How I Met Your Father Honors HIMYM Narrator Bob Saget with Tribute in Premiere Episode
How I Met Your Father is paying tribute to the late Bob Saget.
On Tuesday, Hulu's new How I Met Your Mother spinoff premiered its first two episodes on the streaming service. At the end of the first episode, the show honored Saget with a black title card that read, "In Loving Memory of Bob Saget."
Saget, who died on Jan. 9 at the age of 65, provided the narration to all nine seasons of HIMYM as the future Ted Mosby.
HIMYF's executive producers, Craig Thomas, Carter Bays, and Pam Fryman, later spoke about the decision to honor Saget, remembering the late actor and comedian as a "truly legendary human."
"The wit, the wisdom, and, above all, the kindness fans heard in Bob Saget's voice (as Ted Mosby in the year 2030) was no act," Thomas, Bays and Fryman said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.
"It's who Bob really was. And it's how all of us in the How I Met Your Mother family will always remember him," they added. "R.I.P. to a truly legendary human. You'll be so missed, Bob, because you were so loved."
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RELATED: How I Met Your Mother's Josh Radnor Pays Tribute to Bob Saget: 'Easiest Person to Be Around'
Saget was found dead on Jan. 9 in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida, after performing a stand-up comedy set the night before. An initial autopsy found that there was no "drug use or foul play."
On Friday, the beloved actor was laid to rest at a private funeral in Los Angeles, attended by his Full House costars and his other famous close friends.
In the wake of Saget's death, his HIMYM castmate Josh Radnor — who played the younger Ted — honored his friend with an emotional tribute. In the Twitter thread, Radnor, 47, described his "special bond" with Saget as he reminisced about their time working together on the show.
"Bob Saget was the older wiser 'me' for nine years on How I Met Your Mother," the actor wrote. "He was the kindest, loveliest, funniest, most supportive man. The easiest person to be around. A mensch among mensches."
MICHAEL TRAN/AFP/Getty Bob Saget
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Radnor went on to explain how he struggled with imposter syndrome at the beginning of HIMYM but noted that he received validation from Saget, which changed his entire perspective.
"When I'd run into Bob on the Fox lot in those early days he'd gush over my performance & tell me how he was studying me to make sure his vocal performance felt right," he wrote. "This man that I'd delighted in seeing on TV for years cheering me on, letting me know I had a right to be there and playing that character... I can't overstate how meaningful his words were."
"We had a very special bond from Day 1, were never out of touch for long. We found a way to grab dinner once a year, even after HIMYM wrapped," Radnor added. "We went to see each other in our Broadway plays. We talked a lot about how to live a meaningful life amidst all the chaos. I'm endlessly grateful that HIMYM brought Bob Saget into my life. I'll hear his voice in my head for the rest of my days."
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HIMYM ran from 2005-2014 on CBS, with Saget providing voiceover for nearly every episode.
The show chronicled the eventful happenings of Ted Mosby (Radnor) and his journey to find love as a single man. HIMYM was told through a series of flashbacks as the older Mosby (Saget) tells the stories to his children 25 years later. The series also starred Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Jason Segel, and Alyson Hannigan.
HIMYF, which premiered on Hulu Tuesday, gender-flips the plot of the original HIMYM as a woman named Sophie (played by Hilary Duff in the 2022 timeline and Kim Cattrall in the future) tells her son about how she met his dad.
