How I Met Your Mother cocreator Craig Thomas woke up yesterday with news that the hit CBS comedy has been nominated for its first Outstanding Comedy Emmy Award. Thomas talked to TV Guide Magazine about what it means for the show to be nominated and what he hopes Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris will do backstage to help their chances.

It's a great way to wake up, right?
It's pretty darn good. I'm not going to lie to you.

Were you guys awake?
I never am, because I've come naturally to expect it, to be honest, but I did happen to sort of wake up and start thinking about it a little bit. I was actually awake thinking about it, and the phone rang, and I was wondering if I was dreaming, but it's a pretty excellent way to wake up.

Who was the first person to call?
[Cocreator] Carter [Bays] actually called me cause I think our agent was afraid to call me as a married guy with a two-year-old. Carter’s a single guy, less chance of getting yelled at, but I would have been thrilled to hear from just about anybody with that news.

What were your initial reactions to hearing this?
Well, one of the first things was that I felt really proud that we're the only multi-cam show that got nominated for a comedy, and that felt great because we really believe in that format. All the shows that made us want to be TV writers, like Cheers and Seinfeld and Friends, were multi-cam shows. We really believe in that form, and it was sort of nice to be a representative of that format in a pack that was otherwise single cam and an animated show. I was so excited to get the nomination, and that just sort of made it all the sweeter to get to be the one representative of that format in the pack, cause that's for us, all the greatest sitcoms were that form.

Now, you're not back at work yet, are you?
We are. We're at week five already, back at work. We started up at end of June, so we're off to the races already. That's why it's so good that we got nominated today, because if we didn't get it, and we had to go in and work today? I think we all would have been really bummed out, and we all would have been pretending like we didn't care, but secretly, we all would be bummed out, and not at all funny, and not pitching any good jokes or ideas. Now, today, it will probably swing the other way where we'll drink champagne in the morning, and some sort of alcohol at lunch, and get absolutely nothing done in a whole other way.

Well as long as you guys can type drunk, you will be fine right?
[Laughs] Believe me, we've had a lot of experience with that.

What does it mean for a show like How I Met Your Mother to be nominated?
Well, I mean for us, we weren't really expecting it. We hadn't gotten it so far, and you kind of think it's not going to happen for you. Word of mouth has been so good for this show. I find that stories like that are coming up way more than they used to in the last year. So just on a visibility scale we've cracked through in the consciousness a little bit more. It’s really meaningful as a sign that the show is more visible, and that's great because you make the show to reach out to as many people as you can, and I think this is a sign that that’s happening, and hopefully it will help it happen more.

Any thoughts on Neil Patrick Harris hosting the Emmys?
We're thrilled. I mean if he can somehow sneak in near the back room and switch stuff around, I think we have a really good shot at our names being read. We can figure out what air duct at the back of Shrine auditorium Neil needs to shimmy through Die Hard-style in order to switch up the name from 30 Rock to How I Met Your Mother, and we'll be set. No, we get to go to a great party. We get to put on tuxedos. We get to watch our dear friend Neil on this big national stage being the face of the Emmys for CBS. For us, it's just going to be such an awesome night. My only concern for Neil is that somehow even though he’s not nominated, Jeremy Piven is still somehow gonna win. I don't know how that's gonna happen, but it still feels like maybe a 50/50 that that will happen. I think that no matter what happens, it's going to be Neil's night, so we'll be getting some good seats to watch Neil host the Emmys and to get to hear our names read as part of the nominee list. It’s going to be a pretty great night in September.