Josh Radnor will never forget his experience playing Ted Mosby on the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Nor will he forget the late Bob Saget, whose voiceover as older Ted anchored the series across nine hilarious seasons. In a recent interview with MovieWeb promoting his new indie film, All Happy Families, Radnor took time out to tell us if he and Saget ever bonded on or off set.
“Bob and I really became quite good friends during the process [of the show],” Radnor admitted. “There was something very sweet about playing the same character but in different time periods. About a year or two before he died, I did an episode of his podcast. We would grab dinner about once a year, and I have a remembrance of him on Instagram that I check in with every once in a while.” That remembrance, posted January 10, 2022, has nearly 244,000 likes, and begins with Radnor sharing:
“I’ll never not miss
Bob Saget.
Bob was the older wiser ‘me’ for nine years on
How I Met Your Mother
. He was the kindest, loveliest, funniest, most supportive man… A mensch among mensches. I had so much imposter syndrome when HIMYM started, thought I’d be found out, kicked off set & sent home. When I’d run into Bob on the Fox lot in those early days he would gush over my performance and tell me how he was studying me to make sure his vocal performance felt right… I can’t overstate how meaningful his words were.”
Radnor told us:
He was very dear. You know, for all his kind of comedic raunch and his boldness, he was just quite a very sweet and sincere person. I really adored him.
Josh Radnor Says ‘Bob Was a Sweet and Sincere Person’
HIMYM, which ran from 2005-2014, was nominated for 30 Primetime Emmy Awards, and took home 10. The show became one of the most revered comedies in modern times, making stars out of Radnor, Cobie Smulders, and Cristin Milioti, and further elevating Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, and Neil Patrick Harris’ presence in the comedy world. Talk of a possible reboot keeps swirling around.
Radnor would go on to star in a variety of TV and film roles, including the Amazon Prime hit Hunters and Hulu’s fabulous Fleishman Is in Trouble, along with directing Happythankyoumoreplease and Liberal Arts. He offers another memorable turn in All Happy Families. The Chicago-set dysfunctional family comedy finds Radnor playing a struggling actor braving a major slump, while his successful brother manages big-time success on his own television series. When the family finds itself under the same roof again, their unresolved issues rise to the surface.
The film, directed by Haroula Rose, with whom Radnor has been great friends with for some time, also stars Colleen Camp (Clue), John Ashton (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F), Rob Huebel (Goosebumps), and Becky Ann Baker (A Simple Plan, Girls). No doubt Radnor’s time on HIMYM and friendship with Saget influenced his choices here. In the meantime, check out Josh Radnor’s standout performance in All Happy Families, which hits theaters September 20.