General Questions | S1E19 "Mary the Paralegal"
How We Made Your Mother
Audacy & Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas
4.8 • 922 Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this General Questions episode following Mary the Paralegal, Josh, Craig, and Alek explore fan-submitted questions ranging from the origins of catchphrases like “Lawyered” and the logic behind character names, to deeper themes like miscommunication and the emotional cost of avoiding vulnerability. They reflect on moments from the show that became iconic (telepathic conversations, Barney’s antics, mustache-on-TV gags), and share behind-the-scenes details like how Buzz Aldrin inspired Lily’s last name. They also dive into how assumptions, pretending, and silence shaped the story of Mary the Paralegal, and how telepathy became a comedic counterpoint to all the unspoken truths.
Questions Alek asks in this episode:
Who came up with “Lawyered”?
Was Marshall based on your friend Noah?
How did you decide on the characters’ last names?
What was the original idea behind “Aldrin”?
What was the inspiration for the “telepathic conversation” bit?
Was the “MadTV” VHS tape on purpose?
How much damage do we do when we make assumptions instead of asking the hard questions?
And why is pretending always easier than being vulnerable?
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Transcript
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| 0:52.9 | Hello, welcome to a very special bonus episode of How We Made Your Mother. |
| 0:57.3 | I'm Josh Radner. |
| 0:58.0 | I'm here with my friend Craig Thomas. |
| 0:59.3 | Hi, Craig. |
| 1:00.5 | Hey, Josh. |
| 1:01.1 | Hey. |
| 1:02.0 | We are doing an episode that we like to call General Questions. |
| 1:08.5 | General Questions? |
| 1:10.5 | It was all right. It was not that. We keep trying to sync up the salutes and it's just not going to happen. It's not going to happen. I'll tell you why it's not working just because we have the ever-sacist life we have a delay on the, on the, yeah. So, next time, I think our live show, when we do a live show, it's going to be. Let's do it right on the live show, please. We have to do a live show just for that one thing. And let's hope that the audience syncs up with us, like we should get it, however many people. Yes, please. We are discussing the television program, how I met your mother, which ran on CBS from 2005 to 2014. The episode under consideration this |
| 1:46.0 | week, which we talked about a couple days ago, is Mary the Paralegal, written by Chris Harris. |
| 1:50.2 | That was episode 18. Is that right? 19. Mary the Paralegal, episode 19. Nothing good happens |
... |
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