The gang tries to figure out what Barney's plan to pick up chicks is after he and Robin break up.
This episode provides examples of:
- All Guys Want Sorority Women: At least, Barney does. One of his plays involves him dressing up as an old woman and becoming a dorm parent to a sorority.
- Audible Gleam: The portrayal of every one of Barney's schemes ends with him winking at the camera with one of these.
- Altar the Speed: Robin insists she's going to focus on her career. The gang runs through a list of people they knew who said the same thing and ended up married a few months later.
- Bait-and-Switch: Barney revealing the Playbook, as his description initially makes it seem like he's talking about his penis.Barney: Since I started dating Robin, there's a certain...thing I haven't used as much as I would like to. Kinda big. Surprisingly heavy. Kinda leathery. And it's black!Lily: Huh?
- Batman Gambit: "The Scuba Diver", which relied on a pissed-off Lily (a result of conning a girl she had set up with Ted) telling Barney's latest "target" about his pickup scams, expressing sorrow over his breakup with Robin, and then Lily convincing the girl to go out with him out of pity.
- Big Damn Reunion: Invoked by Barney with "The 'He's Not Coming" play. Go to the Empire State Building, king of this trope, and walk up to every woman you see and say "He's not coming." until you find one who planned such a reunion and falls into your arms in tears.
- Brick Joke: Upon learning that one of Barney's plays is "The Ted Mosby"note , Ted wonders whether it actually works. At the end of the episode, he is seen getting a girl's number and he tells the others that, yes, telling a girl you were left at the altar does work.
- Call-Back: "The Ted Mosby" play, which involves a sobbing Barney telling a girl that he was left at the altar. In fact, Barney is shown wearing exactly what Ted was wearing in "Happily Ever After", the episode after Stella left him at the altar.
- Dumb Blonde: The girl who believes that Barney is an astronaut for "SNASA" (Secret NASA) and has been to the "Smoon". Robin claims anyone who would fall for that is "a smoron."
- Everyone Has Standards: Barney tells Lily that had he known Shelly was the woman Lily was setting Ted up with, he would have left her alone.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: In The Stinger, Ted and Marshall tease Robin by pointing to every guy who walks into MacLaren's and claiming that they are Robin's soulmate. When the third person to walk in turns out to be an attractive woman, Ted and Marshall beg Robin to give her a chance and make out with her to see if there's something there.
- Hypocritical Humor: Lily tries to warn a woman away from Barney.Lily: See that guy in the scuba suit? Are you planning on going over and talking to him?
Blonde: [shaking her head and laughing] No.
Lily: Good, because he's the biggest jerk in the world.
Blonde: Really? How do you know him?
Lily: Oh, he's one of my best friends! - Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Justified In-Universe, as Barney runs through some of his plays, they always end with him winking at the camera with an Audible Gleam.
- Running Gag: When someone says "You son of a bitch" in a Spanish accent, and Barney's various strategies.
- Self-Made Myth: "The Lorenzo von Matterhorn" relies on this; set up a lot of websites to create a fictional reputation for someone with a unique name and pretend to be an absurdly awesome dude.
- Shout-Out:
- "The Mrs. Stinsfire" play, referencing (no prizes for guessing) Mrs. Doubtfire. The play apparently involves Barney dressing up as an old British nanny like Robin Williams's character and becoming a dorm parent for a sorority being punished for "lewd behavior."
- "The Cheap Trick", which is also Exactly What It Says on the Tin - Barney dresses up as and pretends to be the bassist from the band Cheap Trick.
- You Bastard!: Or rather, "You son of a bitch."
