- Marshall comes up with a number of different outrageous and embarrassing stories to explain how he was mugged in Central Park, but which of his stories is the truth?
- Marshall no longer has his wallet because he was mugged while walking through Central Park. He changes his story slightly because Lily, now afraid of life in the city, wants to get a gun to protect herself. Robin feels that Marshall's new story is newsworthy and wants to interview him on the morning show. He is reluctant to do so if only because telling the story to the public would make him a laughing stock... or does he have another reason for not wanting to go public? Ted is somewhat perturbed because he feels he being responsible for building the Empire State Building for the largest scale model version of the New York skyline is more newsworthy and doesn't understand why Robin won't ask him to appear on her show. Based on circumstances, Ted thinks he has a plan to get on the show, but the outcome, straight out of a Hollywood movie, may not be what he was envisioning (at least not the Hollywood movie he had in mind). And Barney wants to use Marshall's story to pick up women for sympathy sex.—Huggo
- Ted has been selected to create a scale model of the Empire State Building, for the largest recreation of the New York skyline in the world. When the gang discovers Marshall doesn't have any money to pay for the pizza they had ordered (he claims he hates pizza, even though he has been caught having pizza in the shower, he and Ted have driven hundreds of miles to have pizza, and the pizza place has Marshall's photo on their coupons), he is forced to reveal that he was mugged by a man (Jon Dore) with a gun in Central Park. Lily is worried, and aided by Robin's gun-loving nature, expresses her interest to buy a gun for protecting herself. Marshall is frightened by this prospect (as he is constantly injuring Lily at home and is afraid to bring a gun into that equation), and then reveals he wasn't mugged; instead, he had visited the Central Park Zoo, and while standing close to a monkey cage, a monkey had swiped his wallet. The rest of the gang agrees the story is hilarious (with Barney joking the monkey had held Marshall at "gunpoint" with a banana), and Robin asks to interview him for her show. Although Marshall fears embarrassment, he agrees to help boost her show's ratings. Robin gets the go ahead from her producers, who liked the story so much, they believe his story could gain nationwide attention. Marshall then privately explains to Barney and Ted that the monkey story is false, and that he really was mugged; he had made up the monkey to calm down Lily and stop her from buying a gun. Ted is unable to determine if Marshall is lying or not, while Marshall is unsure if he can lie about his monkey story on the news show.
Meanwhile, Barney is using the story of being mugged to pick up women. He is interrupted by a woman he had earlier convinced he was Neil Armstrong. He tells an even greater lie in an attempt to get out of it (he was on the way to the shuttle mission and he got mugged. The mugger took the space shuttle keys) and suggested a threesome. Barney says the threesome was awesome but Marshall and Ted do not believe him, noticing he has been splashed with vodka tonic and even has lime in his hair. Barney continues to believe his own version of events. Barney tells how disappointed he was when he found out the woman he lied to (about being Neil Armstrong) admitted she was not actually 28 but 31 years old, and that people want to believe the lie. Barney explains to Marshall a lie is "just a great story that someone ruined with the truth".
The next morning, Ted brings along a scale model of the Empire State Building he had been working on; Ted had asked Robin to interview him about it, but she refused, but Ted brings it in case Marshall is unable to talk about the monkey mugging. Marshall is rattled when Robin reveals they have brought the monkey from the zoo as well, and the monkey will be separated from its mate Milly for committing the crime (the monkey will be sent to a wildlife sanctuary as punishment). Marshall finally refuses to talk about it, causing Robin to cut to a commercial and question him as to why. Bombarded with everyone asking him what really happened, Marshall then says "I'm going to bed," before leaving, with the Future Ted saying they never did find out what really happened. Lily never got a gun, Robin's integrity was not impeached and the monkey and Milly lived out their lives at the Central Park Zoo.
Ted tells Barney he would be better off if he stopped telling lies but Barney replies Ted will someday tell this story and lie to give it a better ending. Robin is forced to interview Ted about his model, but as they are about to start, the monkey breaks free and snags a small doll nearby. It then proceeds to climb to the top of Ted's model, with the cameraman throwing paper airplanes at the monkey to get it off. Ted is left in disbelief that the ending from King Kong is being recreated before him, while Future Ted simply states "True story".
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