Famous Musicians You Didn’t Know Appeared in ‘How I Met Your Mother’

There’s no denying that How I Met Your Mother had some memorable scenes and faces. 

For nine seasons, the sitcom saw remarkable storylines pen out, but not only that but also a great display of famous music artists taking on guest-starring roles.

Let’s take a look.

The King of Latin music landed a small role on the sitcom as Gael, a hot massage therapist that Robin met in Argentina after breaking up with Ted. Enrique Iglesias appeared in the first couple of episodes in season 3, with his dreamy character luring all ladies, including Lily and her newly-wedded husband Marshall. 

The singer even serenaded the characters with his famous song “Somebody’s Me” in Spanish during a hilarious massage therapy sesh that Marshall seemed to enjoy more than the girls.

Though Mandy Moore is recognized for her acting career, she is also a successful singer and songwriter, having rose to stardom with her hit single “Candy”.

The actress made a guest appearance on the first episode of season 3, 'Wait for It', together with Iglesias. She played Amy, a free-spirited tattooed girl that Ted hooked up with in an attempt to be more spontaneous. Amy convinced drunk Ted to get a tatt, which turned out to be a tramp stamp.

Did you know that Britney Spears’ guest appearance might have saved HIMYM from tanking? Supposedly, Spears' team contacted the show to negotiate her low-key role at a time when the ratings were plummeting. 

The pop star had recurrent guest-starring roles towards the end of the third season. In the episode 'Ted Sessions', she is featured as a receptionist Abby at the dermatologist's office where Ted's girlfriend Stella worked. 

Abby had a huge crush on Ted and tried every trick in the book to get him to notice her, including sleeping with the Playbook master Barney. Her character was too gullible that she believed Barney's marriage proposal was legitimate when he only did it to make Ted jealous. 

The show loved Britney so much that they asked her to reprise her role in the episode 'Everything Must Go', where she played the mystery lady sabotaging Barney's one-night stands.

Jennifer Lopez is not only a famous musician but an actress as well, who made her acting debut in the 90s. Before appearing in the sitcom, she starred in the classic films Selena (1997), The Wedding Planner (2001), Maid in Manhattan (2002), and Money Train (1995), among others. 

She landed a memorable guest starring role as Anita Appleby on HIMYM season 5, the episode titled 'Of Course'. Anita was a sexy and sassy author of the woman empowerment book 'Of Course You're Still Single, Take a Look at Yourself You Dumb Slut.' She, however, summarized the book with one word 'No' on Robin's early morning TV talk show Come On, Get Up New York!

She and Robin later schemed to take Barney down where Anita would seduce him, but the plan didn’t go as anticipated.

Carrie Underwood featured in the show's fifth season on the episode 'Hooked'. The country singer played the role of Tiffany a pharmaceutical rep who stringed Ted along until he eventually found out she was seeing someone else. 

Underwood expressed gratitude on her blog for the show making her feel welcome. She joked, 'I'm giving up being a musician to become a professional comedy actress! Kidding, of course! But I had an amazing time.'

She also said, 'I got to spend time with the entire cast, dress up like an air hostess and a cavewoman and had a teacup pig poop on me. I'm happy I grew up in the country because I was probably the only one who wasn't scared of holding a tiny piglet!'

In the earlier days of her megastar career, Katy Perry made a guest appearance as Honey on HIMYM season 6, the episode 'Oh Honey'. 

Honey was the ditzy and extremely gullible cousin of Ted's girlfriend, Zoey. She would believe anything told to her, prompting the other characters to react by saying, 'Oh honey!'

Perry’s guest starring role scored her an award for the Favorite TV Guest Star at the People’s Choice Awards.

Pussycat Dolls vet played the notable character Jessica Glitter on the sitcom's sixth season, the 'Glitter' episode. Jessica was Robin's former BFF and co-star on the Canadian kids show Space Teens before falling out when she had a kid. 

She featured again at the episode’s end as a New York Rangers organist. The duo reunited again at the Canadian bar Hoser Hut to sing The Beaver Song.

Weird Al Yankovic is known for his cameos, and so he couldn't miss out on the sitcom. 

He added to the show's cameo list in 2011 in the seventh season episode titled 'Noretta” in a flashback scene where young Ted sent him fan mail giving an idea for his song parody ‘Like A Surgeon’.

The 90s R&B band had a notable cameo in the show's season 9, the 'Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra' episode, where they performed the song Marshall composed for Barney 'You Just Got Slapped' in the third season's Slapsgiving episode. 

The Boyz II Men performance on the show paid tribute to Barney after his fourth slap. If you recall, Barney lost a bet to Marshall in season 2, the episode titled 'Slap Bet', spiraling a series of five slaps to eternity, with Marshall slapping Barney at any moment.

One of the most memorable cameo performances on HIMYM came from Lin-Manuel Miranda in the season 9 episode titled 'Bedtime Stories'. He played Gus, one of the passengers on a Farhampton bus Marshall was taking with his infant son Marvin to make it to Barney and Robin's nuptial. 

Marshall had lost Marvin’s bedtime book of rhyming tales and had to make up stories involving rhyming words. Most of Gus’ interaction with Marshall on the bus involved rapping and rhyming, a reference to his true persona’s career as an acclaimed lyricist and musician.

Okay, Heidi Klum may not be a musician, but her career runs in the entertainment circuit, working as an actress, supermodel, television producer and host on the award-winning reality show Project Runway. 

The German-American beauty had a cameo in HIMYM season 3, the episode 'The Yips'. She was one of the models at a Victoria's Secret Fashion Show after-party that Barney, Marshall and Ted attended. 

Klum convinced distressed Barney to go back to Rhonda, the woman he lost his virginity to, and try to regain his sexual confidence. This happened after Barney learnt that his first sexual encounter was a sham and that Rhonda only praised him because his brother paid her, causing him to have the yips. 

In 2018, Klum tweeted her cameo experience on the show, along with a video showcasing her performance alongside Neil Patrick Harris (Barney) and Josh Radnor (Ted).