Neil Patrick Harris first shot to fame as a teen prodigy on Doogie Howser, M.D., but it was his role as the sharp-suited Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother that saw him hit TV sitcom gold.
In a candid interview on The Howard stern show , Harris didn’t just confirm he was “well paid” by the end of the show — he dropped a number that still turns heads years later.
Worth Every Penny
“Are you kidding me?” Harris said when asked by Stern if he was satisfied with his salary. “$250,000 a week? Yes, I was happy with that.”
That figure — $250,000 per episode in the final season — translates to multi-million-dollar payouts over a 24-episode run. Not bad for a role that started as comic relief and became iconic in its own right.
The actor also confirmed that all the main cast members were ultimately paid the same. “We’d gotten eight seasons out of it… this was an extra season, a fantastic final lap and why shouldn’t we be reaping the benefits of that,” Harris said. “And I feel like everyone has proven their worth on the show, everyone is providing and deserves to get paid well.”
Behind the Scenes: Not Everyone Was on the Same Page Initially
But the path to equal pay wasn’t without some tension.
Harris revealed that during the middle seasons — around the time the show entered syndication — things got more complicated. “It seemed like we all had individual careers that we had nurtured up until that point,” he explained. “And so when you end up with an agent and a manager and an attorney, you have relationships with them and they’re hardcore fighting for you financially for your future.”
When Stern asked if Harris was the one who initially resisted the idea of unifying negotiations, Harris admitted he leaned in that direction. “I was more in the latter camp than the former camp,” he said.
“It wasn’t like I was trying to take someone else’s money,” he added. “I just wanted my team to fight as hard as they could for me for my next season’s worth.”
By the final season, however, Harris said everyone had proven themselves, and negotiations reflected that reality.
Big Money Sitcoms: HIMYM vs. The Big Leagues
While $250K per week is undeniably jaw-dropping, it still paled in comparison to the paychecks of other mega-sitcom stars.
The Big Bang Theory’s top trio — Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki — were reportedly earning $1 million per episode in their final season, via CNBC . That figure matched what Friends stars famously pulled in for their tenth and final season back in 2004.
In fact, the Game of Thrones cast took things even further. By season eight, stars like Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, and Peter Dinklage were reportedly making $1.2 million per episode, according to The hollywood reporter
Friends, Solidarity, and Schwimmer’s Standout Move
The issue of cast pay parity isn’t unique to How I Met Your Mother. Friends remains the gold standard for salary solidarity, thanks in large part to David Schwimmer.
In his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthrew perry credited Schwimmer with using his leverage to help the entire cast negotiate equally. Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston had become breakout stars by season three, and the network wanted to give them raises. But Schwimmer pushed back.
“He didn’t [take more money],” Perry wrote. “His decision served to make us take care of each other through what turned out to be a myriad of stressful network negotiations… I owe you about $30 million, David.”
Other Shows, Other Tensions
Not all casts played the salary game so harmoniously. The Big Bang Theory faced its own backstage strain when Jim Parsons made the surprise decision to leave, reportedly without warning co-stars Johnny Galecki or Kaley Cuoco.
Co-star Johnny Galecki revealed that producers brought them in thinking it was a meeting to renegotiate their deals — only for Chuck Lorre to let Parsons break the news, The Independent reports. “We thought we were going in to talk about renegotiating,” Galecki said. “Then Chuck tossed the baton to Jim. And Jim was shocked and obviously caught off-guard.”According to showrunner Steve Holland: “Kaley could barely make eye contact with Jim during the run-through” the next day.
