If you’re a regular viewer of “How I Met Your Mother,” then you’ve seen Alan Thicke pop up on the show on a couple of occasions. First, it was in Robin Sparkles’ video for her classic ballad, “Sandcastles in the Sand,” then as the host of the infamous website CanadianSexActs.org, which was apparently so controversial that it now simply defaults you back to CBS. (Damn!) Most recently, Lily asked him to step in and try to save the relationship between Robin and Barney, and while he failed in that endeavor, his appearance resulted in a fascinating and heretofore-unrevealed link between Robin Sparkles and Alan Thicke: they once starred in a failed variety show.
Since this revelation, “How I Met Your Mother” fans have been demanding to know two things: will we ever see this variety show, and if so, when?
I chatted with Thicke in conjunction with the DVD release of “The Goods” (look for the full interview on Bullz-Eye in the near future), and he gave me the answer: “Yes! You can expect to see that next year.”
Thicke has been friends with Pamela Fryman, longtime director of “How I Met Your Mother,” for many years, having worked with her way back when he was starring on “Hope and Gloria” in the mid-1990s.
“I’ve become kind of an annual recurring guest role on (‘How I Met Your Mother’), which I quite enjoy,” he says. “It impresses my 12-year-old a lot. He loves the show. But I love the cast. And it’s the role I was born to play: Alan Thicke!”
One has to wonder, however, if he ever imagined that he’d grow up and have his name associated with the phrase “Canadian sex acts.”
“Well, those are just the kind of things that you aspire to as a young man,” he said, laughing. “Sometimes they happen, sometimes they don’t.”
No date has been set for the episode yet, unfortunately, but just knowing that they’ve got it in their back pocket is enough to make you feel all warm inside.
