Josh Richards Has More To Say

At a photo studio near Downtown Los Angeles in mid-January, I sit down with Josh Richards to chat about his next chapter, three months after ending Barstool’s BFFs podcast with Brianna LaPaglia. Right away, the 23-year-old notices my phone case featuring Steve Harrington (played by Joe Keery) and says, “He's my favorite character in the entire world.” I ask him what he thought of the polarizing series finale, but the content creator tells me, “I haven't watched it yet.” His partner, content creator Gabi Moura, has been out of town, and the two have waited almost two weeks after it dropped on Netflix so they could watch it together.

With all the anticipation surrounding the series, I’m shocked Richards was able to hold off so long. “I'm a good boyfriend,” he says. It also probably helps that he’s so busy. Not only is Richards a full-time content creator, but he’s also the CEO of his own production company, CrossCheck Studios, a now-former podcast host, and an aspiring actor. He’s doing it all, and that drive to explore it all started when he was a child.

Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Richards was an outgoing kid who wanted to do everything. “I played a lot of sports, and was so high energy that sometimes my parents were like, ‘Just go outside and play,’” he says. “That's why I ended up doing social media, because it changes every day.”

At the same time, Richards also knew he was destined for fame. “It almost sounds narcissistic to say, but growing up in a Catholic household, I'd always pray before bed and say, ‘I know the name Josh Richards is meant for something more.’” While he didn’t know it would be social media that would catapult him into the spotlight, he knew he was going to be big. At 3, he even thought he’d be a superhero (but more on that later).

Richards’ family has always believed in him as well. “I couldn't have come from a better household. That's the reason why I'm able to do what I do today, because they were always my biggest supporters.” It was actually his younger sister, Olivia Richards, who got him to start posting on Musical.ly when he was about 13.

“She put me in my first-ever video on Musical.ly,” he says. The lip-syncing app later merged with TikTok in 2018, which is where Richards gained a following through his comedy skits, pranks, and dancing videos. One of his first viral TikToks was a transition tutorial that now has over 41 million views. When creator houses became popular places for big-time influencers to collaborate, Richards, alongside Bryce Hall, started a fraternity-like content collective called Sway House in January 2020.

All eight of us living in the house as if it were a frat house was such a fun time. I'll always look at that in a nostalgic way.

Despite starring in a movie with Nicolas Cage and attending Hollywood events like the Golden Globes, the biggest dream of his to come true remains moving to LA to form Sway House at age 17. “Getting off the plane, driving up to Bel Air, and walking and seeing this house that me and all my friends were now living in, and still being in high school was the biggest ‘pinch me’ moment of all time,” he says.

That era in his life was also very formative. “It was the equivalent of a college experience for me,” says Richards. “All eight of us living in the house as if it were a frat house was such a fun time. I'll always look at that in a nostalgic way.” Once COVID lockdowns hit, watching creator houses became like tuning into a reality show in real time. Sway House had fans glued to their phones, tuning in to see the ups and downs of Richards and his friends’ lives, from friendships to love-life drama. He may have had over 20 million followers at that point, but Richards says it was hard to comprehend just how famous he was getting.

“It took a while for it to hit because we were also inside,” he says. “Even though there might be tens of millions of people watching every single day, we're not seeing them in person. It was this weird, surreal feeling, but we tried to eat up every second of it that we could.”

Like Richards, many of the creators in content houses from that time have gone on to continue their careers in the entertainment industry. Charli D’Amelio was recently on Broadway in & Juliet, while Addison Rae and Alex Warren are both nominated in the Best New Artist category at the 2026 Grammy Awards. “I'm always happy when I see somebody from the world of social media be able to transition and get the respect they deserve in a different area,” says Richards. “A lot of times, people don't see the work. They just see the outcome and assume that's how quick everything happened.” He points to Warren as an example: “No one saw the four years prior to that where he was going to the studio every single night and doing vocal lessons to put in the work to make those songs that are now so successful.”

That's one of the things that I love so much about Gabi, she's a light in any room she walks into.

Richards feels people are quick to judge, but at the end of the day, he’s happy to see his fellow TikTokers making big waves. For him, the worlds of content creators and Hollywood are drawing closer. A few years ago, A-list celebs would laugh at the fact that influencers were invited to big events, but now, Richards thinks they’re getting the respect they deserve. “It almost felt like you were going to a high school event and you had the seniors on one side and the freshmen on the other, and the seniors were too cool for the freshmen,” he says. “But people are realizing we are all in the same world of media and we are all in entertainment.”

He’s bridging the gap even further with his online sketch show, Read the Room, where he wears multiple hats: star, writer, and executive producer. Each episode is filled with comedy skits, similar to Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave, featuring Richards and other content creators. “It’s been a blast getting to do that,” he says. “I love being in the writers room.”

The show is the first scripted comedy series from CrossCheck Studios. In 2022, the company signed a contract with Amazon’s Prime Video, where Richards produces custom social media content for the streamer, including the NFL’s Thursday Night Football. Richards also runs the venture capital fund Animal Capital and has earned an estimated $6 million, according to Forbes. The outlet honored Richards on the 30 Under 30 list as one of the Top Creators and Highest-Paid TikTok Stars in 2025.

Mark Wahlberg must have also seen Richards’ business prowess, because the actor’s company, Unrealistic Ideas, was the one to help launch CrossCheck Studios. After collaborating with the Oscar-nominated star, Richards says he’s learned what it’s like to work hard. “There are a lot of times when we hear people in Hollywood talk about their way of life, you almost don’t believe that's what they’re doing every day, but Mark really does,” he says. “I've never seen somebody have a level of grind to them that he does. It is incredible to see somebody who balances his work and personal life so well as such a massive star.” That kind of balance is something Richards would love to achieve himself.

Luckily, the influencer with nearly 33 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube can blend a bit of his personal life with his job whenever he creates content with his girlfriend. Moura and Richards started dating in 2023, and since then, the two have posted videos together. Richards says some of his favorite videos to make with Moura are improv skits.

“That's one of the things that I love so much about Gabi, she's a light in any room she walks into,” he says. “It's always just a blast when we film together.” Richards thinks Moura could have a blossoming acting career — a dream he shares himself. “Acting is a natural high. I get so much energy from it, and I feel so amazing,” he says. “I would love to continue my journey in it.”

He has his eyes on the role of Nightwing, a superhero from the DC Comics universe. Fans have begun dreamcasting the role, and one of the frontrunners, Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams, even started campaigning for himself. But Richards wants to throw his hat into the ring. “If someone at DC is for some reason reading this, I'll be Nightwing for you. Don't even worry about it.”

That role is something he’s manifesting this year (along with going to the gym more). While he hasn’t had a lot of time outside of Read the Room Season 2, he’s also been entertaining the idea of bringing the BFFs podcast back.

Ending the podcast he co-hosted with LaPaglia and Dave Portnoy after five years was bittersweet. ”It was such a long time doing BFFs that it was almost a love-hate kind of thing at the end,” he says. “I hate that I'm ending this, but at the same time, I love everything I did while I was on the show.” The one thing he’ll miss the most is going on trips and taking BFFs on the road with his fellow co-hosts. Richards, who’s previously said LaPaglia is like an older sister, has experienced a lot alongside her. Last year was especially difficult for the 26-year-old content creator, who was navigating the aftermath of a public breakup with Zach Bryan. Richards, along with BFFs listeners, were there for the whole saga.

“One of the things everyone can take away from Bri is the ability to stand up and be a voice for yourself,” he says. “She did that in such a big way last year. When she has an opinion or a belief that she feels strongly about, she is not scared to speak on it. That's incredibly brave and strong.”

Bri and I are from the same generation, so you don't have that ‘What the f*ck is this?’ that Dave was bringing to the table.

After Portnoy left BFFs in 2024 and it became just LaPaglia and Richards, he says the vibes changed. “The co-viewing opportunity of adult dads and moms with their kids watching the show was what people started to miss once Dave left. Bri and I are from the same generation, so you don't have that ‘What the f*ck is this?’ that Dave was bringing to the table.” That’s when Richards started to feel like maybe it was time to move on. There’s no beef between the former co-hosts, though. In fact, Richards would “100%” work with both LaPaglia and Portnoy on another project again. “We'll always be in ties with Barstool in some way.”

He credits the Barstool founder with showing him the value of self-starting. “One of the things I picked up from Dave is he'll just go and do it himself if people aren't moving quickly enough,” he says. “The company is really based on just a bunch of people going and starting their own shows. They're not waiting around for other people to write it up for them.” As for his future in podcasting, Richards wants to continue hosting, but the BFFs you know and love is officially over.

It would be a 2.0 kind of idea, but it's not going to be about pop culture gossip.

“I’d like to start another podcast or a weekly video series that lives on YouTube,” he says. “It would be a 2.0 kind of idea, but it's not going to be about pop culture gossip. If we bring something back, it's going to look a little bit different, and I don't know what that is yet, but the audience will be the first to know.”

Richards has confidence in his new chapter, another thing he picked up from Portnoy. “I learned from Dave that when you believe in yourself — or have a belief that something's going to work — just go for it. If no one else is going to do it, do it for yourself. And it sometimes will work out really well,” he says.

Until Richards is ready to announce his next podcast, though, he’s got other business to attend to. First on the list: He’s headed home to meet up with Moura, who just got back from a shoot in North Carolina. That night, they plan to finally watch the Stranger Things finale. “I have been avoiding spoilers,” he says, ”I’m stoked.”