He is also a lyricist, writer, columnist and impresario; he has been co-owner and general manager of Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau in Paris since 2011.

In 1987, encouraged by his aunt, he contacted the radio presenter and journalist Jacques Mailhot, then host of Ear in the Area broadcast on France Inter, who was captivated by his texts.

Thanks to Mailhot, Laurent Ruquier had his first experience of television on the show "Paris Kiosk" that Jacques Mailhot presented for three months on FR3 Île-de-France, and he was offered the opportunity to perform in Paris in a scene of the show "Vault of the Republic", a golden opportunity for the humourist to make himself known beyond the limits of his native region.

Soon after, in 1988, and for two years he wrote irreverent stories for Jean Amadou and Maryse, as part of their daily morning show on Europe 1.

In 1989, he proposed his candidacy to Jacques Martin who had put forward an idea for a program in the style of the "Newshound", a satirical news show that ran from 1975 to 1976 on TF1.

This ran successfully on France Inter and featured young comedians such as Pascal Brunner, Anne Roumanoff, Chraz, Sophie Forte, Virginie Lemoine, Jean-Jacques Vanier, Patrick Font, Didier Porte, Laurence Boccolini, Christophe Alévêque, Frédéric Lebon, Patrick Adler and Laurent Gerra.

He commented on the news with a group of commentators including, Gérard Miller, Isabel Alonso, Pierre Bénichou, Claude Sarraute, Fabrice Eboué, Christophe Alévêque, Steevy Boulay, Jérémy Michalak, Jean-Luc Lemoine, François Renucci, Olivier de Kersauson, Christine Bravo, Patrice Leconte, Jean-Marie Bigard, Titoff, Motrot Isabelle, Monique Pantel for the cinema section, Serge Llado for the "Eternal Music" section, as well as Paul Wermus for the enquiry section.

The following also made appearances: Arno Klarsfeld, Valérie Payet, Bernard Rapp, Jacques Martin, Jean Yanne, Philippe Bouvard himself between his dismissal and reinstatement at RTL, Pierre Palmade among others.

On 4 May 2007, Jean-Marc Morandini announced on his blog that Laurent Ruquier would stop his daily broadcast on Europe 1 at the end of the 2006–2007 season 2006.

According to the blog of Jean-Marc Morandini,[8] Laurent Ruquier was going to join RTL at the beginning of September 2007 to host a weekly show every weekend.

In addition to this daily program, he joined the station's morning show, replacing Guy Carlier, to broadcast a humour section at 7:55 am and calling himself the "Clipboard".

In September 2014, Laurent Ruquier replaced Philippe Bouvard on RTL's radio program Les Grosses Têtes.

In 1998, he attempted a return to television with the show Tout le monde en parle, produced and co-hosted with Thierry Ardisson.

In September 2000, Thierry Ardisson and Catherine Barma proposed that he host On a tout essayé on France 2 in the late evening every second Tuesday.

As a result of the programme's success, in September 2001 France 2 offered him a daily spot between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. With him, there were his commentator friends from Europe 1, especially: Philippe Geluck, Peri Cochin, Isabelle Alonso, Caroline Diament, Christophe Alévêque, Elsa Fayer, Annie Lemoine, Steevy Boulay, Pierre Bénichou, and Florence Foresti among others.

New writers made their appearance: Jérémy Michalak, Mustapha El Atrassi, Virginia Clausade, Roger Zabel and Mamane.

By February 2010, Laurent Ruquier was presenting a monthly television adaptation of his show on Europe 1, Get in the Way (On va s'gêner), broadcast on France 4.

Every sketch is written by the candidate (with or without authors) based on a chosen topic a few days before the recording of the program, among a list of subjects.

Now there are: Jean Benguigui, Isabelle Mergault, Catherine Barma, Patrice Leconte, Michèle Bernier, Eric Metayer, Jean-Luc Moreau, Philippe Gildas, and Virginie Lemoine.

Laurent Ruquier commented live on France 3 on the Eurovision Song Contest with Isabelle Mergault in 2003, then again with Elsa Fayer in 2004.

On 26 September 2009, he presented Vos chanteurs préférés in the early evening on France 2 with Michael Gregorio who imitated the singers' favorite personalities, sometimes in duets with them.

On 29 December 2009, he presented On a tout révisé in prime time on France 2 with all the "band" that accompanied all these different programs for many years.

His radio show Get in the Way celebrated its tenth anniversary on 21 October 2009 during a special evening and three hours free at the Olympia and aired Wednesday 25 November and 2 December on France 4.

During this program, in addition to regular commentators, Laurent Ruquier decided to integrate his new comedians from the show On n'demande qu'à en rire, who make "song gags" or who had passed the "office assistant" test.

In June 2011, a survey by PureMédias, with more than 120,000 voters, voted Laurent Ruquier second class in the "presenter of the year" category behind Nagui who remained first by a large margin.

His programs On n'est pas couché and On n'demande qu'à en rire also took the second and third place in the category "Entertainment of the Year".

According to Fabrice Luchini, then promoting his film "In the house" in October 2012, Ruquier invested 5 million euros in the acquisition of his theatre.