[4] He left the University of Bristol after taking Hispanic Studies for a year and a half, and subsequently spent some time working as a chef.

[5] He then decided to pursue a career in comedy, and lived with fellow comedians Russell Howard, Mark Olver and John Robins for a year in Bristol.

He also completed a 60-date British and Irish tour with Alan Carr, and made an appearance on Paramount's The Comedy Store.

[8] Richardson won the 2008 Chortle Award for Best Breakthrough Act,[9] and performed Dogmatic (his second solo show) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

He appeared as a team captain in Simon Mayo's 2008 series Act Your Age on BBC Radio 4.

In early 2009, Richardson's show This Guy at Night was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards main prize.

Richardson has performed at comedy festivals in Leeds, Guildford, and Bristol, and has headlined university gigs for Off the Kerb and Avalon.

[5] Starting with the 11th series of Channel 4's panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats, Richardson took over from Jason Manford as a team captain.

The DVD also features Richardson's set from Live at the Apollo and audio commentary with his then-housemate, comedian Matt Forde.

Appearing on Radio 5's Fighting Talk on 11 January 2014, Richardson said his worst ever gig was a couple of months previously at Doncaster Dome.

[27] Richardson lived in Swindon for seven years,[28] then in Surbiton, London, with fellow comedians Matt Forde and Danny Buckler.

In July 2019 Richardson mentioned on Saturday Kitchen that he had moved across to Calder Valley, West Yorkshire, from Lancashire.

[34][35] Richardson has explored whether he has OCD, concluding that he instead has obsessive-compulsive personality disorder;[36] this was the subject of his Edinburgh Festival Fringe show Spatula Pad.

[37][38] In 2018, Richardson told Radio Times that he had been to counselling for six months, calling it "an immensely positive step".