The Naked Man (How I Met Your Mother)
Encyclopedia
"The Naked Man" is the ninth episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother
and 73rd overall. It aired on November 24, 2008.
ponders how long it will take to recover from being left at the altar by Stella, asking for advice from Lily
, Marshall
, Robin
and Barney
. He soon finds out himself as he begins to talk to a woman he always sees at the elevators at work, Vicky. Slowly they get to know one another, until Ted blurts out that he got left at the altar. He rebounds into asking her out to a date, which she accepts.
He comes home later that day, passing by Robin talking on the phone outside. When he enters his apartment, he finds Mitch, Robin's blind date, sitting naked on the couch. After hearing from Lily that the blind date had been going badly, Ted goes back and confronts Mitch again, who tells Ted about his "move", The Naked Man, where one takes advantage of a distraction in order to shed their clothing and surprise their date with nakedness in the hope of receiving sex by means of humor, pity or sheer spontaneity. Ted tells the gang about the move's effectiveness (it supposedly works "2 out of 3 times, guaranteed"), and they proceed to rebuff the claim, thinking Robin may end up shooting Mitch instead. Taking the notion seriously, they storm back to Ted's apartment to find a makeshift "Do not disturb" sign hanging from the doorknob and realize Robin is indeed having sex with her horrific blind date.
Convinced that The Naked Man indeed works, Barney believes it will revolutionize the one-night stand, comparing it to the forward pass
or the slam dunk
, much to the chagrin of Lily, who still believes Barney has feelings for Robin. Barney then likens himself to Batman
, with his secret identities and "gadgets", and Mitch to Superman
, citing that he "just rips off his clothes, and he's good to go."
Ted's still amazed that The Naked Man worked on Robin. She tries to explain herself when Marshall calls her a slut, saying that the only reason to sleep with someone is true love (mostly because he was recently strong armed into reading The Notebook
by the secretary's book club at work.) Everyone disagrees, and Lily claims she can name at least 50 reasons to sleep with someone while everyone but Marshall helps (some of the reasons mentioned are expiring condoms, sleeping with someone in a foreign locale in order to have a place to stay, and breakup sex). Stuck on 46, Lily resolves to finish her list as Barney tries to convince Ted into doing The Naked Man with Vicky on their upcoming date while he goes out to attempt The Naked Man himself. As Barney's getting ready, he calls Ted to let him know that he's going through with it. To his surprise, Ted is too after he realized that there was no future between him and Vicky, mainly because she is incredibly rude to a waiter.
On their second date, Robin tries to start up small talk with Mitch, who tells Robin that she's out of his league. After debating which pose to display themselves in, Ted finds a volume of Pablo Neruda
's poetry in Vicky's apartment and decides to put his clothes back on. When he finds out that the book isn't even hers, he busts out The Naked Man, as does Barney on his date, and Lily on Marshall.
Ted tells Lily and Marshall at the bar of his success with The Naked Man, and they tell him that it worked out for them as well. Robin, still trying to defend herself, brings Mitch with her to the bar. Marshall takes back what he said, to Robin's relief, and she lets Mitch leave. Ted thanks Mitch for the move, saying that it worked for everyone. Marshall decides to call Barney to see how it worked for him. As it turns out, Barney fails and was forced to leave her apartment naked, leaving his cell phone, which was then thrown in the toilet after the end of the call (with the "Naked Man" having worked 2 out of 3 times; Ted and Lily succeeded while Barney failed). Ted proposes a toast to his hero Mitch, The Naked Man.
Meanwhile, Barney roams the streets naked trying to get home. He comes across some cheap suits on a rack outside but is not interested in any of them, so he continues to roam naked.
graded the episode "A-".
Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade "A-".
Michelle Zoromski of IGN
gave the episode 8.5 out of 10.
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
and 73rd overall. It aired on November 24, 2008.
Plot
TedTed Mosby
Theodore Evelyn "Ted" Mosby is the titular fictional character of the U.S. television sitcom How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Josh Radnor...
ponders how long it will take to recover from being left at the altar by Stella, asking for advice from Lily
Lily Aldrin
Lillian "Lily" Aldrin is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by American actress Alyson Hannigan. She is the wife of Marshall Eriksen and the best friend of Robin Scherbatsky...
, Marshall
Marshall Eriksen
Marshall Eriksen is a fictional character in the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and portrayed by Jason Segel.-Character profile:Marshall is an easy-going, naive optimist from St. Cloud, Minnesota...
, Robin
Robin Scherbatsky
Robin Charles Scherbatsky, Jr. is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders.- Early life :...
and Barney
Barney Stinson
Barnabas "Barney" Stinson is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. The character has been extremely well received by critics and has been credited for much of the show's success...
. He soon finds out himself as he begins to talk to a woman he always sees at the elevators at work, Vicky. Slowly they get to know one another, until Ted blurts out that he got left at the altar. He rebounds into asking her out to a date, which she accepts.
He comes home later that day, passing by Robin talking on the phone outside. When he enters his apartment, he finds Mitch, Robin's blind date, sitting naked on the couch. After hearing from Lily that the blind date had been going badly, Ted goes back and confronts Mitch again, who tells Ted about his "move", The Naked Man, where one takes advantage of a distraction in order to shed their clothing and surprise their date with nakedness in the hope of receiving sex by means of humor, pity or sheer spontaneity. Ted tells the gang about the move's effectiveness (it supposedly works "2 out of 3 times, guaranteed"), and they proceed to rebuff the claim, thinking Robin may end up shooting Mitch instead. Taking the notion seriously, they storm back to Ted's apartment to find a makeshift "Do not disturb" sign hanging from the doorknob and realize Robin is indeed having sex with her horrific blind date.
Convinced that The Naked Man indeed works, Barney believes it will revolutionize the one-night stand, comparing it to the forward pass
Forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...
or the slam dunk
Slam dunk
A slam dunk is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim. This is considered a normal field goal attempt; if successful it is worth two points. The term "slam dunk" was...
, much to the chagrin of Lily, who still believes Barney has feelings for Robin. Barney then likens himself to Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, with his secret identities and "gadgets", and Mitch to Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
, citing that he "just rips off his clothes, and he's good to go."
Ted's still amazed that The Naked Man worked on Robin. She tries to explain herself when Marshall calls her a slut, saying that the only reason to sleep with someone is true love (mostly because he was recently strong armed into reading The Notebook
The Notebook
The Notebook is a 1996 romantic novel by American novelist Nicholas Sparks, based on a true story. The novel was later adapted into a popular romance film by the same name in 2004.-Background:...
by the secretary's book club at work.) Everyone disagrees, and Lily claims she can name at least 50 reasons to sleep with someone while everyone but Marshall helps (some of the reasons mentioned are expiring condoms, sleeping with someone in a foreign locale in order to have a place to stay, and breakup sex). Stuck on 46, Lily resolves to finish her list as Barney tries to convince Ted into doing The Naked Man with Vicky on their upcoming date while he goes out to attempt The Naked Man himself. As Barney's getting ready, he calls Ted to let him know that he's going through with it. To his surprise, Ted is too after he realized that there was no future between him and Vicky, mainly because she is incredibly rude to a waiter.
On their second date, Robin tries to start up small talk with Mitch, who tells Robin that she's out of his league. After debating which pose to display themselves in, Ted finds a volume of Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
's poetry in Vicky's apartment and decides to put his clothes back on. When he finds out that the book isn't even hers, he busts out The Naked Man, as does Barney on his date, and Lily on Marshall.
Ted tells Lily and Marshall at the bar of his success with The Naked Man, and they tell him that it worked out for them as well. Robin, still trying to defend herself, brings Mitch with her to the bar. Marshall takes back what he said, to Robin's relief, and she lets Mitch leave. Ted thanks Mitch for the move, saying that it worked for everyone. Marshall decides to call Barney to see how it worked for him. As it turns out, Barney fails and was forced to leave her apartment naked, leaving his cell phone, which was then thrown in the toilet after the end of the call (with the "Naked Man" having worked 2 out of 3 times; Ted and Lily succeeded while Barney failed). Ted proposes a toast to his hero Mitch, The Naked Man.
Meanwhile, Barney roams the streets naked trying to get home. He comes across some cheap suits on a rack outside but is not interested in any of them, so he continues to roam naked.
Continuity
- As Ted recalls strange occurrences at his apartment, one of them is a goat in his living room on May 8, 2009. The goat was first seen in Ted's bathroom on his 30th birthday as mentioned in Ted's voice-over narration in the first season episode "Milk", and foreshadow the events of the episode "The LeapThe Leap (How I Met Your Mother)"The Leap" is the 24th and final episode of season 4 of the How I Met Your Mother TV series and 88th overall. It originally aired on May 18, 2009.- Plot :...
" later this season. During the episode "The Goat", future Ted stated that the goat in his bathroom was actually on his 31st birthday, which would be April 25, 2009. Also, when Ted walks in on Barney in the glass room, Robin is there, but it is July 16, 2007. During this time Robin was in Argentina after her break-up with Ted. - Barney previously tried a similar technique when invited back to Robin's place to play BattleshipBattleship (game)The game Battleship is a guessing game played by two people. It is known throughout the world as a pencil and paper game which predates World War I. It was published by Milton Bradley Company in 1931 as the pad-and-pencil game "Broadsides, the Game of Naval Strategy".-Description:The game is...
in the episode Zip, Zip, ZipZip, Zip, Zip"Zip, Zip, Zip" is the 14th episode in the first season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on February 6, 2006.-Plot:...
: He immediately stripped naked, thinking she wanted sex. - In the season 5 episode "Rabbit or DuckRabbit or Duck"Rabbit or Duck" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 103rd episode overall. It originally aired on February 8, 2010.- Plot :...
", Don tries the Naked Man technique on Robin. Don says he read in "some guy's blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
", referring to Barney's writings. - Marshall unintentionally scares Lily by saying that a shadow looks like a "scary toothless clown" right before bed. Lily's fear of clowns could go as far back as her childhood, when her father created the board game "There's a Clown Demon Under the Bed" and showed it to her after she had a nightmare.
- Barney is shown chained in a glass water tank, another example of his doing magic.
- Lily asks Barney whether he uses devices for sex or not. Her curiosity about Barney's sex life shown in "The Goat"
Cultural references
- Among the strange occurrences at Ted's apartment is a scene were Robin is seen pointing her gun at two thieves, one of them aiming at the other one and that one aiming at Robin. This is a typical Mexican standoffMexican standoffA Mexican standoff is a slang term defined as a stalemate or impasse; a confrontation that neither side can foreseeably win. The term is most often used in lieu of "stalemate" when the confrontational situation is exceptionally dangerous for all parties involved.In popular culture, the Mexican...
situation, seen in many movies, especially well known from Reservoir DogsReservoir DogsReservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
. - Mitch describes his technique as a mixture of surprise and pity, or "shock and awww", a play on the military technique of rapid dominance known as Shock and awe.
- Barney describes The Naked Man as being like a superhero, the SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
to Barney's BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, contrasting the Barney complicated approach, gadgets, gimmicks and secret identities, to the simple idea of ripping off one's clothes. - When Ted admits he is wearing tinted sunscreen because he wants his eyes to stand out, it is a reference to makeup artist CarmindyCarmindyCarmindy Kathryn Bowyer is an American make-up artist based in New York City, who is best known for her work on the television show What Not to Wear....
from the television series What Not to Wear. - Some of the poses they used referred to the Captain MorganCaptain MorganCaptain Morgan is a brand of rum produced by alcohol conglomerate Diageo. It is named after the 17th-century, Welsh privateer of the Caribbean, Sir Henry Morgan...
rum logo, SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
, the Heisman TrophyHeisman TrophyThe Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
, Mr. CleanMr. CleanMr. Clean is a brand name fully owned by Procter & Gamble. It is used for a cleaning solution and related products, and as "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser", for a melamine foam cleaner.-History:...
, the Coppertone GirlCoppertone girlCoppertone is the brand name for an American sunscreen, owned by Merck, formerly Schering-Plough. Coppertone is the sister brand to Bain de Soleil, which is targeted to adult females....
pose, Rodin's The ThinkerThe ThinkerThe Thinker is a bronze and marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin, whose first cast, of 1902, is now in the Musée Rodin in Paris; there are some twenty other original castings as well as various other versions, studies, and posthumous castings. It depicts a man in sober meditation battling with a...
, and actor Burt ReynoldsBurt ReynoldsBurton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
, whose pose existed in real-life. - When Ted is standing around naked in Vicky's apartment, he opens a book of love poems by Pablo NerudaPablo NerudaPablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
and discovers it is bookmarked to his favorite poem, which appropriately is "Desnuda Eres" ("Naked, You Are.."). - The end of the episode is a reference to Commissioner GordonJames Gordon (comics)James Worthington Gordon, Sr. is a fictional character, an ally of Batman that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane...
's ending monologue in The Dark KnightThe Dark Knight (film)The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
.
Critical response
Donna Bowman of The A.V. ClubThe A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
graded the episode "A-".
Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade "A-".
Michelle Zoromski of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the episode 8.5 out of 10.