How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)

Let's Talk - Cobra Kai
Episode 27: How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)

Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez discuss how the popular TV series helped reignite the feud between Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso with a little help from William Zabka and Ralph Macchio.

Synopsis: A father recounts to his children - through a series of flashbacks - the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.

Creators: Craig Thomas, Carter Bays
Cast: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Bob Saget

Original Episode: S02E16

Recorded: 10-13-20
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

Listen:
https://LetsTalkCobraKai.buzzsprout.com/

Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNfekAT0gN4to-6j2iKhGQw/

Follow:
https://www.facebook.com/LetsTalkCobraKai/
https://www.instagram.com/LetsTalkCobraKai/
https://twitter.com/TalkCobraKai/

Hosts:
https://www.instagram.com/MrJasonConnell/
https://www.instagram.com/SalvadorLosAngeles/

Support:
https://www.patreon.com/LetsTalkCobraKai/

#justcuriousmedia #letstalkcobrakai #mrjasonconnell #salvadorlosangeles #cobrakai #thekaratekid #daniellarusso #johnnylawrence #mrmiyagi #senseikreese #ralphmacchio #williamzabka #patmorita #martinkove #allvalleykaratechampionships #martialarts

Transcript

Jason Connell: 0:00

Welcome to Just Curious Media. This is Let's Talk - Cobra Kai. I'm Jason Connell.

Sal Rodriguez: 0:04

And I'm Sal Rodriguez.

Jason Connell: 0:06

All right, Sal, here we are. Another episode killin time before Season Three rears its head. And today we're going to be talking about the infamous show How I Met Your Mother, which ran from 2005 to 2014. It's quite a long run there, Sal.

Sal Rodriguez: 0:23

Well, you know what I'm enjoying right now, as we are waiting for the arrival of season three. I'm enjoying looking back in time, not so far in this instance, about things that were taking place between the Karate Kid motion pictures, and Cobra Kai, a lot went on between Karate Kid and Cobra Kai.

Jason Connell: 0:44

Absolutely. And the reason we're talking about How I Met Your Mother, a show that was very well known still in syndication, I would say, and it seems like it's on TV all the time, a show that I didn't really watch. I caught a few episodes at the gym when I was on the elliptical or the treadmill. And I would just say, Oh, it's kind of funny. And I like Neil Patrick Harris, but I just don't know the show as well as others, but got clued in to what we're going to talk about. And it really fascinated me. But before I jump into that, were you a fan of the show? Did you see episodes? Did you follow it to run?

Sal Rodriguez: 1:18

No, I like you would only see a clip every now and again. Maybe I'd catch an episode at the gym and at the gym, you're looking at subtitles. So right even with the subtitles. Over the years, when I would catch the show, I realized this show is really funny. And now looking over the show as it connects with Cobra Kai. This show is very, very funny.

Jason Connell: 1:35

Yes, and it's got some great characters, and we're gonna give everyone their credit and they're doing as we always do. But unlike breaking down episodes beat by beat scene by scene as we do on the show or when we do movies or even music videos. This isn't that we are talking about How I Met Your Mother because it had some connections to the Karate Kid and Cobra Kai before Cobra Kai even became a show. And so that blew my mind to find that out, did some research and found out every episode that had these connections, and we thought it would be an interesting episode to talk about.

Sal Rodriguez: 2:09

Yeah, and it all starts with Neil Patrick Harris, his character Barney, being a huge fan of The Karate Kid, but the way that he sees the Karate Kid is not the way you might think. So when when Barney mentions the Karate Kid, he's talking about Johnny Loris.

Jason Connell: 2:26

Exactly. And before I get into that, I was reading that the creators of Cobra Kai in particular, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg they had written Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, along with the sequels, which had no Patrick Harrison then playing a bizarre version of himself if you recall the film's

Sal Rodriguez: 2:46

Oh, yeah. And, you know, for those of you comedy fans, his role in Harold and Kumar, Neil Patrick Harris, his role as himself and Harold and Kumar was absolutely hilarious, hysterical and way over the top talking about pushing the envelope. He plays a hyperbolized version of himself. I think it was, yeah, it was. Yeah, it was so hilarious.

Jason Connell: 3:09

I also read that the creators credited the show along with other media to help reignite the feud between Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Russo, which is amazing to think that this show, you know, was doing this just on its own because of their love for the Karate Kid. And the series Heimat your mother was created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bayes and the show for those who don't know, it's about a father recounting to his children through a series of flashbacks, the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother. And as we just talked about, there's some really good characters a lot of good comedy. The show had Josh Radnor, who played Ted Mosby. Jason Segel played Marshall Erickson, Alyson Hannigan is Lily Aldrin, Cobie Smulders as Robin Schabowski, and Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson. And there's also a really cool voiceover which they use in the whole show, which is Bob Saget of all people.

Sal Rodriguez: 4:08

Yeah, so Bob Saget plays an older Ted telling the story.

Jason Connell: 4:12

Exactly. Now, Barney played by know Patrick Harris, was widely considered the show standout character. He was infamous for his womanizing ways, much like in Harold and Kumar, and his elaborate schemes, and he equally harbored an extremely unique view of movies, as he was predisposed to root for the characters traditionally viewed as the villains, much like you just said, so. He considers William Zabka, the Karate Kid. And he also loved diehards. Hans Gruber, the principal from the Breakfast Club, and the Terminator and those films and even like shed a tear. When the terminators red eye goes blank. It is really upsetting. This all leads us to the Karate Kid and his love for Johnny Lawrence of Cobra Kai. So just to be accurate sounds we always are. I'll go ahead and say the season it was out the episode and the name of it and then when kind of talk about it because there was several episodes that had these references. And

Sal Rodriguez: 5:11

yes, but I believe it all starts with season four episode 15. Yes,

Jason Connell: 5:15

that is correct. Okay. That's

Sal Rodriguez: 5:16

the first one where I think we learned as the as a fan of the show or a viewer of How I Met Your Mother. We learned that Barney loves the Karate Kid in that episode. First. It's called the Stinson. That's the name of the episode.

Jason Connell: 5:27

That's his last name. That is correct. And it came out in 2009. And I want

Sal Rodriguez: 5:31

to say this, I gotta say this because How I Met Your Mother had a director by the name of Pamela Fryman, she directed 196 episodes. Well, the ones that we're talking about today are some of those episodes. Now, Pamela Fryman also directed 22 episodes of the soap opera, Santa Barbara, between 1990 and 1993. Now, within that time, it was definitely within those three years somewhere. I was an extra in Santa Barbara, in a locker room scene playing a college baseball player in a locker room scene doing some camera crosses in a towel, believe me that once upon a time, I would be on camera with just the towel. So somewhere in that time, it's entirely possible that our director today Pamela Fryman directed me in Santa Barbara,

Jason Connell: 6:13

a semi nude Sal Rodriguez. Let's talk Santa Barbara sounds like a show.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:19

Sounds like a morning show. Welcome to Let's Talk Santa Barbara. Great. Great weather today.

Jason Connell: 6:24

It is good weather. It's Santa Barbara, I will say. So in this episode. The synopsis from IMDb is the guys find out that Barney is pretending to have a wife and son to make his mother happy. But the charade is blown when Ted makes a move on Barney's wife. So that sets the stage, if you will, because Sal and I actually watched all these episodes in their entirety to see what references were there and in some of these, it's like one scene, but pretty funny setup and so take it from here.

Sal Rodriguez: 6:53

Yeah, this would I think be the primary scene in this episode. And at this moment in time, the gang is at Barney's mother's house. By the way. Barney's mother's played by Frances Conroy, as we all know and love from six feet under she was a mother from six feet under one of my favorite shows. I believe one of your favorite shows. Also Jason,

Jason Connell: 7:09

it's my one acting credit on IMDb season four finale at Claire's art show. I met Francis Conroy at craft service, and I said hello. And she was dressed as her character on the incredible show six feet under. And she was so sweet to me. I was just an extra. But I was also just wearing a towel. Well,

Sal Rodriguez: 7:29

that was a lucky MC. No, that's not true. She was charming

Jason Connell: 7:32

as ever. So I love seeing her in the scene. And I love seeing her in any and everything she's been in.

Sal Rodriguez: 7:37

So they're at Barney's mother's house, Marshall and lilyc Marshall makes a comment about the big Karate Kid poster above Barney's bed. And this is when we learn that Barney loves the Karate Kid. But he considers Johnny Lawrence, the true karate kid. And I think it's funny when Lilly says So you mean when you watch The Karate Kid you actually root for that mean? blonde boy.

Jason Connell: 8:01

It's so funny. And yes, I love it.

Sal Rodriguez: 8:04

Barney loves Johnny Lawrence does not love. Ralph Masaccio does not love Daniel Russo, as we will find out later.

Jason Connell: 8:12

Absolutely. And I thought that was so funny to think back like, Wow, here he is a guy that hates Daniel Russo loves Johnny Lawrence, but he's got this oversize poster from the movie. So I went online and looked up the official movie poster because I knew in my head what it kind of looked like. And of course, it's Mr. Miyagi and Daniel, looking into each other's eyes, almost bowing, if you will, with Daniel practicing the Crane Kick in the background. So Barney is looking at this all the time. Maybe he had like an alt movie poster that had Johnny and the Cobra guys or something because that doesn't add up.

Sal Rodriguez: 8:50

Well, that's pretty interesting now that you mentioned it because yeah, there was no movie promo posters that featured Johnny Lawrence no one routed for Johnny Lawrence back then. Today it's different now that we got Cobra Kai but back then no one was rooting for Johnny Lawrence that I knew of

Jason Connell: 9:04

even the DVDs. I got us last year with the special features on it from the Karate Kid. It is a different poster on the front. But it's like a little scene from the all Valley tournament there is a small image of Daniel and Johnny fighting and there's a bigger image of rough macho Danielson but, but that was much later. So yeah, I just I thought that's kind of funny. This show despite that, it's a funny angle to take but yet, it wouldn't have been

Sal Rodriguez: 9:30

John Lawrence on there. That perspective as Johnny Lawrence says the true hero of the movie. Again, today we can look after Cobra Kai and we can say oh, yeah, sure. But back then there was a very unique perspective to think that Johnny Lawrence was the hero.

Jason Connell: 9:45

And that's this Barney's character as well. He loves Hans Gruber from Die Hard which is an incredible film and, and a great villain. And he said Die Hard. He died hard that movies about him. That's why he loved the Terminator the movies called the Terminator, so he taught the Karate Kid It was Johnny Lawrence he knew how to fight he knew karate. Unlike Daniel who just learned some stuff really quickly from Mr. Miyagi. He learned how to work sure would be his take.

Sal Rodriguez: 10:09

Sure. He thought he probably watched his Hellraiser he routes for the Cenobites because he's like, Hey, these guys are raising hell, hence the name Hellraiser. Totally. So of course, I'm gonna root for the Cenobites

Jason Connell: 10:20

that's the only scene in the whole episode that deals with it. But it says a lot about his character and it's a really funny thing, but there's no cameos or anything but still really cool to see Karate Kid pop up and pop culture countless years later,

Sal Rodriguez: 10:34

What year was this episode? Did you say 2009? Okay, so this was after the Sweep the leg. No more kings music video that we talked about on a previous episode.

Jason Connell: 10:43

Yeah, that was 2007. So this is two years after that. Okay, so

Sal Rodriguez: 10:47

now as fans of Cobra Kai, we can look back and see how William Zabka and others but primarily William Zabka. Kept the folklore The Karate Kid folklore the Cobra Kai folklore alive. He kept it alive for us. Thanks to him. I think primarily, we have Cobra Kai today.

Jason Connell: 11:07

Well, I know it didn't hurt when there's other things that we'll probably uncover now that we're doing this research.

Sal Rodriguez: 11:12

And by the way, I kind of get the feeling when I see Ralph macho between the Karate Kid years and the Cobra Kai years when I see him appearing as things as Daniel Russo. I kind of feel like he's not that excited about being there. Versus when I see William Zabka. In the same era, doing things doing high jinks related to the to the universe

Jason Connell: 11:32

a to a point until Daniel came back and took the role back on and Cobra Kai, which he just owns, and he's Daniel again. But you know, you gotta think that Ralph Macho. Besides this unique take from Barney Stinson, went around in life as the Karate Kid, think about all of the things he was doing in real life, how much he was just inundated as the Karate Kid. And he also went on to make Karate Kid, part two and part three. It's almost like being typecast. And he probably had to live that down. Because you and I both know, we've talked about this, how talented he really is. I mean, he is so incredible in the outsiders filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by the way, he's incredible. And crossroads, even things like my cousin Vinnie, or even the show on HBO last year, the deuce. He's amazing. So he's super talented, and it probably just took time and maturity. And he just lived it down. And then he came back, thank goodness, and took that role back on because he's killing it. But yeah, I'm sure for a long time, Sal, that it probably wasn't exciting to talk about the Karate Kid or play him or make fun of it. I'm sure it wasn't, we're Johnny. He wasn't in that many movies. He was in the first one in this snippet of the second, just the beginning fight sequence, and he was the villain. So I'm sure that it was by more fun to kind of revisit that.

Sal Rodriguez: 12:58

Well just want to remind our listeners to check out the no more kings, Sweep the leg episode. We did it a few weeks ago. Check it out, download it, and see more stuff from William Zabka. so wonderful to see him in all of his appearances.

Jason Connell: 13:11

All right, so now on to the next episode, which is season six, Episode Seven. Canning, Randy came out in 2010. Again, directed by Pamela Fryman. And in this episode, Marshall struggles to fire an incompetent employee. Everyone tries to figure out whom Robins slept with Halloween night. And Zoey, the KNB skyscraper protesters finds a way to turn Ted's class against him. So there's a lot of storylines going on. So however, the Cobra Kai references are very small and right in the beginning.

Sal Rodriguez: 13:48

Yeah, I watched the whole episode and I want to say that because again, you and I are not saying you and I were big How I Met Your Mother fans. But I'm telling you the show was absolutely hilarious. Like, you don't have to watch all the shows in their entirety as far as all the seasons. You can just catch an episode every now and again. Very, very funny stuff. Yeah, in this episode, it was just the Halloween party scene where they're all in costume. And Barney is in a Cobra Kai gi there's no reference. No, they don't even talk

Jason Connell: 14:13

about it at all. Don't talk about it. It looks great. It cements the point home from what he did last season was talking about his love for Johnny Lawrence Cobra Kai and here he is. And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't go back and talk about my Halloween stories as Cobra Kai. I've gone to two Halloween parties, one at a friend's house many years ago, and one at LACMA and Los Angeles at the museum. As I guess Johnny Lawrence I didn't say Johnny Lorenz, but I had a Cobra Kai shirt. Big Cobra Kai on it had the slogan on the backs arguably the slogan,

Sal Rodriguez: 14:47

strike first strike hard. No Mercy shirt was awesome.

Jason Connell: 14:51

It said that clears down the back had the black a black belt although I'm not a black belt, I know kind of sacrilegious there. There was just a costume and had the hair and I haven't had a Vandana and it worked at the party it went over really well I think I have a photo from the party which I'll have to post on our social media. And then at LACMA, there was a Danielson running around and we had a photo op, which was hilarious. And I don't have a photo from it. I could not find it, but it would have been great. What a great moment. Now that it's back in vogue and everyone's talking about it and I still have the hair. I may have to go for a three pizza.

Sal Rodriguez: 15:27

So next time you dress up is Johnny Lawrence, I want to see the skeleton costume. That's what I was

Jason Connell: 15:32

totally what it doesn't have to be me though. You could do that, buddy.

Sal Rodriguez: 15:36

I'm far from a skeleton, what's the opposite of a skeleton? That's what I am right now.

Jason Connell: 15:41

Alright, so moving on. This is the third episode of How I Met Your Mother with Cobra Kai Karate Kid reference in it. And this is the big one. I mean, this is the one that they did not hold back at all. So I mean, they went all out on this episode, which is season eight, Episode 22. The bro mitzvah.

Sal Rodriguez: 15:59

Yeah, and one thing I do want to create a disclaimer here and that is I think that there is a spoiler. I think we're gonna give away a spoiler in this particular episode, because there is a surprise.

Jason Connell: 16:08

Yes. And that's what came out in 2013. And the synopsis is Ted Marshall turn Barney's bachelor party into the worst night of his life, or is that exactly what they want him to believe?

Sal Rodriguez: 16:21

For those of you who ever seen the movie with Michael Douglas called the game a wonderful movie, David Fincher. I loved that movie so much. I only saw it once. I want to see it again only saw once, but I remembered that movie. I really loved it so much. This episode was reminiscent of that how? Basically a person has been bamboozled. And they don't know it.

Jason Connell: 16:38

Right. As I said, this episode goes all in on the Karate Kid as Barney lays out exactly what he wants for his bachelor party. Well, sometime

Sal Rodriguez: 16:47

earlier in anticipation and preparation for Barney's bachelor party, Barney reveals his list. He almost it's like a scroll almost like a religious scroll he brings out of things that he wants for his bachelor party. A number of things include naked performers, of course, but then he says, quote, an appearance by my all time idol, the Karate Kid. So again, everybody that hears that is obviously in their head. They're thinking, rough match, of course. Of course. It's Daniel Russo. He's the Karate Kid, right. So later on, as the evening progresses, they wind up at this cheap Atlantic City hotel, a clown arrives doing balloon animals, and of course, Barney's like What the hell kind of bachelor party is this? balloon animal clown. You know, this is a joke, right? He's starting to realize this is not the greatest bachelor party ever. But the worst bachelor party, ever cheap hotel. They're not staying at any cool places.

Jason Connell: 17:37

And so they do get a stripper. Who is that stripper? Exactly?

Sal Rodriguez: 17:41

The stripper turns out to be Barney's. I think former fiance I think her name is Quinn. I think that's her character's name. Quinn is a stripper as a cop. So she's a cop strip. So she knocks in the door open up into the police. But then you see it's actually the stripper which happens to be Quinn which happens to be Barney's. former fiance knocking at the door to strip at Barney's bachelor party. Talk about awkward.

Jason Connell: 18:03

It's such a bad bachelor party that she doesn't let him watch her strip she strips for everybody else. Just really funny.

Sal Rodriguez: 18:11

That was very funny. I think that before that though, right? Didn't they introduce the Karate Kid and in walks Ralph Masaccio. To which Barney says No, I hate Ralph Macho. He is not the Karate Kid. The Karate Kid is William Zabka star pupil of the Cobra Kai dojo, who this monster defeated with a cheap illegal head kick in the most tragically haunting film ending of all time.

Jason Connell: 18:38

So good. I thought it was really funny the way Ralph macho had this dark sense of humor with him kind of similar to Barney, they made him kind of a match. So they were more alike than Barney wanted them to be, which is really funny, ongoing sequence. That's

Sal Rodriguez: 18:51

one of the gags that that they show is that actually, Ralph mazzio and Barney are very similar in character and personality, even some of their catchphrases. Yeah.

Jason Connell: 19:02

Marsha was really into the stripper and anything else that was going on. So that was a funny gag. And I love that he went with it. It was great. The line that Barney says too is like not that went from New Jersey. I guess that was the first reference from season four. But that was a great line as well. But yeah, he's devastated that mochi was there. And they didn't get the karate kid who come on. Of course, it's Johnny Lawrence.

Sal Rodriguez: 19:24

And there's so much cool stuff happening in this episode. They wind up at a casino. Barney loses $85,000 He tries to sell martial to some Chinese gangsters to pay his debt. I

Jason Connell: 19:35

also liked that Lily continues to hit on mochi.

Sal Rodriguez: 19:38

Oh yeah.

Jason Connell: 19:39

That's pretty funny. You can tell she's end to ham. And then later she kind of twist it like oh no, it was all it was roleplaying. But you knew deep down that she was really she shook his hand and it was like licking her fingers or something which is hilarious.

Sal Rodriguez: 19:52

Yeah, she's really fantastic. And watching Alyson Hannigan. She has a wonderful, humorous comedic side as I watch from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Yeah, she's great in this episode, she does have a huge crush on rough mochi on this episode.

Jason Connell: 20:07

Oh, and she's got that great line. Earlier at the salon. I had it all waxed on and off everywhere. And he's like what? Yes, there is great reference to the Karate Kid. Different way. So this leads us to the finale. And Barney's had the worst bachelor party of all time, which turns out Sal, he loves and respects them for doing it. He finally gets the twist. And he's a guy that likes the villains. He begins to like, embrace exactly what they did, because he knows that they plotted it against him. And it kind of changes His disposition.

Sal Rodriguez: 20:44

They gathered up the entire gang, including Barney's mother to be a part of this whole gag this whole ruse. And in the end, though, we see the clown. Right? This clown that has been hanging out with them, and I believe only talking with noises in sign language. I don't think he actually said anything before did he? Know So this silent clown who was making balloon animals starts to rub his makeup off. And we see that the clown is none other than Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka, who Barney calls the official karate kid

Jason Connell: 21:20

and he's got a Cobra Kai ghee on he has like a clown pull away outfit and yanks it off like an NBA player. And he's like, yeah, and then they hug which is so great. So he got his wish. Because even as Barney began to revel in the fact that these his friends put this horrible thing together, which he loves. He said, I almost got everything I wanted. I didn't get to meet the Karate Kid. And that was the cue for the clown unveiling, which was just brilliant. And Zabka plays a perfect, we had no idea he was in clown makeup. And it was perfect. He was like after 18 voicemails, I finally returned Robins call because you were the one guy that got the Karate Kid. So they had a bond. And it was a wonderful moment for Karate Kid Cobra Kai, the whole bit, but they took it to a whole new level here.

Sal Rodriguez: 22:12

You know, one thing I'll say to us a 90s reference is William Zabka. is down for whatever. Yeah, he's

Jason Connell: 22:20

great.

Sal Rodriguez: 22:21

I mean, the things that he's willing to do, I got to hand it to the guy. So

Jason Connell: 22:26

that was the big one, I would say. And then I part of my homework. I went on and watched all the other episodes that had William Zabka in it. Because he was in seven episodes all said and done in a Roth macho was only in the one and some of them sound because I gave you for to watch. Some of them. I was just watching this, it was any reference. So we have one more bigger one. But it might as well get these in chronologically out of the way. He was in season nine, episode four, the broken code 2013 And season nine, Episode Five, the poker game, also in 2013. And in those two, he's just playing himself. And it's so meta, and no more references and those two with a karate kid or anything him and Ted Mosby are kind of battling to be Barney's best man. Yeah. And so that's kind of what's happening in those two episodes.

Sal Rodriguez: 23:19

And also something I find interesting in that I just learned, obviously William Zabka. His name, William. They refer to him as Billy Zabka many times and I think even IMDb credits him as William Zabka as Billy Zabka. But I've never heard of William Zabka referred to as Billy Zabka. Prior to this,

Jason Connell: 23:36

I think we'll and Bill are interchangeable. But yes, we know him as William and if I run into him in person or interview him, I will address him as such. I won't give him a bill or a Billy, we're not on those terms right now. So so this leads us to season nine episode 10 Mom and Dad, also 2013 and this episode Barney and James fight over which one of their fathers will get back together with their mom. Ted becomes a victim of Zap cabotage and Daphne becomes inexplicably upset with Marshall

Sal Rodriguez: 24:10

when they mentioned Zabka Taj they overplay Beastie Boys sabotage. So sabotage Zabka Taj, and this episode is really cool because we have special appearances by John Lithgow, Ben Vereen, and Wayne Brady. Now let me tell you this. I was once driving down Ventura Boulevard. I look over to my right and who do I see next to me Ben Vereen. Ben Vereen appears to be singing in his car, as he might do is Ben Vereen. I then start singing, driving next to Ben Vereen. All the way from Encino to Sherman Oaks. We must have gone from about white oak to at least pass the 405 as far as I'm concerned, I had a duet with Ben Vereen.

Jason Connell: 24:50

What are you singing sabotage? Well, quickly on sabotage the video was also amazing if you recall the video directed by Spike Jones. So the whole The real Karate Kid references occur later in the episode when Zabka reveals he always has 2000 of his headshots in his car, because no one ever wants them. And then we flash back to 1984. And what happens now?

Sal Rodriguez: 25:15

Well, Zabka shares he kind of opens up. He always played the bad guy all throughout the 80s getting booed at the movie theater when his bad guy character comes on the screen. They have these, these really funny little clips of everywhere he goes, people just start booing him and throwing popcorn at them. So he's, he kinda is sharing with us, opening up his heart about how he is, you know, kind of kind of sensitive about that he had to play the bad guy for all these years and was treated poorly because of it.

Jason Connell: 25:42

Yeah, it was beyond his karate kid. I think we talked about it in one of our recent episodes about you had just seen him on European vacation. He wasn't really a bad guy in that, but he was, you know, the boyfriend, but he was a bad guy. And back to school. He was like a diver and he's a real jerk to the lead character. And so he was always playing that guy had that persona. And also like in the flashback, he had the double polos going on rockin that, look, if you recall, people were do that knee, you know, the Miami Vice era. And then he says this great line. He says, I spent the last 25 years getting crank kick in the nuts.

Sal Rodriguez: 26:17

Oh, great. Yeah, yeah. And so what happens then at the end, we realize or we learned that Zabka he created this plot to propel himself as best man to Barney over Ted. So Barney absolves Ted gives the the the kudos to Zabka for saving the day because even though William Zabka did this whole scheme regarding this Wayne Gretzky headshot, he gives kudos to Zabka for replacing the headshot and getting a new one signed by the great one. Right. This is of course a talk about great lines. Zabka says to Ted, you're right, Mosby was great. Obviously a reference to Oh, yeah, him losing but being wonderful in defeat, as he says the line. You're right. LORUSSO at the end of the

Jason Connell: 27:05

valley. Great sequence. So funny. So on the nose, so much karate kid stuff there to digest. I mean, even earlier, he's calling his mother who she's booing him. And then he says No, Mom, I'm Barney since his best man. And yeah, how this moment is going to change his life much like winning the all Valley changed rough Maggio's or Daniel Russo's life.

Sal Rodriguez: 27:27

Another reason why I love William Zabka. He he parodies himself he satirizes himself. He makes fun of his character as Johnny Lawrence, but then he makes fun of himself as Johnny Lawrence. I really, I really appreciate people that can laugh at themselves. Absolutely.

Jason Connell: 27:41

So now there are three more episodes that had William Zabka in it. And I watched them in their entirety. I've done a deep dive. I feel like I'm very close to the show now. But I'll just quickly rattle off the scenes because there's just a little scene here and there. But it was season nine, Episode 20. Daisy 2013. There was a reference to he was doing some late night dirt biking, and another shot of someone throwing popcorn on him. And that was it. Then in season nine, Episode 21, Gary Blum in 2013, Barney threatened scary that if he doesn't leave the wedding, William Zabka is going to Crane Kick his face. And to that Zabka says, that's not even my move. And then later, he says, if I was going to do anything, I'd Sweep the leg and put you in a body bag. Everyone knows that. Nice. So pretty great. That was a good line. Nice. So now the last one, which is kind of anticlimactic. But season nine, Episode 22. Was the end of the aisle. Also 2013. You can see William Zabka. At the wedding. He's not the best man. And he's not a groomsman. But there's this a shot of him at the wedding. But yeah, the show would go on to more episodes was it it was over, but he was not on anymore. But he had a run. He was in seven episodes. Maybe when he came on because he wasn't in the first two. They were just references after the bro mitzvah. Maybe they'd writers get together and they just thought were you interested in coming back? And yeah, I'll be myself because he was in a lot of season nine, which is great. And that would have been a real treat. If we were fans of the show and seeing that happen in real time. That would have been astonishing, but we were late comers to this but still really cool to see him and Ralph maggio and just all the reference points and everything that like that. How cool is that?

Sal Rodriguez: 29:32

Well, what's funny is because he plays himself on the show, so I'm watching the episode that has Wayne Brady John Lithgow when Wayne Brady pops out, I'm expecting him to be referred to as Wayne Brady. But he was and John Lithgow was not referred to as John Lithgow. John Lithgow does not play John Lithgow. So it's extra funny that William Zabka plays himself instead of playing a character like the other actors.

Jason Connell: 29:53

Totally insane with Macho on his scene. Yeah. So that was it. So we we've covered it. Really cool. all love to find other shows that had these little nuggets hidden in there. I think there are some are parts of movies and Sal and I are kind of digging around looking for things now as we build the excitement for season three.

Sal Rodriguez: 30:15

Yeah, we're definitely going down the rabbit hole of Cobra Kai. And of course Karate Kid, we're going down to the rabbit hole of all the folklore. I think when all is said and done, we will have covered all the ground. And again, we will be getting to the animated series, karate kid at some point,

Jason Connell: 30:30

as well as the other movies. So that's it. That's all we have on How I Met Your Mother. A lot of fun to delve through here and see how many reference points there were for the Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. And we'd love it if you could listen, subscribe rate and review the show. It means so much to us. And it helps us keep going as we get towards season three. And we have new episodes to go sour anything you want to add.

Sal Rodriguez: 30:57

Yeah, I've really enjoyed the special episodes where we talk about, you know, things that intertwine with the Cobra Kai universe. If any listeners have any ideas for us, if you know about some nuggets somewhere if you know about some appearances of some of our cast of some of our leads, if you know about them being and in other things, other movies other other other content, let us know please, we want to know about it and we want to talk about it. So be sure to get in contact with us. Absolutely.

Jason Connell: 31:22

So until next time, thanks so much. No Mercy