Carter Bays co-created the television series How I Met Your Mother, serving as co-showrunner for the entirety of its 9-year, 208-episode run. Before that, he was a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman, and a producer for the animated series American Dad! His first novel, The Mutual Friend, was published by Dutton in 2022. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and holds a BA from Wesleyan University.