Conan O'Brien Wins Background Extra Role on 'How I Met Your Mother'

Conan O'Brien is a big comedy star, and "How I Met Your Mother" is one of the biggest sitcoms on TV. So you would figure that if you put the two together, there would be some kind of comedy supernova with Conan in a guest starring role on the show.

But what if Conan just came on as a background extra?

"HIMYM" star Neil Patrick Harris stopped by Conan to talk about "The Smurfs" among other things, and the conversation turned to a charity event that NPH and Conan both attended. One of the items up for auction was a walk-on role in "How I Met Your Mother," to which Conan announced "That's the only one I'm going to bid on!" according to NPH.

"Normally it's just in the bar scenes, we just sit the person over our shoulders so they can say, 'Hey look, it's me, look mom and dad, I'm on 'How I Met Your Mother,'" said Harris. But Conan wanted it anyway, even going so far as to outbid himself a couple of times.

Conan eventually won the prize, and got a call from the producers saying that they would write a role for him. But Conan is having none of that: "I think it's much funnier if I'm just in the bar in the background," said the late-night host.

We'll see if Conan actually goes through with it when "HIMYM" returns next season. Keep your eyes peeled for a tall Irish guy with orange hair!

Watch the full interview below, which also includes some funny stuff about NPH's hopes that his kids become British. The "HIMYM" discussion starts around 4:45.