Josh Radnor's Favorite How I Met Your Mother Running Joke Makes So Much Sense

"How I Met Your Mother" ran for nine seasons. Over the course of more than 200 episodes of content, the iconic Millennial sitcom developed a unique cast of characters and eventually, painstakingly, revealed how one of them, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), met his wife. While the show had a few compelling long-term story arcs, though, it really existed to entertain by following the characters through the foibles of their everyday lives, in much the same vein as "Friends," "New Girl," or "Seinfeld."

This laissez-faire but quirky approach to storytelling led to several recurring jokes that popped up over and over again during the show — including one that Radnor singled out as his favorite. Years ago, when a panel of the cast members was asked what their favorite running joke was, Radnor's response made perfect sense. Here's what he said:

"I'm a huge fan of the interventions. I love those. I think it's so funny that they clearly got a professional banner made for an intervention, a fake British accent or wearing Crocs. And they take it very seriously, and you're walking in there with a banner, and everyone is just like [scowling face]."

The intervention trope weaves throughout the entire show, addressing obsessions with everything from spray tans to magic tricks. There are both on-screen and referenced interventions for addictions to charts, Dr. Suess hats, and Barney picking up girls dressed like an old man. At one point, there's even an intervention for interventions.

"How I Met Your Mother" is riddled with other ongoing jokes. Radnor brought up telepathic talking as another of these. Characters in the show will often converse with one another without moving their mouths, connecting brain-to-brain for more intimate or secret exchanges.

Lilly actress Alyson Hannigan brought up an example of a more compartmentalized joke: when the show's main characters continually thank the bartender Linus for his spot-on, time-sensitive service throughout season 9 (the final season of the show). The punctual service leads to the familiar phrase "Thank you, Linus." Robin actress Cobie Smulders' data-driven answer for a top running joke was the show's continual use of numbers and random but very specific percentages to quantify things.

Many of these gags became more nuanced with time. As the seasons progressed, they required a deeper "you needed to be there" level of understanding from the audience. That's why, despite the random nature of so much of the show's content, it's still best to watch this one from the beginning so you can catch everything and build that intra-show vocabulary as you go along.