How I Met Your Mother has its longest running joke finally pay off in Season 9

How I Met Your Mother didn't just craft a love story but rather, it built an entire sitcom around running gags and long setups with unexpected punchlines.

One of its most enduring mysteries revolved around Barney Stinson's career.

For years, he'd dodge the question with a slick smile and a single word: Please. What seemed like a smug brush-off turned out to be the answer all along. In Season 9, the punchline finally arrived, and it was as strange as it was satisfying.

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A How I Met Your Mother gag that started as nonsense ends with a corporate twist

From day one, How I Met Your Mother made it clear that Barney wasn't like the rest of the gang. Ted, Marshall, Lily, and Robin had clear jobs, but Barney's profession remained a question mark, exaggerated further by his over-the-top lifestyle.

Whenever anyone asked what he did for work, his reply was always the same: "Please." The tone always came across as dismissal, but it wasn't until Season 9 that fans realized he meant it... quite literally. "Please" was actually an acronym: "Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything."

Barney's role was far from a regular office job. He was a fall guy, paid to sign off on GNB's sketchiest paperwork, taking legal responsibility for actions he barely understood.

But Barney, being Barney, wasn't just floating through. As revealed in the episode "Unpause", he'd teamed up with the FBI to take down his former nemesis Greg Fisher, who once stole his girlfriend and pushed him into his suit-wearing, womanizing era.

Greg had become a powerful figure at AltruCell (later merged with GNB), and Barney took the P.L.E.A.S.E. position to destroy him from the inside.

His revenge plot worked. A few months after Greg's wedding could pass, Greg would be arrested. While to his friends, he was just the guy in the nice suit with cryptic one-liners, he was actually setting up a sting operation.

All those years of mystery weren't just for How I Met Your Mother as a TV show, but the mystery was always a part of an elaborate game of justice.

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Why this long payoff was both clever and underwhelming

The reveal of Barney's job in How I Met Your Mother played into the show's love for long-game storytelling. But not every fan found the outcome thrilling. Over nine seasons, the joke had been so stretched out that it built almost impossible expectations.

While the acronym reveal was witty, some felt the setup deserved a bigger payoff. Especially since this wasn't just any recurring gag — it was a foundational part of Barney's character.

Still, the answer from How I Met Your Mother did manage to peel back layers of the character. Barney Stinson wasn't only just a charming playboy. He had strategy, loyalty, and a deeply personal motive.

With the reveal that Barney worked for the Justice Department this entire time, the episode confirmed, positioning him as more than a joke machine in a suit. And yet, because the show teased and teased for so long, the explanation landed softer than fans hoped.

Interestingly, the job reveal also highlighted how deeply How I Met Your Mother leaned into hidden details. While Barney's friends, even those who worked in the same building, never figured it out, the truth was always just out of reach.

Marshall once noted Barney was "doing... something" upstairs. That "something" turned out to be the groundwork for toppling corporate corruption, though nobody would've guessed it from his antics.

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In the end, How I Met Your Mother stayed true to its legacy - turning a years-long joke into a full-circle moment.

The mystery of Barney Stinson's job closed not with a bang, but with a smirk, showing that behind every "legendary" moment, there was always more than met the eye.

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