How We Returned a Shirt | S1E4 "Return of the Shirt"

Notes from Series Co-Creator Craig Thomas

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In the entire run of How I Met Your Mother, there were only 2 writers (besides Carter and myself) who went, door to door, from helping out with the pilot in 2005 all the way to the finish line at the end of Season 9 in 2014.

Today's special guest is one of those 2: ladies and gentlemen, it's Kourtney Kang (aka "Koko")!

There's a unique bond formed when you make stuff up together for almost ten years. We were so lucky to have Kourtney along for that ride. Of the many things Kourtney was great at on HIMYM, one of my favorites was her ability to bring in just the right personal detail from real life that would find its way onto the show. One example (although it's not in "Return of the Shirt," but a later S1 ep) is the mythical (but based on a true story!) story of The Cockamouse.

In today's pod ep, we talk about how Kourtney's early struggles as a TV writer who wrote on several TV pilots/very short-lived series that literally never aired, which helped inform Robin's storyline in "Return of the Shirt"—that unique existential crisis of having a TV job that nobody's actually watching.

As crazy as it sounds, it's not uncommon to make a living as a TV writer (or in film) and have very, very, very little of your work see the light of day! (Every TV or film writer I know has been there at some point!) Through no fault of her own, Kourtney wound up as a newbie writer on several projects that were shot, or just about to shoot, and then the plug was pulled and the whole thing vanished like dandelion spores into the wind...

Fun Fact Which I Had Forgotten: "Return of the Shirt" was Kourtney's first produced script to ACTUALLY AIR ON TV for human beings to watch with their eyeballs! Her first tangible proof that she was a talented TV writer, working in Hollywood. Koko would go on to write many more episodes of HIMYM (and a bunch of other cool stuff since then, including creating the Doogie reboot), but I found myself very moved to remember that this one was the first.

So, my dear HIMYM/HWMYM fans, please go to your closet and select that shirt you haven't worn in a while but still looks freakin' GREAT on you ("Hot top, bro!" / "Right? Right?!") and raise a glass to Koko's inaugural TV episode which, in Josh’s and my opinion, is still a total banger (and, as Josh says on the pod, one of his personal favorites)... and join us as we return to, "Return of the Shirt."

Congrats, 2005 Koko, and thanks, 2025 Koko, for joining us on this trip down memory lane!

Booger,

— Craig

P.S.: Koko slipped me a hundy-stick to work the word "booger" into this.

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AND IN CASE IT HELPS:

02:18 Writer's Journey and Personal Growth
06:06 The Complexity of Relationships
10:48 The Role of the Shirt in the Episode
18:29 The Dynamics of Ted and Robin
27:13 The Writer's Room Experience
35:14 The Art of Comedy and Writing
40:45 The Journey of a TV Writer
44:00 The Magic of Sock Monkeys and Montages
49:23 Memorable Moments from the Shoot