How We Entered The Lobby | S2E12 "First Time in New York"
How We Made Your Mother
Audacy & Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas
4.8 • 922 Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week’s episode is a big, warm, lore-heavy love letter to one of How I Met Your Mother’s most meaningful episodes. Josh and Craig talk about why “First Time in New York” works so well: filling in backstories, sneaking past network standards with euphemisms, and still making real present-day moves like Robin finally saying “I love you.” They dig into the Dirty Dancing sequence (yes, it cost a lot), Lucy Hale’s early guest spot, Barney’s secretly heartbreaking virginity story, Marshall and Lily’s lobby-vs-top-of-the-building debate, and Ted’s eternal romance with the Empire State Building. Along the way, they get reflective about how we edit our own memories, why stories matter, and how HIMYM has become a comfort show for people all over the world—ending with emotional listener letters, New York recommendations, and a reminder that people will, in fact, dance.
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Alek’s “Dead Fathers Society” on Substack
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | AI is incredible. They can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style. |
| 0:07.0 | But it knows nothing about your work. Slackbot is different. It doesn't just know the facts. |
| 0:14.0 | It knows your schedule. It can turn a brainstorm into a brief and it doesn't need to be taught. |
| 0:20.0 | Because Slackbot isn't just another AI. |
| 0:23.3 | It's AI that knows your work as well as you do. |
| 0:26.4 | Visit Slack.com forward slash meet Slackbot to learn more. |
| 0:30.2 | Right, that's it. Come on. Lights out. You've got a test tomorrow. |
| 0:32.9 | Just two minutes. I'm about to reach the next level. |
| 0:35.5 | It's going off now. Yeah, whatever. Let's see. Where's the app? |
| 0:39.5 | Oh, here it is. |
| 0:41.0 | What? How? Oh, no. |
| 0:43.7 | You're out. Better look next time. |
| 0:45.3 | Mom! It's game over for |
| 0:47.2 | late nights on school nights. |
| 0:49.0 | EE Wi-Fi controls help you get them off |
| 0:51.3 | the Wi-Fi and into bed. More parents |
| 0:53.5 | are choosing EE Broadband, the UK-Fi and into bed. More parents are choosing EEE Broadband, |
| 0:55.4 | the UK's fastest growing broadband provider. To verify I see EE.com.ukuk slash claims. |
| 1:01.8 | Hi Josh, Craig and Alec. I'm Kate and I live in Corsica. I wanted to thank you for your |
| 1:08.2 | amazing podcasts, which I find just as comforting as the show has always been to me. |
| 1:13.6 | And even more philosophical, I'm definitely looking at the show with new eyes. |
| 1:18.6 | And something I took from what you've said and you say it over and over again, which is great for me. |
... |
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