This one's for you, Barney Stinson
MANILA, Philippines - If Friends is the sitcom that ultimately defined the late ‘90s, How I Met Your Mother is shaping up to be its equivalent a decade or so later. The parallels are there: a downtown Manhattan setting, frighteningly spot-on writing, and a bunch of relative unknowns slowly crafting their on-screen personas.
On the other hand, since it debuted in September 2005, HIMYM has taken standard ensemble comedy — a genre often met with eye-rolling ennui — and made it even quirkier. Tearing away from the others in the primetime pack, the show uses an off-cam narrator and multiple flashbacks, a structure that necessitates filming and editing more scenes than usual. The show’s most mythical element, however, answers to the name Barney Stinson. No one saw it coming.
From Doogie To Barney
Brought to life by erstwhile child actor Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.), Barney Stinson is the fifth member of the breakout cast. The perfect wingman to his more serious best friend Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), Barney tries to help him get laid at any given time. Season 4 finds Ted’s roommate Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) married to Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) and Barney possibly falling for Ted’s ex Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders).
As it turns out, Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, the show’s creators, were looking for a Jack Black type to play the fast-talking, womanizing bachelor. In a conversation with The Early Show’s Julie Chen, Harris admittedly went into the auditions “with no expectations at all.” It was 2004 and he had just done the stoner fave Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, where he poked fun at his previous TV incarnation. After spontaneously dive rolling in the tryout (it involved laser tag) in front of CBS chairman Les Moonves, he soon convinced Thomas and Bays that he was meant for the role.
In a television wasteland devoid of memorable characters, Stinson definetely stands out. While Gossip Girl’s Chuck Bass is indeed hard to forget, it can get tiring to watch a twentysomething actor play a high school senior pretending to be a 42-year-old lothario celebrating another divorce. Barney Stinson may also be a cad, but he’s funny, lovable, and behaves somewhat more appropriately to his age.
Catchphrase Hall Of Fame
On rising like a phoenix from the mentholated bosom of the ’80s, Harris has said that the role has given him the opportunity to “keep flexing comedy chops each week and having lots of people watch it.” Again, the extremely clever writing has a lot to do with it.
In the three and a half years it’s been on the air, How I Met Your Mother has not only earned a slew of awards and nominations. It has, more importantly, contributed quite a few choice lines to the pop culture catchphrase hall of fame. Barney Stinson was probably responsible for most of those.
Aside from “Legen – wait for it – dary!” and “What uuuuuup!” it’s “Suit up!” that’s become synonymous with the Armani-clad fifth wheel. US cable network TV Land has even named “Suit up!” one of television’s 100 greatest catchphrases.
Singled Out
But more than being a highly bloggable quote machine, Barney Stinson is insanely popular among viewers because he lives the freewheeling, party-hearty life many twentysomething dudes wish they still had post-college. In “No Tomorrow” (season 3 ep. 12), Barney tells Ted: “Open your brain-tank ‘brah,’ ‘cause here comes some premium 91 octane knowledge! There are three rules of cheating: It’s not cheating if you’re not the one who’s married. It’s not cheating if her name had two adjacent vowels, and it’s not cheating if she’s from a different area code. You’re fine on all three counts.” He has even said, “Getting married... Having kids... It’s all a mistake... Horibble, horibble mistake!” (“Something Blue,” season 2 ep. 22).
Circling back to point I previously made, Joey Tribbiani from Friends may have patented the sitcom single guy schtick but it’s Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother that made it look cool and aspirational. I mean, here’s someone who, surrounded by friends going “two by two” into an “ark of sexless boredom,” is resentful of the whole coupling business.
It may be a classic case of not wanting to grow up, but he proves that singlehood is not as bad as unnamed dark forces — Sex and the City? — have led us to believe. Not at all. In fact, if his Barneyisms are anything to go by, being young and unattached these days is not only fun. It’s downright awesome.
