"That's Not How it Happened" | Instagram Live 1/11/26

About this episode

Craig Thomas discusses his novel and experiences related to disability in this Instagram Live episode.

This special How We Made Your Mother Instagram Live episode features producer Alek Lev in conversation with Craig Thomas, co-creator of How I Met Your Mother, centered on Craig’s novel That’s Not How It Happened. Over an intimate, wide-ranging 54-minute discussion, Craig unpacks the personal origins of the book—drawing from his experience parenting a son with a disability—while exploring language, representation, and the loneliness parents often feel navigating disability without a shared vocabulary or community. The conversation traces how those lived experiences intersected with his time on HIMYM, why he ultimately chose not to mirror his real life directly through Marshall and Lily, and how years of frustration trying to tell disability-centered stories in Hollywood led him to write a novel instead. Craig dives into the book’s multi-perspective, non-linear structure (very much in the HIMYM storytelling DNA), his commitment to avoiding both “inspiration porn” and tragedy narratives, and his goal of making a story about disability that is genuinely funny, human, and messy. Along the way, audience questions spark candid reflections on friendship, guilt, advocacy, inclusion…

People in this episode

Guests: Alek Lev, Craig Thomas

Topics covered

• disability representation
• parenting
• storytelling
• friendship
• advocacy
• inclusion

Keywords

• disability
• parenting
• novel
• representation
• storytelling
• HIMYM
• advocacy
• inclusion

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: That's Not How It Happened, How I Met Your Mother

Places: Hollywood

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