How I Met Your Mother Meets Seinfeld: 5 Couples That Would Work (& 5 That Wouldn’t)

There are quite a few differences between Seinfeld and How I Met Your Mother. The former is a misanthropic, inventive comedy that aired on NBC in the 1990s. The latter is a hangout comedy fused with a romantic comedy that aired on CBS from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s.

That being said, there’s also some potential for the two shows to overlap and find some couples between characters that would actually work romantically. Granted, some couples made from a Seinfeld/HIMYM combination would go south immediately. For every lost relationship between the inhabitants of Jerry’s apartment and the frequenters of MacLaren’s, there’s one that might work, too.

10 Wouldn’t Work: Elaine And Ted

Elaine and Ted might have a chance of hooking up if they crossed paths in New York. However, their potential relationship would probably last about one day before the two were ready to drive each other insane.

Ted is extremely romantic and Elaine prefers to keep commitment at arm’s length and keep her feelings buried deeper. It seems like Elaine would be the one to blow up the relationship in the end.

9 Would Work: Lily And Kramer

Sometimes, an eccentric personality needs to be balanced out by a more rational, calming presence to keep them in check. In the case of these two characters, the only way they could work would be if they both brought out the best in one another.

For Lily, that would be a sweet, fun-loving personality and for Kramer, that would be his ambitious, scheming streaks. When the hypothetical time warp opens up between these series, these two crazy kids might stand a chance.

8 Wouldn’t Work: Jerry And Robin

Let’s be real. Jerry wouldn’t work with anyone. That crazy comedian is always looking for a flaw that can justify his break-ups with women. However, he would certainly not make it with Robin.

Why? Because Robin is too practical, too driven. Jerry is the kind of guy content to eat breakfast cereal for every meal of the day. Robin would deserve better than that. Plus, she would have the agency to break things off with Jerry, leading to one of those patented Seinfeld shrugs.

7 Would Work: George And Robin

Conversely, there’s a chance that George and Robin would actually work. George is a horrible person, but he does manage to date a number of women who don’t know what he’s actually capable of.

Should he be able to reign in his worst faults, Robin might be able to see the merit in George. After all, when she dates someone, she always loves a project. And no one is more of a fixer-upper than George Costanza (except, perhaps, Kristoff from Frozen).

6 Wouldn’t Work: Robin And Puddy

Keeping the theme on Robin for a bit, it would be interesting to determine if Robin would have better luck with David Puddy than Elaine ever did. The verdict? Not quite!

The main reason for their dissolution, however, would have nothing to do with compatibility. Robin, as a Canadian, would hardly be able to stomach Puddy’s rabid fandom for the New Jersey Devils. Sports would be a deal-breaker (that is, if 30 Rock can get in on this crossover action)!

5 Would Work: Elaine And Carl

Speaking of crossover action, this is no Jimmy Timmy Power Hour. This is an examination of the potential romantic dynamics between the quartet and the quintet that operate across time and space from one another.

However, Carl, the bartender from How I Met Your Mother, exists outside the quintet and would actually be a pretty dynamite match for Elaine Benes. She would love how he keeps to himself and it would give plenty of fodder for Jerry to ask, “He’s a bartender! He tends bars!”

4 Wouldn’t Work: Elaine And Marshall

Marshall is a big, adorable goofball in every episode of How I Met Your Mother, save for the ones when he is faced with intense emotional heartbreak. But aside from those, he always loves to have fun and play games with his friends!

Elaine would hate him instantly. It’s hard to even envision a scenario in which Marshall and Elaine would actually agree to date with one another. Not to mention, Marshall is married to Lily! This would be an affair.

3 Would Work: Elaine And Barney

Barney is a playboy in New York and when his likeness is not dueting Aerosmith at a midwestern high school, he is hatching a plot to get a woman to date him. (This is largely because he is worried his normal personality could never be loved by another.)

But if Elaine waltzed into MacLaren’s one day, Barney would definitely make a move on her. While Marshall’s personality would be an immediate turn-off, Elaine would see Barney as someone just as falsely confident as she is. And that’s a match made in heaven.

2 Wouldn’t Work: George And Lily

Lily may be a bit of a flighty character on How I Met Your Mother, but she is always (read: mostly) a good person. One has to have a lot of tolerance for insanity when they teach kindergarten, of course!

However, George would stretch and break the limits of Lily’s tolerance. He is so craven and she would notice that immediately, calling for a break-off to their relationship in a heartbeat.

1 Would Work: Ted And Sue Ellen Mischke

Ted Mosby may be a bit of a whinger, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t women drawn to his raw, magnetic emotionality that can really decide what a person is willing to put up with in a relationship.

Someone on Seinfeld who is equally oblivious to the world around them is Sue Ellen Mischke, Elaine’s friend who refuses to wear a bra. Ted would find this to be adorable and would immediately reframe the idea of “the one” in his mind.

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