How I Met Your Mother/Drumroll, Please

Drumroll, Please
Season 1, Episode 13
Airdate	January 23, 2006
Production Number	1ALH12
Written by	Gloria Calderon Kellett
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Stream
← 1x12 The Wedding	1x14 → Zip, Zip, Zip
How I Met Your Mother — Season One

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Drumroll, Please is the thirteenth episode of the first season of How I Met Your Mother.

Starring: Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby), Jason Segel (Marshall Eriksen), Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky)

with Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson)

and Alyson Hannigan (Lily Aldrin)

Guest Starring: Ashley Williams (Victoria), Virginia Williams (Claudia), Matt Boren (Stuart)

Co-Starring: Napiera Danielle Groves (Tanya), Kelly Stables (Masseuse)

Uncredited: Bob Saget (Ted of 2030 (voice))

Plot Overview

Robin is emotionally torn when Ted meets an exciting new woman, Victoria, at the wedding. Afterward, though, he doesn't know how to contact her.

Picking up from where the last episode ended, Ted saw a woman across the room alone at a table. He is immediately stricken by her and decides to introduce himself while Barney is off wooing bridesmaids. The two decide that instead of ruining the moment they're having with a lousy second date, they should continue the moment without knowing anything about each other, including names. That way, after the night is over, they'll always have the memory and it won't be sullied by something that might happen later. For part of the time, the episode follows Ted recounting the evening with interruptions by Marshall and Lily, who he's relating the story to.

After agreeing on the ground rules (even though the no-names thing doesn't work out since Barney shouts "Ted!" over and over again), they leave the wedding. On their way out they steal a bottle of champagne and the bouquet. They sneak into another room, and she fakes being able to tap dance while Ted plays a ragtime song on the piano. After a while the night ends, Ted finishes his story and realizes that he wants to see her again despite deciding not to. He first calls Claudia, but Claudia says that there was no Victoria at her wedding and hangs up on him. However, she was sitting at the bridesmaids table so Ted attempts to make Barney call the one he hooked up with the night before in order to get closer to who the woman is. He manages to convince him by saying that he'll go to foxy-boxing with him. Tanya asks if he knows what shoes Victoria was wearing. Oddly enough, he does because she had him hold them as she cartwheeled down the hall. Go figure. Unfortunately, Tanya doesn't know her. Ted takes this as fate, he was never supposed to see this girl again, so he gives up and gets drunk instead.

But this wouldn't be the end of Ted's search for the girl. After Lily relates Ted's story about the girl to Robin, she says that she knows who this mystery girl is. It turns out that after the newscast, Robin decided to surprise Ted by showing up at the wedding, where she walked in on Ted and Victoria's "drumroll" to the kiss. Robin ducked into a bathroom and cried, but was consoled by a woman with brown shoes with snowflakes on them (Victoria). Lily berates Robin for continuing to not acknowledge her feelings for Ted. She gives Robin two options, either to tell Ted that she has feelings for her or tell Ted who Victoria is so that they can be happy.

At the instant that Robin gets to the bar to talk to Ted, he gets a phone call from Stuart, the groom from the wedding. He gets his new wife to apologize for being rude (and acting like a crazy person) previously) and, when Ted asks her who made the cake for Marshall, Claudia tells him that it was from "The Buttercup Bakery." Robin simultaneously recalls Victoria telling her that she was the baker of the cake and not a guest for the wedding. He decides to go to the bakery to see her. Ted flashes back one more time to a dance they had after everyone had already left. When they get to the bakery, Ted is practically catatonic and he falls back into the idea that there was absolutely nothing wrong with night before and he shouldn't do anything to make those memories change. But then Barney pushes him out of the cab. Ted walks into the bakery and the two kiss.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Ted: Ted finally manages to find someone to be with for more than one episode.

Referbacks

• 1x13 - The Wedding: The events of this episode occur directly after those of the previous. The ending of The Wedding was recapped briefly at the beginning of this episode.

Trivia

The Show

• Music: The song that plays at the end of the episode is "Spit on a Stranger" by Pavement. The song was a single off the band's album Terror Twilight.

Behind the Scenes

• Crew Cameo (Kinda): The book that Lily is reading during the episode is "Pure Ducky Goodness," a collection of comic strips written and drawn by Dave Kellett, the husband of Gloria Calderon Kellett, the episode's writer.

Allusions and References

• Lando Calrissian: The fake name that Ted gives to Victoria is Lando Calrissian. Lando is a character from Star Wars who first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back as the administrator of Bespin's Cloud City. He betrayed Han Solo to the Empire but later redeemed himself in Return of the Jedi when he piloted the Millennium Falcon in the final battle of the film, ultimately destroying the Death Star II and the Empire itself. He was played by Billy Dee Williams.

• Castradi: A castradi is a young boy (often 10 years old or younger) who was castrated so that he would not reach puberty, allowing his voice to remain the same. Castradis were often cast in operas and musicals which required a girl, but since women were not actors during this period of time, a boy with a high voice (i.e. one who hadn't reached puberty) would be necessary. Several boys' choirs also used this method to keep the choir together, particularly with exceptional voices.

Barney: Ted going all castradi over another girl is not a good cause.