[3] After an initial run on YouTube, Walker co-created the website That Guy with the Glasses (later merged into Channel Awesome) in 2008, where he and the series gained wider popularity.

Walker attended and graduated from Northern Illinois University, majoring in mass communication and minoring in visual art, also serving as an editor and cartoonist for the school newspaper.

Walker has stated that the Nostalgia Critic character is primarily inspired by Daffy Duck and the Queen of Hearts, as well as by comedians Lewis Black, Stephen Colbert, and Bill Murray.

Walker now works as a full-time content creator and staff member of Channel Awesome in Chicago, under the leadership of CEO Mike Michaud.

[10][12][13] In August 2023, Doug Walker contracted shingles on his head, which he explained hurt so badly that he couldn't put on his signature hat or glasses, which got in the way of his progress in releasing videos.