The Slap Bet is coming! The Slap Bet is coming!

CBS is finally showing a little love for one of the best comedies on television, How I Met Your Mother, by launching this countdown clock to the next Slap Bet. What is a Slap Bet? Only the greatest subplot ever. In last season's "Robin Sparkles" episode, Marshall didn't have any money to bet Barney on why Robin refused to go to the mall, so they agreed that the loser of the bet got a slap. There was some "premature slapulation" and Marshall ended up with five slaps, to dole out against Barney at any time from here to eternity. By the way, if you haven't seen the episode, please take some time to go over to this HIMYM MySpace website. It will get you hooked on the series.

Fans will remember that Marshall still owes Barney three slaps. Apparently the next one is coming in just about four months.

How do you fans feel, knowing exactly when another slap is coming?

So, Christmas in July is only a few short days away, and you don't know what to buy your friends (who will probably be wondering why the hell you're celebrating Christmas in July anyway). Fret not, holiday shopper, because I have the solution for you: Robin Sparkles Mall Tour t-shirts!

Yes, now you can relive those memories of your favorite Canadian pop star, who is now known as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother, courtesy of Glarkware. The front of the shirt features a splashy maple leaf design while the back displays a list of Canadian malls (not slouches by any means, according to the website) that Sparkles toured during 1993. The shirt costs $20 (US), and comes in either girlie or unisex style. Make those purchases quickly because pre-ordering ends on July 31st.

The ever-reliable TVShowsOnDVD.com brings us the good news that the second season of How I Met Your Mother will come out on DVD on October 2.

It looks like Carter Bays, Craig Thomas and company have put together a pretty good package. Seven episodes will get audio commentary from the creators, as well as various writers and cast members, including fan (and personal) favorites from last year "Swarley," "Robin Sparkles," "Showdown," and "Single Stamina." It will also include the video for "Let's Go to the Mall," performed by Cobie ("Robin Sparkles") Smulders, a video for the show's theme song, "Hey Beautiful" by the Solids, four featurettes and an easter egg.

If you don't watch How I Met Your Mother but are curious about why we all love it so damn much, I suggest you watch the "Slap Bet" episode. It was the one that got me hooked. And, as Joel said, it was "one of the funniest half-hours of comedy on TV in 2006". The entire episode is on the HIMYM official MySpace page and it's also embedded after the jump inside this post.

Why is it so funny? Hmmm. Let me count the ways. Uh... only because there's face-slapping. And Robin Sparkles. Those two elements alone make it legen...wait for it...dary!

I usually don't highlight repeats, but this is a special case:

Tonight, CBS will rerun what I thought was the funniest half-hour of TV in 2006: the "Slap Bet" episode of How I Met Your Mother. I'm not the only one who thought the episode was a high point of the 2006-07 television season, though: The Boston Globe thought it was the 2nd best episode of any show that aired in 2006. And Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger felt at the time that HIMYM made what he called "The Leap" after that episode, meaning that the ep had propelled the show to a higher quality level (though, like me, he later realized that it was more of a "high-water mark." And, also like me, he fell into the trap of comparing subsequent episodes to it).

What made the episode so great?

Sketch comedy troupe (and future stars of Fuse) Whitest Kids U Know are claiming that Budweiser stole one of their sketch ideas for a Super Bowl ad - specifically a sketch about how slapping is replacing bumping as the guy greeting du jour. Between How I Met Your Mother's "Slap Bet" episode and all the "slap fights" on YouTube, I'm not sure anyone gets to claim slapping as intellectual property. You can't stop the zeitgeist.

Decide for yourself. You can check out both videos after the jump.

I'm going to dispense with traditional "Best" and "Worst" lists and just use the tried-and-true journalistic method of "made-up categories." Why? Well, firstly, everyone's sick of seeing "Best" and "Worst" lists by this point, considering every newspaper and magazine did one over Christmas week. Secondly, to be honest, the list would end up looking like everyone else's. How much of a limb am I going out on, for instance, to say that The Office was one of the best comedies this year? Exactly!

So, let's start with the Good Stuff, and then do the Bad Stuff:

One of the funniest half-hours of comedy on TV in 2006 was the "Slap Bet" episode of How I Met Your Mother. Besides "Robin Sparkles'" video for "Let's Go to the Mall," there was the matter of the "slap bet" Marshall and Barney had with each other over the nature of Robin's secret. Because things went back and forth, each guy got to slap the other as hard as they could, with Lily being the "Slap Bet Commissioner."

Carter Bays and Craig Thomas alluded to a few of the "slap bet" rules on the episode, but if you're curious what the complete and official rules are, they have created a set, which was forwarded to us by our friends at AOL TV. The rules are posted after the jump. Among the funnier ones: "When issuing a slap, the slapper must avoid lips and noses at all costs. The goal is for the palm of the slapper's hand to connect with the meaty part of the slappee's cheek thus providing utmost enjoyment and pain. If you're seeing handprint on cheek, you're doing something right."

Also after the jump is a video montage of the slaps from the episode. Hopefully, that will tie you over until new episodes start again on January 8.

(S02E09) Holy living crap, was that a funny episode or what? I laughed hard during most of it, something that I only seem to do during The Office, Scrubs, and early Simpsons episodes. God, it was all so good: The slap bet, and the resulting payments on both sides; Marshall and Lilly enthusiastically telling each other about every mundane detail of their days; Barney's "Ohh..." moments; Robin's elaborate (and classy!) lies about her nonexistent Canadian marriage; the flashback to thirty seconds before the first slap...

... But the best part of the entire episode came at the end, when Robin revealed her dirty little secret, one that she didn't want anyone to know, including her beloved boyfriend Ted...