A classic episode of How I Met Your Mother (sort of) foreshadowed Cobra Kai

One of the funniest gags in How I Met Your Mother is how Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) There are always roots for villains in movies and shows. He believes King Joffrey was a “just and wise ruler” in “Game of Thrones,” and cheers for Hans Gruber throughout “Die Hard.” It’s a joke that makes sense for Barney, an amoral agent of mayhem who’s probably in prison, but it’s the kind of thing you could spend an entire day deconstructing the logic of. How far exactly does Barney’s evil cult go? Is he supporting Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet” as well or for him? Hans Landa in “Inglorious Basterds”? I sure hope not!

Fortunately, HIMYM limits its examples of Barney’s evil cult to less serious films. Most notable is “The Karate Kid,” in which Barney is based on blonde bully Johnny (William Zabka) rather than rambunctious underdog Daniel (Ralph Macchio). In Season 4, Barney explains his reading of the film, saying, “It’s the story of an optimistic young karate fan whose dreams and anxieties take him to the All Valley Karate Championships. Of course, unfortunately, he loses in the final round.” “So the kid is a nerd, but he’s learning an important lesson about accepting defeat gracefully.”

It seems like a one-time joke, but four seasons later, the real William Zabka shows up at Barney’s bachelor party, thanking him for showing that someone else “finally” understands what “The Karate Kid” is about. It’s one of the best moments in Barney’s life, brought up in one of the best episodes of season 8. Zabka would continue to appear regularly in the show’s ninth season, even becoming Barney’s best man for a time there.

Many fans attribute this story to foretelling “Cobra Kai,” a popular TV series that debuted in 2018 and follows the lives of Daniel and Johnny from “The Karate Kid.” In this show, Johnny is actually portrayed more sympathetically than he was in the original film. However, “How I Met Your Mother” did more than just predict this new TV show; She also played a small role in producing the show in the first place.

In a Interview 2020“Cobra Kai” co-creator Josh Heald credited “How I Met Your Mother” with keeping “The Karate Kid” in the public consciousness, helping prove that a TV series could really be profitable. As he explained:

“We definitely appreciate the parallel fanbase that this show has, whether it’s the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ storyline — which was amazing — we get asked all the time about that YouTube video if Daniel is the real bully… all of those things have “It encouraged us a little bit when we were conceiving the show and comparing storylines for the show because it made us feel confident that we weren’t the only ones, and we didn’t think we were, but it was nice to see other creators have ‘Karate Kid’ in mind.”

“Cobra Kai” was initially greenlighted by YouTube Red in 2017, just two years after “HIMYM” concluded its run with (Underrated!) The final series. Although the show is technically unrelated to the hit CBS sitcom, it’s funny to watch and think about how Barney Stinson might like it. Or perhaps now that Johnny is portrayed sympathetically, Barney might feel betrayed and start turning against him. It’s hard to say for sure. All we know is that Zabka himself is grateful for what “HIMYM” did. Neil Patrick Harris recently He interviewed the actor for his websiteZabka explained how big a deal “HIMYM” is for him.

“After decades of establishing myself in popular culture as the bad guy of the 1980s, fans were suddenly warming to me, even rooting for me,” Zabka explained. “All the love and goodwill I felt from that continues to this day and definitely added fuel to the ‘Cobra Kai’ fire!”