Top 10 How I Met Your Mother Moments That Broke the Whole Cast

During season three, Barney is trying to determine who’s been tipping off his prospective dates about his questionable treatment of women. To help, the boys create a “bracket” to narrow down the possibilities. When that fails, Robin suggests she pretend to be someone he’s about to hook up with to lure his saboteur out of the woodwork. When an unknown woman approaches her at the bar, Marshall digs out a copy of the bracket for Barney and it spirals out of control. Unable to open the folded page, Neil Patrick Harris and the other guys burst into laughter at their inability to perform such a menial task. It’s a quick moment that shows how even the simplest things can break a scene.

As an actor, your job is to take the words off the page, and turn them into a performance. However, there can be moments when a script gives direction instead of just your lines. Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris had such a moment when they had to respond to a comment made by Ted’s new lady friend, Blah Blah. We imagine the script said something like “Robin says ‘no’ a bunch of times” and “Barney counts how many times she said no”. In one outtake, Cobie says the word no 34 times, to which Neil responds, triggering laughter from the entire cast. It feels more like she may have done it on purpose, but either way, it’s still funny.

Lily wants to camp outside a bridal gown shop overnight. She tries to convince Barney, Robin, and Ted that they should all pull this all nighter together. Barney responds saying he can’t go because, well, he has a certain body part that she doesn’t. The line itself is pretty funny on its own but the outtake goes one step further. After Neil makes his anatomical reference, there’s a pause where Cobie quips back [b-roll: “Me too”]. Bursts of laughter can then be heard, followed by Neil’s attempt to not do a spit take and Alyson Hannigan’s own applause. You can tell from moments like this just how much fun the cast had behind the scenes.

In case you didn’t know by now, Jason Segel has an incredible aptitude for physical comedy. On more than one occasion, he’s brought his castmates to tears with his own antics including this gem from season seven. Barney manages to acquire a sex tape featuring Lily and Marshall, both of whom have a bet whether or not Barney will ever see it. This leads to a moment where Marshall tries to convince Barney to watch it through a series of ridiculous faces he’s supposedly made on the tape. In true Segel style, one take shows him going so overboard that both Josh and Lily completely lose it trying to keep a straight face. We don’t see Neil’s reaction but we imagine he was the same.

Sometimes the writing is so good that the actors can’t keep it together even before a line is spoken. Such was the case for Cobie when Jason was trying to get his lines out about some fart related “Mad Libs.” After barely getting one word out, Jason starts laughing at his co-star who has already gone off the rails from laughter. It only gets funnier as both Jason and Josh remind her that yes, she is allowed to laugh, but she has to wait until he says the line first. The entire exchange is hilarious to watch, and we somehow wish more of it could have made the final edit.

Ted has decided to get back together with his college sweetheart, Karen, who is aptly named by the way. While discussing her pretentious attitude at the bar, Lily accuses Ted of turning into one of her “douche zombies” that Marshall then illustrates to the group. Behind the scenes, Jason’s inability to contain his own laughter spilled out to the entire cast. The tears start in Neil’s face, spread to Cobie, and then eventually Segel himself. The best part is watching Jason laugh so hard and yet try to, and fail horribly at, regaining his composure. We see a couple of versions of this, but we can’t imagine how many more it took before he finally got the line out right.

In a similar vein to a previous entry, we’re once again at the bar, with the whole cast in their booth, all trying to contain themselves from Jason Segel’s exuberance. Marshall desperately wants Ted to release his anger about Stella leaving him at the altar. After watching the bloopers compared to the actual scene, it’s not hard to understand why so much didn’t make the cut. Every time Segel would try to prompt Radnor with anger, all it did was break the entire cast. From Radnor’s laughter, to Cobie’s covering of her face, Segel had to dial it back to get through the scene.

And here we are with another Jason Segel moment. This time it’s from a flashback scene where Marshall is dancing in his Joey Buttafuoco pants. Similar to our “zombie” entry, this is a case where Segel just can’t get out of his own way. While parading around trying to prove why he should be able to keep his pants, the poor guy can’t keep a straight face during any of it. The best part is the fact that he can’t even get a word out, all while Radnor is bent over with laughter. Will someone please put this guy back in another comedy on television? We miss him!

Do you sense a pattern here? Yet again, Mr. Segel brings the entire cast down, this time with just one word: “Fine!” In a heated debate among Ted, Robin, Marshall and Lily about which is better, rabbit or duck, Marshall eventually concedes to the rest. However, this only happens after multiple takes are tossed out due to the laughter resulting from Segel’s very loud and aggressive concession. It mostly stems from Radnor’s inability to keep a straight face which eventually turns to laughter and spreads to the rest of the table. Watching moments like this truly reminds us why we loved this show so much.

Sometimes actors break because they forget their lines. Other times, the scene is just that funny, they can’t help themselves. However, there are moments where even something as simple as an actor’s hand can throw a scene into chaos. While Ted recalls a story about ultimate Frisbee in college, Josh Radnor decides to use his hands to help augment the description of a player’s family jewels. The motioning of a triangle sends the whole table into a tailspin of laughter. Gaping wide open mouths and a set of chuckles that could be heard for blocks follows for several takes as everyone tries to forget the image Josh just planted in their mind.

What was your favorite, hilarious moment from this show that never made it to air? Let us know in the comments.