How I Met Your Mother: 10 Unforgettable Running Jokes

6. Interventions

First appeared in: 'Intervention' How I Met Your Mother's protagonists weren't without their faults. Really, what made the group function as a unit was their ability to hone in on their friends' moments of weakness and set things straight €“ usually in the form of a good old-fashioned intervention. The trend started with an attempt to help their mutual friend Stuart kick his drinking habit in season two. It turned out to be such a success that, from that point onwards, interventions became the remedy of choice for almost any worrying habit within the group; Barney's magic tricks, Lily's British accents, Robin's spray tan habit, and Marshall's excessively tall Dr. Seuss-style hat were just some of the obsessions that prompted the banner to return to its familiar spot above Ted's fireplace. Eventually (and perhaps inevitably), the gang's obsession with the procedure even led to €“ you guessed it €“ an €œIntervention€ intervention. Allegedly Josh Radnor's favourite running gag of the series, it's hard to beat the moment of realisation when it dawns on each of the characters that it's their turn for the intervention treatment. Heavy-handed or not, it addressed something that How I Met Your Mother was ultimately all about €“ a bunch of friends all looking out for each other €“ with the show's characteristically offbeat charm.