While starring in How I Met Your Mother, Neil Patrick Harris acted in an normally-forgotten film, playing a character that paid tribute to his function in the show. For How I Met Your Mother’s nine-season run, Harris played Barney Stinson, the properly-dressed womanizer.Barney lives according to a playbook, following his personal guidelines on girls, dating, and like. Though Barney’s job is comically mysterious, he’s hardly ever caught dressed in something other than a suit. Among the show’s 5 principal characters, Barney regularly serves as the supply of comedic relief, normally delivering witty 1-liners or intriguing lore, like Barney’s elusive fake household.

With notable deviations, Harris is normally cast as an intelligent, properly-kept character with questionable morals. While often unsavory, these loose morals also permit for comedy, with some of Barney’s worst (and most effective) traits creating him 1 of How I Met Your Mother’s most iconic characters. Although the show is 1 of his most notable and lengthy-operating roles, Harris has starred in quite a few function films as properly. An fascinating instance came months immediately after the final episode of How I Met Your Mother aired in 2014 – an unheralded comedy film in which he plays a character that pays tribute to Barney Stinson.

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Neil Patrick Harris’ A Million Ways To Die In The West Character Perfectly Honors A Barney Stinson Catchphrase

Harris’ Cadence And Tone Are Unmistakably Similar In The Roles

In 2014, Harris starred in A Million Ways to Die in the West‘s comedic cast as Foy, the town’s pretentious snob. In the film, when Foy accepts Albert’s (Seth MacFarlane) request to duel, he yells, “Challenge accepted!” in a really comparable style to Barney’s mantra, “Suit up!” As 1 of the most iconic phrases from How I Met Your Mother, Barney makes use of “suit up” to encourage his mates to prepare themselves and don their metaphorical armor, which, in his case, is an actual suit. When saying this line, Foy’s cadence and tone are hugely recognizable, clearly reminiscent of Barney, specially as he warns Albert to prepare himself for a duel.

A Million Ways To Die In The West’s Foy Is Very Similar To Barney (But Likes Mustaches Instead Of Suits)

Both Characters Share A Love Of Pursuing Women

Both characters have a hypermasculine persona, caring deeply about their status and look, hinting at an underlying insecurity. Besides their tendency to put on good suits, Foy also requires specific care and pride in his mustache, typified by A Million Ways to Die in the West’s popular “Mustache Song”. Both also have higher-powered jobs, although Foy’s is notably significantly less mysterious than Barney’s. This masculinity is also expressed in their womanizing tendencies, with Barney normally boasting about his dating conquests and Foy’s loud self-confidence though flaunting his new girlfriend. Both characters hold themselves to a prideful larger typical, which, unbeknownst to them, is what tends to make them funny.

Undeniably, Foy’s character was inspired by Harris’ iconic How I Met Your Mother function. Between their mannerisms, speech patterns, and even physical portrayal, Foy pays tribute to Barney, whose nine-year run on the show had just concluded at the time of the movie’s release. In 2014, for fans of How I Met Your Mother searching for extra of Barney and his weird guidelines and pristine character, A Million Ways to Die in the West was the logical subsequent viewing alternative, with Harris bringing life to the remarkably comparable character of Foy.