In 1998 he performed in his own sell-out one-man show at the Edinburgh Festival, which proved so popular that he took the show on a nationwide tour and turned it into Richard Whiteley: Unbriefed as a one-off TV special. In this chat show with a difference Richard had to guess the identity of his guests without research notes or autocue.

Richard's cameo appearances on television and radio have included Bob Martin, Fat Friends, Her Off The Telly, Emmerdale and My Family, and he has guested on, among others, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Johnny Vaughan Tonight and Top Gear, and guest co-presented Richard and Judy. He presented chat shows, telethons, political discussions and outside broadcasts and wrote his autobiography, Himoff: The Memoirs of a TV Matinee Idle.

Richard lived in the Yorkshire Dales and, as well as being an active governor of his own school, Giggleswick, was made a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. He also held the honorary position of Mayor of Wetwang in East Yorkshire and was awarded an OBE in 2004.