Air Date: September 19, 2011
Ted and Barney reminisce back to Ted's friend Pucnhy's wedding. Ted struggles with making a successful best man's speech, as the ones at his last few weddings were smack dab in the middle of the worst moments in his life, causing him to break down in each one of them and earning his speeches a bad reputation. Lily and Marshall also struggle in keeping Lily's pregnancy a secret, while Robin is conflicted over her feelings for Barney.
The episode provides examples of:
- Almost Kiss: Robin and Barney looked they were about to kiss at the end of the dance, but the moment is interrupted by a phone call from Nora.
- Bitter Wedding Speech: All of the ones Ted's given at his old high school friends' weddings.
- Book Ends: The season premiere and finale both have scenes that take place in season nine during Barney's wedding that are played this way.
- Cleveland: Where the wedding takes place.
- Crazy-Prepared: For Punchy's wedding speech, Ted's compiled a massive binder filled with different versions of the speech to make sure that he won't mess it up.
- Darkest Hour: Ted realizes at the wedding that he loses his belief in destiny a little more each day, and he's starting to give up all together on finding "the one".
- Gasshole: Punchy apparently belched his wedding proposal through a karaoke mic at a bowling alley.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Invoked, the auto-tune remix video of Ted's breakdowns in the middle of his wedding speeches is very popular in Finland. So popular, in fact, that Punchy invited some Finns to his wedding to watch Ted's best man speech.
- Gilligan Cut: Between the second and third wedding speeches we hear from Ted.Ted: After I lost my job last week, um, I was asked not to give this toast. (Ted's friend begins trying to grab the mic out of his hands) No! No! The happy couple needs to hear this! Things end! But from the ashes of your statistically probable divorce, hope can rise anew. That is why I am starting my own architectural firm: Mosbius Designs.
(cut to three months later at another wedding speech)
Ted: (completely deadpan) Mosbius Designs has failed. But Alex and Jessica's love reminds us that... that... (starts breaking down sobbing) - Heroic BSoD: All of Ted's past wedding speeches have taken place during the worst moments in his life (when Stella left him at the altar, he lost his job, and Mosbius Designs failed), constituting to Ted having one of these in each one. When he starts crying tears of joy during his speech after hearing the news that Lily's pregnant, everyone thinks he's about to have another breakdown before Marshall steps in and stands up for his best friend.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Robin tries to tell Barney how she feels about him during Punchy's wedding, but when Nora calls she decides against it and instead plays Cyrano.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Marshall stands up during Ted's Best Man speech when he starts crying tears of joy to point out that Ted is just happy over the fact that his wife is pregnant, who he addresses as "this woman" and gestures to her. This causes the bride to think that Marshall's gesturing towards her, revealing that Punchy has gotten her pregnant, and ruining the wedding when arguments start to break out.
- Ted settles Barney down by telling him that his "choice of a tie" for the wedding is good. Lily comes in in the last scene and asks Barney if he's really going to go with that choice of tie.
- One Drink Will Kill the Baby: A recurring theme during the episode.
- Since Marshall and Lily were trying to hide her pregnancy 'till the third month, they first try to order a round plus a non-alcoholic, which made Carl realize it in less than two seconds.
- The second strategy included Marshall drinking Lily's shots without anyone noticing. Turns out Punchy and Kelly were doing the exact same thing.
- Playing Cyrano: Robin tells Barney what to say to Nora over the phone, although she is discretely telling her own feelings towards Barney rather than what Nora would want to hear. Unfortunately for Robin, it works on Nora.
- Spontaneous Choreography: The dance number between Robin and Barney.
- Stalker with a Crush: Ted towards Stella in his first failed wedding speech.Ted: ...I sit outside her house sometimes at night... She got a haircut...
- Take That!: There's several towards Cleveland. Barney suggests that Ted use a magazine cover with his face on it as a means of getting laid...Barney: Here's your toast: (holds up magazine and points to it) single file ladies. No fatties!Ted: That's ridiculous.Barney: Yeah you're right, it's Cleveland. Single file ladies!
- Truth in Television: A lot of people advise waiting until twelve weeks to announce you're pregnant, because a surprising number of pregnancies end in miscarriage or spontaneous abortion, and most of those occur during the first twelve weeks. Thus, telling people you're pregnant as soon as you know can lead to having to inform them two weeks later that you are no longer pregnant and compound the huge and complex storm of negative emotions surrounding that.
