to audition along with Jason, and they were so
(48:41):
charming together as this couple. That's one of the core
pieces of the show.
Speaker 7 (48:44):
This couple. We've got to love this couple and the
studio went, yeah, it's important. Threw a little money so
we got her. But yeah, and Jason, we like studio.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
We had to go above and be on.
Speaker 9 (49:01):
I feel I've disclosed sensitive financial information here on your podcast.
Speaker 6 (49:07):
I think we all know coming off of her career,
she had the bigger question. Not anything special about.
Speaker 9 (49:13):
That Kobe small Kobe smolders like materialized out of thin
air to become Robin.
Speaker 7 (49:17):
She was this Canadian I you know, she'd just done
a little bit of American stuff.
Speaker 9 (49:21):
She's from Vancouver, done a little acting there, but not
that much, never done comedy and walked in and similar
to Josh, and alongside of Josh and I did the
auditions just like she was Robin. It was one of
those It was such a mix of the two mechanisms
of casting you asked about, Wow, that's great.
Speaker 4 (49:36):
We had so much fun talking with Josh and Craig.
We had to split the episode into two parts, so
thank you all for listening to part one. You can
catch part two later today as a special bonus episode.
Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted
by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and right Or Strong. Executive producers
(49:57):
Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production,
Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddy Moore,
engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our
theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us
on Instagram at Podmeets World Show, or email us at
Podmeets Worldshow at gmail dot com
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Danielle Fishel
Rider Strong
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