Ted's Apartment: Barney tells Ted it was the best three-way ever. But Ted and Marshall point out that Barney looks like he just got two drinks thrown at him. Barney pouts and whines. "The story's better with my ending -- just -- okay." He continues with the story until Robin walks in. If you're feeling kindly, you can assume he stopped for her sake. If you're me, you'll figure he only stopped because she mercifully interrupted him. At any rate, she pitched the monkey mugging story to her producer, and it's a go. It might even get picked up to go national, which could make Robin famous. She giggles and retires to her bedroom.

Once the guys are alone, Marshall says, "This is bad. I can't do this. [...] I wasn't mugged by a monkey." Commercial.

MacLaren's: The guys continue their conversation about not being mugged by a monkey. Barney doesn't like the new-old monkey-free version of the story and keeps trying to reinsert the monkey into it, but Marshall explains that he made up the story so that Lily wouldn't get a gun. "The truth is, it never happened." And while he's fine lying to his best friends (insert Barney claiming sole ownership of the label), Marshall can't lie on TV. Barney asks Ted to determine if Marshall is telling the truth or not. He leans right into Marshall's face and stares, but all he notices is his cologne. Barney's decided to continue saying it happened. Ted points out that Marshall can't risk Robin's credibility and allow her to report on it if it's not true. Barney argues that reporters lie all the time. "A lie is just a great story that someone ruined with the truth." We flash back to Barney at the bar with the two women. He admits that the three-way story didn't go exactly the way he said it did.