How I Met Your Mother: 10 Best Supporting Characters
5. Garrison Cootes
Garrison Cootes was played by Martin Short in three episodes, including "The Naked Truth" and "The Burning Beekeeper." He was Marshall's boss at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which was Marshall's dream job long before he set foot in law school.
When he was introduced, he told Marshall over the phone that they would do a background check on him, which introduced an old drinking game Marshall played called Edward 40-Hands. Marshall's attempts to remove a video of him playing the game and streaking proved ineffective at first, but ultimately, he opted to leave the videos online, and Cootes thought it was hilarious.
Cootes was a workaholic and uber-environmentalist, but when he took a low settlement offer, Marshall balked and pushed him to fight harder. It was that case that made Marshall want to be a judge later in the series. Cootes made an appearance at Marshall and Lily's housewarming party, where he had a run-in with Lily's father.
He was planning on keeping bees in the basement, and Cootes wanted to give it a try, so he put on the protective gear and doused himself in kerosine, which led to a swarm of bees and a minor fire that saw him rush out in a panic... a hilarious panic, where he wasn't badly hurt.