They had a long-standing bromance on TV, but off camera, not so much. Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris starred in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM), which ran for 9 seasons on CBS.
On the sitcom, the two actors portray good buddies, often playing the wingman to the other at the fictional MacLaren’s Pub in New York.
Neil Patrick Harris thought Josh Radnor was annoyed by him
Their characters often clashed, and that may have also been the case between the two stars behind the scenes. Neil recently appeared on the podcast How We Made Your Mother, which Josh co-hosts with HIMYM co-creator Craig Thomas. The actor who portrayed Barney Stinson told Josh, “I always kind of felt that my performance annoyed you.” This came as a bit of a surprise to the actor who played Ted Mosby.
Neil elaborated, saying that he had sensed frustration with Josh on set at times. “You wanted the scene to be like a good scene, and I was looking at you like, ‘Motherfu*ker, I’m doing spit takes,” said Neil. According to Craig, though, the differences between the two are part of what made the program so great. Neil was previously nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. The show also earned an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination.
While their characters are good friends throughout the series, they hold very different beliefs. For a good portion of the show, Barney brags about his ability to pick up girls and doesn’t want to make any relationship commitments. That’s opposite to Ted, who is lovesick and wants to find the elusive one before settling down and starting a family.
For his part, Josh acknowledged tensions on the set. He believes they may have stemmed from confusion between the actor and the character. Josh added, though, that upon reflection, he was delighted by their “weird chemistry.” The show earned 28 Emmy nominations.
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