He won one of the awards from the program and went on to perform stand up semi regularly through college, appearing occasionally on TV and being featured in a documentary focused on how terrible the quality of comedy had become in New Zealand.
It was through this that Richard was able to take his comic production to the next level, using his minor fame to get sponsorship and sell advertising in his books, allowing him to go suddenly from print runs of a few hundred to a few thousand.
Over the next 16 years Richard had booths at over 200 shows in New Zealand and Australia, as well as being a guest at San Diego Comic-Con and the London Film and Comic Con in 2010 and 2012 respectively.
In 2010 Richard was flown to San Diego Comic-Con to launch Blastosaurus under the American Original imprint of Top Cow Comics, but the book was misprinted by the publisher.
Blastosaurus has been picked up by Golden Apple Books, restarting the series from scratch with his new collaborator Paul Eiding (known for his acting work in video games and television).