Richard Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, novelist, and comedian.

His mother attended teacher training college and found making money to support her family a struggle.

[4] His older brother is the musician Mat Osman, bass guitarist with the rock band Suede.

[6] While still at school, he gained his first broadcasting experience, as a regular contributor to Turn It Up, an open-access music show which went out on Sunday evenings on BBC Radio Sussex.

[citation needed] From 1989 to 1992, he studied Politics and Sociology at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a contemporary of Pointless co-presenter Alexander Armstrong, who read English.

He was the creative director at TV company Endemol UK, pitching the idea for Pointless to the BBC, becoming its co-presenter with his former university friend Alexander Armstrong, when it launched in 2009.

Osman acted as script editor for BBC One's Total Wipeout, and in 1999 created and wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Boyz Unlimited with David Walliams and Matt Lucas.

[13] From 2009 until 2022, Osman co-presented the BBC One teatime quiz show Pointless with host Alexander Armstrong.

Beginning in 2016, he was a team captain on the BBC Two comedy panel show Insert Name Here, hosted by Sue Perkins.

After his The Thursday Murder Club series received critical acclaim, he wished to spend more time as an author.

In a statement, he said, "Pointless has been a joy from start to finish, working alongside my friend Alexander Armstrong, backed by the most wonderful team, and for the best viewers in the world.

His co-host Armstrong said, "Daytime television's loss is international best-selling crime fiction's gain.

[35] On 9 June 2022, Osman was the subject of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he discovered that a distant relative had been involved in a celebrated Victorian murder case.

[2][41] On 3 December 2022 he married British actress Ingrid Oliver, whom he met when she was a contestant on Richard Osman's House Of Games.

[45][46] Osman is notable for his stature, standing at 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall, which he has noted as one of several reasons he did not succeed in becoming a spy for MI6.