How ‘HIMYM’ Created a ‘Big Car Wreck’ for ‘Cobra Kai’ Star

(This story initially printed on April 1, 2019, and has been republished for the Aug. 28, 2020 transition of “Cobra Kai” Seasons 1 and a couple of to Netflix. The collection initially streamed on YouTube’s paid platform.)

William Zabka is the (billed) star of YouTube collection “Cobra Kai” and the identical man who performed Johnny Lawrence again in “The Karate Kid” days. But when did you develop into so grown-up and formal, bro? What occurred to “Billy”?

We needed to know — seems this author (and possibly a lot of America) had the order all flawed. Kind of.

“When I did ‘Karate Kid,’ I was ‘Billy Zabka.’ I’ve been ‘Billy’ my whole life. And then we had to do my name for the credit, and I thought, ‘Well, am I always gonna be a Billy? No, one day I’ll probably grow into a William,’” he informed me, a “Tony” who thought of rising into an “Anthony,” professionally. “‘William sounds more mature, and it’s my birth name, so we went with ‘William Zabka.’ So it’s always been William Zabka first and most people would address me that way.”

So what the hell are we considering of?

“When ‘How I Met Your Mother’ came along, which was a super-popular show, Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) called me ‘Billy Zabka.’ On that show I was referred to as ‘Billy Zabka, Billy Zabka, Billy Zabka,’ and then people got more comfortable calling me ‘Billy’ and now ‘Billy’ is out there and you see ‘William’ and people think I’m trying to throw ‘William’ in front of ‘Billy,’” he continued. “It’s a big car wreck, dude.”

“I probably should have just stayed with ‘Billy’ the whole time, it would have been very easy,” Billy/William Zabka mentioned. “But one thing I do like about the difference is that if I’m somewhere in public and somebody calls out to ‘William’ and I’m like with my family, I know that they most likely don’t know me personally.”

“This is a great thing to put in print,” he joked, “but ‘Billy’ will get my head turned.”

Well, we (web) printed it. Have at Billy Zabka, common public.

“Cobra Kai” Seasons 1 and a couple of can at present be seen on Netflix. Season three will debut in 2021.