If you’re a fan of the hit comedy series How I Met Your Mother, then you know all about Ted and Barney. Played by Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris, the duo spent nine seasons as best friends, wingmen, and partners in shenanigans while Ted pined for love and Barney charmed his way through every single woman in New York City. Fans obsessed over who “the mother” would be, while others stayed laser-focused on the bigger question: who would Robin (Colbie Smulders) end up with?
Photo Credit: The Paris Letter
But here’s a fun little tidbit for those who didn’t know (because, honestly, same): Radnor and Harris had already shared a stage together a year before HIMYM even began. And not just in any role—they were each other’s lovers in the play The Paris Letter.
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Yep. Ted and Barney kissed long before we ever watched them down whiskeys at MacLaren’s.
The receipts come courtesy of a resurfaced Reddit thread, where fans unearthed an old interview with Radnor. In it, he talked about his excitement at meeting his new co-stars for HIMYM. Having just wrapped a stage play the year prior, he was eager for fresh faces—only to be shocked that Barney would be played by, in his words, “the guy he spent the last year kissing.”
And this wasn’t just a light peck, either. In The Paris Letter, Neil and Josh played passionate lovers caught in an illicit affair. A review from the Variety described Radnor’s role as “a mesmerizing mixture of sexual yearning and terror,” capturing the nervous energy of a man hearing Harris’s character whisper, “I want to kiss you,” and later protesting, “I’m not a homosexual.” The play didn’t shy away from intimacy—there was even a nude scene between Harris and Radnor, staged with lighting that revealed just enough to be… let’s say… unforgettable.
@himym_every_day HIMYM #foryoupage #fyp
Once Reddit got wind of this theatrical history, fans were quick to deliver some iconic commentary. One user joked:
“And people have been debating for years whether Robin and Barney or Robin and Ted were the better couple, when the real answer was obviously Barney and Ted all along 😭”
Another added:
“Guess we found out who is the star of Ted’s gay sex dream then. Sorry, Marshall!!”
The memes kept coming, with one fan declaring:
“That settles it. Ted and Barney were lovers at some earlier point in the story, he just never told his kids.”
And maybe the most accurate one of all:
“I always knew Barney and Ted were meant to be together. Heck, they even adopted a baby!”
@himymedit_98 Ted and Barney get a baby #howimetyourmother #himym #fyb #foryou #tiktok #series #movies #sitcom #foryourpage
So, while How I Met Your Mother spent nine years dangling Robin’s romantic fate between Ted and Barney, the real love story was hiding in plain sight. Or, at least, in playbills from 2004.
It’s safe to say that HIMYM fans—and the gays especially—now have a new way of looking at all those bro hugs, late-night pep talks, and the “legendary” wingman adventures. Because behind the scenes, Ted and Barney had already made history as something more.