CU and I are huge fans of How I Met Your Mother - it’s definitely on our “must watch when it originally airs” list.

Last night’s episode centered around this “big secret” Robin had, which resulted in a serious aversion to malls. Barney thought she was involved in porn…wait for it…ography (what that had to do with malls, I still don’t know), whereas Marshall thought she got married at a mall in Canada at a young age and was still married…and Lily was the Slap Bet Commissioner…guess you had to be there.

Anyway, turns out Robin’s big secret was…wait for it…she was a Canadian teen pop star. No joke. Robin Sparkles was a cross between Debbie Gibson and Alanis Morissette on You Can’t Do That On Television…with a little Degrassi Junior High thrown in for good measure.

Her video was fantastic, and I aboot spit out my wine when I saw a Benetton store in the background. A little Esprit, and it would have been retro nostalgia nirvana. At one point I told CU that, based on Robin’s clothes and hair and the pop-y music, there was no way Robin was in her late twenties…she’d have to be closer to my age. Within about thirty seconds of me saying that, Marshall asks Robin why, if the video was made in the mid-90s, does it look like 1987? I swear, it’s like, I think it…and they say it. You’d be amazed how often that happens. Robin replies that the Eighties came late to Canada…love that.

If you want to see something truly hilarious, check out the Official Robin Sparkles MySpace Page to see her breakthrough video, “Let’s Go To The Mall” in it’s entirety.

Best episode of the season, slappy hands down.