Josh Radnor, known for playing Ted Mosby on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, has disclosed that the cast was not as close as fans might believe, and that he and co-star Neil Patrick Harris experienced tension on set. The 52-year-old actor made the admission during an appearance on the Half the Picture podcast.
Cast closeness questioned
When asked whether the quintet of Radnor, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders, and Neil Patrick Harris remained as close as during the show's nine-season run, Radnor replied: 'No, no, not even a little bit… I don’t mean that in any dramatic way.' He noted that the intense bonding period of filming was akin to college, where daily contact eventually fades after the project ends.
Radnor elaborated on his rewatch podcast, How We Made Your Mother, co-hosted with show co-creator Craig Thomas. He said: 'We had Neil [Patrick Harris] on the podcast, and he and I had a really interesting conversation about some of the tension we had on set that was fascinating and kind of healing.'
Differing comedic and emotional approaches
In a two-part episode of the podcast in March, the 53-year-old Patrick Harris and Radnor discussed 'frustrations' during filming. Patrick Harris explained that he focused on comedy, while Radnor prioritized emotional depth. 'I remember often days when we were filming and I sensed frustration from you because you wanted the scene to be a good scene and I was looking at you, like, motherf***** I’m doing spit takes,' said Patrick Harris, laughing. 'As it was happening, I was like, I think Josh is annoyed by the gnat flying around all the time, just doing bits.'
Radnor acknowledged the dynamic, attributing it partly to confusion between actor and character. He said: 'Barney was often dismissive of Ted and you were so good at playing that, that I think I sometimes felt dismissed by Neil, but I was being dismissed by Barney… But when I look back on it, I’m so delighted by our weird chemistry.' He described the tension as the 'secret sauce' in their on-screen relationship. Patrick Harris reiterated that they were essentially playing different shows, and he sometimes thought Radnor was 'mad' at him.
Loss of anonymity and ongoing relationships
In the same podcast episode, Radnor spoke about struggling with the loss of anonymity as he became the star of the hit sitcom, having entered the show with few prior screen experiences compared to his co-stars. Elsewhere in the Half the Picture podcast, Radnor said he still messages Segel and Smulders 'every once in a while' when reminded of funny on-set moments. He last saw Hannigan at his wedding to Jordana Jacobs in 2024.
'I have love for all these people,' Radnor said. 'It’s like college, where you have this very intense time together and you can’t imagine not seeing each other every day cause you’ve seen each other every day for so long, and then it just disperses and you go out and live your life.' He added: 'I think it’s a little more like family than friends because you don’t get to choose your family. We were cast. We didn’t choose each other. And family dynamics come out to play when you’re in an environment like that for so long. But you also have love that is quite deep and rich and probably everlasting, but it’s not an active love. Acting is like love affairs that you have, and then you move on.'
