Conan Appeared As an Extra on ‘How I Met Your Mother’

Back in March 2011, Conan O’Brien won a walk-on role on “How I Met Your Mother” after donating to a charity auction in support of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Last night, he made his cameo, not as Barney’s red-haired wing man or The Mother, but as a background extra during a scene set in MacLaren’s Pub. According to “How I Met” co-creator Carter Bays:

“When we heard Conan had won the auction, we started going through all these ideas for what he could play. But then we heard back: ‘He just wants to be an extra.’ And we realized this was really the funniest version [of a cameo].” It was also perhaps the most realistic. “In New York, every now and then you’ll see somebody famous at a bar, but nobody really makes a big deal out of it.” (Vulture)

Truth. I once saw Craig Kilborn in a bar, and didn’t make a big deal out of it. In fact, I made such a not big deal out of it that I didn’t even notice it was him until someone pointed him out to me, and even then he had to be described to me as, “Y’know, that guy who isn’t Jon Stewart or Craig Ferguson.” True story. Anyways, be sure to tune into next week’s “Hawaii Five-0″ to see Jay Leno as a beached whale who LOVES vintage cars.