Here's Jon Bernthal's appearance on How I Met Your Mother explained. How I Met Your Mother debuted in 2005, and featured a unique premise where lead character Ted recounts to his children how he met and fell in love with their mother. How I Met Your Mother became a success very quickly, and thus had to stretch this central premise to the max. Thankfully, a comic ensemble that consisted of performers like Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan made it compulsively watchable.
Of course, How I Met Your Mother's finale proved controversial for dropping years worth of character development in favor of having Ted rekindle an audience favorite romance. Regardless of the lingering dislike over how the sitcom wrapped itself up after nine seasons, How I Met Your Mother was still one of the most popular sitcoms of its era. In 2014, CBS attempted to spin off the show with How I Met You Dad starring Greta Gerwig, but despite the hype surrounding the project, it didn't make it past the pilot stage.
The concept was revived with Hulu's How I Met Your Father, starring Hilary Duff; the show was renewed for a second season in early 2022. The sitcom gave many of its cast like Segel and Cobie Smulders (The Avengers) major career boosts, but it's likely people forget that Jon Bernthal - who isn't a method acting fan - appeared in How I Met Your Mother early on in his career. In fact, he appeared in the show's second episode "Pink Giraffe," where Ted is trying to get Robin to come to a party at his apartment; when she's unable to make it, he keeps throwing parties until she can. Jon Bernthal plays Carlos on How I Met Your Mother, the boyfriend and co-worker of a woman - played by Beth Riesgraf - that Barney (Harris) seduces during the first party who he tries to avoid on subsequent nights.
Bernthal had previously appeared on shows like Without A Trace and Boston Legal before How I Met Your Mother's "Pink Giraffe." The sitcom doesn't give him much of a showcase, even though he gets to talk to Robin - who cameoed in How I Met Your Father - a little before Ted works up the nerve to approach her. Carlos is last seen at a bar making out with Barney's aforementioned one-night stand - which of course makes Barney jealous.
It would take a few more years following Jon Bernthal's How I Met Your Mother appearance before he made his breakthrough as Shane on The Walking Dead. Since then, he's scored more roles like Frank Castle/The Punisher and 2022's acclaimed miniseries We Own This City. How I Met Your Mother's Carlos wasn't a great showcase for the actor, though it does show just how far he's come.