20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About How I Met Your Mother

9. Barney Stinson Is A Drug Dealer From L.A. Confidential

If you were to think of films that have had a big impact on How I Met Your Mother the obvious examples would be Star Wars, The Karate Kid and Weekend At Bernie's, which received multiple homages and references throughout the shows run. But the one with the biggest impact is also the subtlest.

In L.A. Confidential, James Ellroy's novel on which the nineties neo-noir film was based, there's a throwaway mention of a hospital orderly who moonlights as a drug dealer called Barney Stinson. Clearly that unusual name left an impact on Thomas or Bays, leading to them turning a auxiliary character in a 1990 crime novel into a bizarre in-joke. We don't know where the names of the other characters come from, although we hope it wasn't to spite another love rival a la The Wedding Bride.