You just got slapped
Pass the pumpkin pie and a cold compress!
Lily (Alyson Hannigan) was appointed Slap Bet Commissioner to oversee the slap count and more.
Slapping in high school was our way of having fun.
Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS
The idea of slap bets definitely came from that era in my life.
My friendship with Jason was very back and forth in a gentlemans bet kind of way.
KUHN:You throw it up on the board and go, There will be a Thanksgiving episode.
Monty Brinton/CBS
You dont always have to do one, but its a nice piece ofterra firmato aim toward.
The thinking was on two fronts.
One is, Marshall and Lily are married and want to host.
Monty Brinton/CBS
And can everyone remain friends or is it like, are you fooling yourself?
Can that not happen?
COBIE SMULDERS(Robin):It was a true family dynamic in terms of Thanksgiving.
Obviously the joke is, they see this 41-year-old as this much older man.
Were 42 now and thats really weird.
BAYS:And we wish we looked as good as Orson Bean.
THOMAS:That was a real inside joke that our group of friends from college would do.
And it just became so absolutely reflexive in me to do it.
And then we got the whole writers room doing it.
KUHN:That one stupid inside joke is all it takes to bring them back.
It made sense as a natural pairing.
THOMAS:Theyre just going to do it despite the weirdness and the silence and the awkwardness between them.
It doesnt disappear and thats a real friend.
I always loved that idea and it came from something we really did do with our friends.
It was fun because thats what friendship is.
SMULDERS:I salute by myself.
I dont have a partner in crime.
Marshall used his first two slaps during the second season: one during Slap Bet and one during Stuff.
The prospect of a third slap was introduced in this episode, which aired Nov. 19, 2017.
From slap puns to turkey-handprint decorations toan online countdown clock, Marshall tortured Barney throughout the episode.
I dont remember why exactly we picked Thanksgiving.
Someone probably said the wordslapsgivingand thats when everything fell into place.
[Thomas and his writing room] were working on another B-story for the episode.
Someone came running down and was just like, New B-story for the episode: Slapsgiving!
THOMAS: We were just like, wait a second slap bet, slapsgiving this could become a holiday.
This could become a thing.
KUHN:You start short-handing stuff.
Oh you guys are working on that slap thanksgiving episode.
It doesnt take too long before it simply becomesSlapsgiving…
So its a turkey and a hand thats going to slap you in the face.
That was one of those transcendent moments where the planets aligned.
And its a turkey!
KUHN:Marshall and Lily want to host Thanksgiving for the first time.
You start going, Well how would they break down the roles for that?
THOMAS:How brilliant is Jason Segel at delivering that sort of slow-burn menace at Barney?
Jason just did that dead eye stare at him so well.
Thats probably part of why we kept going back to it.
BAYS:Jason loved the moments where Marshall could be a little evil.
He really just dug into those moments.
Nowadays we refer to them as Easter eggs.
There was a lot of math.
Its just so stupid, but it brings so much joy.
SMULDERS:We were all heavily anticipating the slap, probably as much as the audience was.
Neil is a physical, comedic genius, so he was really able to sell it.
KUHN:It was something that Jason and Neil were excited about.
Theyre both good physical comedians and Neil really wanted [Jason] to connect to sell the reality.
There was a lot of rehearsal.
The decision was made, were not going to do the whole air slap with sound effect.
It was two guys who would go to the limit for the show.
HARRIS: We just went for it.
It felt a little bit like a college fraternity hazing.
HANNIGAN:Jason and Neil were so committed to the slaps.
They took it so seriously.
It was so beautiful, just the physical comedy that Neil would throw in was genius.
They had a table that was already there and they just sawed into it a little bit.
After the slap, the group celebrates with a song in Barneys honor, You Just Got Slapped.
Theres a piano in their living room.
I like playing piano.
Jason likes playing piano.
But it was a great use of his talents and a funny take on such a violent act.
BAYS:Some friends of ours were getting married in Marthas Vineyard.
THOMAS:Its a ballad.
Its a kind of sad sounding or earnest sounding ballad, like a Neil Diamond song.
Theres something so genuinely and completely earnest about it.
KUHN: Neil was sort of accompanying with almost dog yelps.
It was hard for everyone to keep it together for that.
But they did because theyre professionals, but you might kind of sense that energy.
So I always remember being like, Is this okay?
Are you really okay?
Because youve just been slapped a lot today.
It felt good to get one that came together so well.
THOMAS:Theres so many great Thanksgiving episodes of television shows.
You think of all the amazing episodes of TV and youre like, Why should we even try?
And I feel like we pulled it off in this episode and I was very proud of that.
It was one of my favorite things we did on the show.
And even when theyre slapping the living daylights out of each other, they still love each other.
THOMAS: We see it listed alongside other classic Thanksgiving TV episodes.
Its an honor to be on that list.
