David Walliams’s success in publishing is rooted in his background in comedy, storytelling, and entertainment. The author was born in 1971 in Banstead, England, as David Williams; after growing up there, he earned a degree in drama from the University of Bristol and gained experience with the UK’s National Youth Theatre. To avoid being the second person named David Williams in an actor’s union, he changed the spelling of his surname from Williams to Walliams. After performing in sketch comedy TV shows in the 1990s, Walliams gained fame with his role in Little Britain, a television comedy in which he and collaborator Matt Lucas appeared together. After Little Britain, Walliams took on a variety of roles in TV, movies, and theater.

As Walliams accumulated experience in the entertainment industry, he began writing children’s books. The Boy in the Dress, a 2008 comedy about being different, became a bestseller and received favorable reviews; after its success, Walliams began writing for children consistently. As of 2024, Walliams’s fiction includes 22 children’s novels, seven children’s short story collections, and 12 picture books. Demon Dentist was his sixth novel, first published in 2013. Walliams’s fame increased when he joined the judging panel for the popular Britain’s Got Talent; he continued to write throughout his tenure on that show.