While Richard Heene isn't winning any father of the year awards for his Ballon Boy stunt, he did at least inspire Chris Elliott in his role as Lily's estranged father on tonight's episode of How I Met Your Mother, "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap."

Elliott told TV Guide that, "When I was shooting it, the whole Bubble Boy thing was going on, so I was imagining that father. I think if that's what he was into, he would've sent her off in a balloon!  That's the kind of dad he was when she was growing up — a guy obsessed with invention."

What invention?  Lily's father, Mickey, is obsessed with creating the next cool board game and his ideas include "Car Battery" and "Diseases!"  The last thing Lily would want to see on Thanksgiving would be her father or one of his board games.

However, since Thanksgiving is about forgiveness and such, Marshall invites over her dad and, "She slams the door in my face, but I weasel my way in.  He does love Lily. He still brings the game over, but he realizes his mistakes. He realizes that it's time to make up for lost time."

We hope he succeeds because we'd love to see more Chris Elliott in the future.

Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.