Wait For It... — Animated 'Wait For It' reaction GIF (contents could not be verified)

Wait For It...

2005catchphraseclassic

Published October 4, 2026

"Wait For It..." is a suspense-building catchphrase popularized by Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother that migrated online as a video title and caption format. From a 2011 YouTube clip of a defensive-stance cat set to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to a 2014 Jimmy Kimmel soccer graphic GIF, the phrase became shorthand for teasing a payoff in slow-burn clips.

catchphrase memes tv show memes bait and switch memes late 2000s memes movie quote memes

Overview

"Wait For It..." is used to flag an incoming payoff before the setup even finishes, usually inserted mid-sentence or stamped onto a video title to promise viewers that the dull first ten seconds are worth sitting through1. Online, the convention is simple: tease a boring buildup, then deliver a sudden reveal that is funny, absurd, or physically improbable, often in a short clip under a minute long3.

The written version typically shows up in YouTube titles and image captions where the ellipsis stands in for the pause itself, drawing out the "it" the way the show's character does. In speech, people stretch the phrase ("waaait for ittt...") and sometimes split a word around it, mimicking Barney Stinson's "legen, wait for it, dary" cadence from the sitcom14.

Origin & Background

Platform
Television (How I Met Your Mother) / YouTube (viral spread)
Key People
Barney Stinson
Date
2005

The dramatic interjection shows up in late-1990s and early-2000s screenplays, including Notting Hill6, but its modern catchphrase form is tied to Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris on CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which premiered in 20053. Across the show's nine seasons, Barney said "wait for it" roughly 40 times, inserting the pause into words like "denied," "legendary," and "brother" to stretch a punchline out1.

Vulture's complete rundown in 2014 traces the running gag back to the pilot and credits the show with lodging the phrase into everyday speech1. Urban Dictionary users began defining it in a similar vein, with one 2008 entry explicitly crediting How I Met Your Mother for popularizing the construction4.

How It Spread

The phrase crossed over from a sitcom tag to a video-labeling convention through YouTube. On June 11th, 2008, an Urban Dictionary entry for "wait for it" credited How I Met Your Mother with popularizing the phrase4. In June 2011, YouTuber DoctorJay2012 uploaded "Thriller Cat...wait for it," a short clip of a cat walking in a stiff defensive stance scored to Michael Jackson's 1982 hit "Thriller," and the video pulled in more than 5.9 million views and 4,000 comments over the following three years2.

On March 31st, 2014, Vulture published a compendium of every "wait for it" Barney Stinson delivered across the show's run, timed to the series finale1. That same year, a Jimmy Kimmel comedy sketch mocking US soccer broadcast graphics was clipped into an animated GIF and reposted under the title "Wait for it..." to the r/funny subreddit, where it collected thousands of upvotes5. The pattern locked in: a flat setup, the title promise, and a short payoff.

As a title tag, "...wait for it" is still a reliable way to flag a slow-burn clip, and the Barney Stinson speech version is still quoted in references to the show31.

Timeline

2005

How I Met Your Mother premieres on CBS; Barney Stinson begins using "wait for it" as a running speech gag.

2008-06-11

Urban Dictionary user Dude of Life submits an entry for "wait for it," crediting How I Met Your Mother.

2011-06

YouTuber DoctorJay2012 uploads "Thriller Cat...wait for it," which goes on to pass 5.9 million views.

2014-03-31

Vulture publishes a complete list of all 40 times Barney Stinson says "wait for it" on the show, tied to the series finale.

2014-06-20

A Jimmy Kimmel US soccer graphics parody is posted as an animated GIF titled "Wait for it..." on r/funny.

Frequently Asked Questions