Presenting: Dead Pilots Society table read of "Gimme Five" by Craig Thomas & Carter Bays
How We Made Your Mother
Audacy & Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas
4.8 • 922 Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On another very special Bonus Episode of HWMYM, we’re bringing you a table read of Gimme Five, a second pilot that Craig and Carter (wrote not long after HIMYM ended). And once again, this pilot never got made (until now!). They co-wrote this pilot with legendary writer Peter Tolan, whose credits include The Larry Sanders Show, Rescue Me, Analyze This, Analyze That, and many more.
Here's the log line: It's 1985, and Gimme Five is the number two family sitcom in America. But behind the scenes of this feel-good show is a dysfunctional workplace family on the verge of self-destruction. Showrunner Cliff McConnell must somehow keep it together and keep being funny in the midst of his newborn son's health crisis.
Sharp, outrageous, and wildly funny, Gimme Five gives a behind-the-scenes look at comedy writing that feels both absurd and strangely authentic. It may also be one of the funniest pilots ever featured on Dead Pilots Society.
Major Content Warning *salute* — Definitely think twice about listening to this one with small children in the room. You may hear something that offends you early on in this pilot, but please stick with it.
Our cast for the show includes Taran Killam (SNL, High Potential, Stumble), Chris Diamantopoulos (Beavis and Butthead, Silicon Valley), Scott Foley (Scandal, Scream 7), Dallas Goldtooth (Reservation Dogs), Tami Sagher (Inside Amy Schumer), Chris DiStefano (stand up), James Urbaniak (Venture Brothers), Isabella Gomez (One Day at a Time, Shrinking), Cyrina Fiallo (High Potential, 911 Lonestar), Alyssa Limperis (What We Do In the Shadows), Burl Moseley (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey guys, Craig Thomas here. We have a special bonus episode we're sharing with you. |
| 0:04.0 | Carter Bays and I had a really cool experience recently where a script we wrote was brought back to life by a wonderful podcast called Dead Pilot Society. |
| 0:13.0 | They take unproduced TV pilot scripts that they think are cool and organize a proper table read with a full cast of actors and kind of bring to life this |
| 0:23.4 | pilot script that otherwise would be sitting on your shelf. This was one we really loved. It's a |
| 0:28.2 | pilot we wrote a couple years after How Much a Mother called Gimme Five that combines our lives |
| 0:35.6 | as comedy writers. It combines some stuff of my life as a parent. |
| 0:40.3 | It had a lot of us in it, a lot of our personal lives, |
| 0:42.6 | a lot of things we really care about. |
| 0:44.2 | And it never even sold. |
| 0:46.1 | It never got sold. |
| 0:48.8 | It never got shot. |
| 0:49.5 | We never had a table read. |
| 0:50.7 | But God bless Deadpile Society, they brought this amazing cast together. |
| 0:55.3 | They read it and they made this amazing podcast episode that we really wanted to share with you guys here. |
| 1:00.9 | I think how much of other fans will really like this. |
| 1:03.8 | So please give it a listen. |
| 1:05.1 | This is the only way you can possibly experience this TV script. |
| 1:08.5 | We're really, really happy to share it with you. |
| 1:11.6 | Give a listen. You know, the big thing and no one picked up your thing and so you bury the thing that's not |
| 1:17.6 | you can't know the thing. Don't you like toise yet there's a spooky surprise and though you cannot dev the The big ever really dies Welcome to Dead Pilot Society, the show that takes comedy pilots pilots from A-list writers |
| 1:52.1 | that were sold and developed at networks and streamers but never produced and gives them |
| 1:56.1 | the table reads they never got a chance to have. I am Andrew Reich, the creator and host of Dead Pilot Society, |
... |
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