Liza Koshy Interview Highlights: Why She Stepped Back From YouTube

Liza Koshy was one of YouTube’s biggest comedy stars when she stepped back in 2018. Her explanation has been consistent since: she was tired of working alone, felt pressure to stay the same person on camera and wanted to find out who she was without the characters.

This post is for creators who feel stuck in a format their audience loves, creators thinking about TV or film, and marketers who want to understand an early YouTube crossover. It covers her start, her characters, why she left weekly YouTube, acting, brands and what she is doing as of October 2026.

Who is Liza Koshy?

Liza Koshy is an American comedian, actor and host, born Elizabeth Shaila Koshy in Houston in 1996, who went from Vine sketches to one of YouTube’s fastest-growing comedy channels and then to film and television.

She started posting on Vine in 2013 and had 7 million followers there when the app closed in 2017, according to Wikipedia. On YouTube she became known for quick sketches with recurring characters. Since 2018 she has mostly worked in TV and film.

How did Liza Koshy get started?

“I initially got on Vine because all my friends were on it and told me to join. It turned into me making funny videos in the car and things like that, and then I started making more videos because people really seemed to like my humor.”

— Liza Koshy, The Daily Cougar, November 2014

She gave that interview to the University of Houston’s student paper as a business marketing freshman, when her Vine account already had 2.3 million followers. Vine clips ran six seconds, which shaped her timing.

“It was quick-witted humor that carried over in a matter of seconds.”

— Liza Koshy, Women’s Health, March 2022

Women’s Health reported that the same style worked on YouTube, where viewers responded to fast editing and a joke every second. Cosmopolitan reported that she left college after three months and moved to Los Angeles at 19, and she opened her YouTube channel on July 8, 2015, according to an Instagram post Tubefilter reported.

A platform’s limits can teach you something. Six seconds forced her to reach the punchline fast, and the habit carried over to longer videos. Our Zach King interview shows another Vine creator who credits the six-second limit for his style.

Where did Liza Koshy’s characters come from?

“It was entirely innate to me to take the voices in my head and dress them up, give them a wig, give them an outfit. It’s something I’d been doing on my own for a long time before stepping onto a professional set.”

— Liza Koshy, Women’s Health, March 2022

Women’s Health described her as an introvert who has mastered pretending to be an extrovert; she called the act “overcompensating at its finest” and added, “It works for me. It created a career.” In 2019 she told Cosmopolitan about Jet Packinski, an “alpha male” character from her parody of Vogue’s 73 Questions:

“I was scared to be myself, so I created a character so I could portray that confidence.”

— Liza Koshy, Cosmopolitan, October 2019

A character can be a way in when you aren’t ready to be yourself on camera. The risk, as she later described, is feeling you can never step out of it.

In June 2020 she apologized for some of her past jokes and characters. Deadline reported that a 2016 video had resurfaced in which she pretended to have an Asian accent while tasting candy from Japan and Hawaii; Tubefilter reported that the video, first posted to her second channel, had since been deleted. In an apology posted to Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, she wrote that what she “once thought of as ‘innocent jokes’ were actually tainted with implicit bias”. Tubefilter linked the apology to characters she had created over the years, including Jet Packinski, Helga and Carlos, which it described as “heavily predicated on cultural stereotypes”.

“I created characters of different cultures with the intent of celebrating them, but with the impact of appropriating them.”

— Liza Koshy, in her June 2020 apology, as quoted by Tubefilter, June 2020

Tubefilter added that she had moved away from those impressions in recent years.

How did Liza Koshy grow so fast on YouTube?

She posted on a fixed schedule, uploading every single Wednesday, Cosmopolitan reported. The Hollywood Reporter called her the fastest YouTube personality to reach 10 million subscribers, a mark she hit in 2017, and she won the Streamy Award for breakout creator in 2016.

In November 2016, just before the election, she interviewed President Obama on her channel to encourage voter registration. Voting stayed part of her work: she co-hosted MTV’s Election Afterparty with Charlamagne Tha God in 2018 and became a co-chair of When We All Vote, the nonprofit founded by Michelle Obama, in 2019, Tubefilter reported.

A fixed schedule and familiar characters gave viewers a reason to return every week. The schedule also had a cost.

Why did Liza Koshy stop posting weekly YouTube videos?

“There was a point where I was like, I have to be this one person. I have to stay at the same pitch in my voice at all times … Otherwise, people are gonna think I fluctuate in my personality.”

— Liza Koshy, Cosmopolitan, October 2019

For most of her YouTube career she was her own crew, Cosmopolitan reported, writing, shooting, lighting, editing and posting each sketch by herself. She told the magazine she eventually fell out of love with that, “and slightly with myself, too, because I began to cater to what I thought people wanted to see from me.”

She stopped adding videos to her main channel in early 2018 and took a break from posting for much of that year. In January 2019 she explained why in a video on her second channel.

“I did lose my mind this year … I want to make happy videos. I don’t care about the quantity of videos that I post, I care about the quality. That’s why I stopped making them, because I wanted to ensure good content.”

— Liza Koshy, in her video “Why I Took A Break”, as quoted by Tubefilter, January 2019

She resumed posting in 2019, but only occasionally. Her energy went into Liza on Demand, the scripted sitcom she co-created, partly, she told Cosmopolitan, because making videos “was a very isolated experience to be alone in my home.” In 2024 she gave Rolling Stone a fuller account.

“There were so many really cool opportunities that I wanted to give 100 percent to instead of diverting my attention to doing the cinnamon challenge for the 18th time on YouTube, respectfully … But I was fully living in fear … I was having the identity crisis everybody has in their early twenties, and I knew I needed to go live life and not ‘Go Live’ about it.”

— Liza Koshy, Rolling Stone, July 2024

Marie Claire reported in August 2025 that she had stopped posting to YouTube four years earlier. Compare our Lilly Singh interview, on her 2018 break, and our Emma Chamberlain interview, on leaving weekly vlogs in 2022: all three changed their schedules while their channels were still large.

How did Liza Koshy move into hosting and acting?

“You can’t play a high school student forever, so at some point I’m going to have to tear down that wall and tear off that wig and be me.”

— Liza Koshy, to Forbes, as quoted by Tubefilter, November 2018

She was already acting: Tyler Perry cast her in Boo! A Madea Halloween in 2016. Liza on Demand premiered on YouTube Premium in June 2018, produced by Above Average, the digital studio formed by Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video. Its second season had the biggest debut of any YouTube Original to that point, 25 million views for the first episode in seven days, Variety reported, citing YouTube.

Hosting ran alongside. She hosted Nickelodeon’s Double Dare revival from 2018 to 2019, earning a Daytime Emmy nomination as an executive producer, was Vogue’s Met Gala red carpet host in 2018 and 2019, and co-hosted Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest in 2021 and 2022, Deadline reported.

What she found on set was the opposite of making videos alone.

“Online, I was already being a writer, a producer, an editor, the DP, the director of my own characters and storylines … And I didn’t realize until I stepped foot onto a set [that] it felt so good to [make things] with others and collaborate and relinquish control. I don’t have to edit. They got it and I’ll see it two years from now.”

— Liza Koshy, Rolling Stone, July 2024

Her films since include Work It (2020), A Family Affair (2024) and The Naked Gun (2025), in which she plays Detective Barnes. Her route is a useful map if you want the same move: hosting and supporting roles first, with a lead role as the goal.

What does Liza Koshy say about comedy now?

“That’s the secret sauce of Naked Gun and all of these OG Leslie Nielsen evergreen comedies. You never acknowledge what’s actually funny. The audience does. The audience gets to be the observer.”

— Liza Koshy, Nerdtropolis, August 2025

On The Naked Gun, she said, the cast played everything like a drama and never acknowledged the jokes. If you are used to being the whole show, the lesson is to trust the material and let the audience find the joke.

What mistakes does Liza Koshy say she made early on?

“I can’t depend on somebody else’s perception to be my definition of myself … And at one point, I allowed that perception to be my definition, and that perception was ‘just an influencer.’”

— Liza Koshy, on the Nice Talk podcast, as quoted by Marie Claire, August 2025

Her answers return to one mistake: letting other people’s expectations decide who she was, first as a YouTuber who had to sound the same in every video and later as an actor who doubted she belonged. She told Marie Claire she had imposter syndrome early in her acting career, partly because some actors told her she had been cast for marketing reasons. If your audience accepts only one version of you, changing will cost you some of them. She chose to change anyway.

What advice does Liza Koshy give new creators?

“Don’t let those moments of failures define you … Just keep going and believe that you have so much to say and you’re going to keep saying it no matter what your mind says about your mouth.”

— Liza Koshy, on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, as quoted by Jay Shetty’s blog, November 2019

“I think auditioning, hearing ‘no, no, no, no, no, no’ and just hearing instead, ‘go, go, go, go, keep going, girl’ … and you just keep going … You do the jobs that excite you, and then you meet people that are excited by you. And then you continue to foster a creative community that taps into each other.”

— Liza Koshy, on the Nice Talk podcast, as quoted by Marie Claire, August 2025

She has also said quitting something that works can be the right call. Talking about her YouTube break, she told Rolling Stone she hoped viewers would understand “that they can be honest with themselves too, and move on from something that was so lovely, wonderful and so fulfilling, but is no longer for them.”

In practice: treat a no as information and stay close to the people who are excited by your work.

What does Liza Koshy say about working with brands?

“Westbrook’s values align with my own goals as a creative — bringing impactful, unique storytelling to a global audience.”

— Liza Koshy, in a statement to Deadline, as quoted by Tubefilter, December 2020

She said it when she signed an overall deal with Westbrook, the media company founded by Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, whose digital division would support her brand campaigns, Tubefilter reported. In 2017 an Apple representative told The Wall Street Journal that her Beats digital ads got four times as many clicks as similar spots with other celebrities, Tubefilter reported. Forbes reported in 2018, according to Tubefilter, that she earned seven figures in 2017, largely from YouTube ad revenue, and sold her own merchandise.

She became a spokesperson for the beauty brand C’est Moi in 2019 and launched her own makeup and skin care collection, One Of One, within it in 2020; Tubefilter described the move as going from brand ambassador to product creator. In January 2021 she released a limited-edition activewear line with Fabletics, and she has promoted Beyond Meat, according to Wikipedia.

For marketers, the Beats numbers show what an engaged audience is worth; check it before you sign, with our guide to vetting a YouTube creator. For creators, disclose every paid post, as our guide to disclosing affiliate links and sponsorships explains.

What is Liza Koshy working on now?

As of October 2026, she works mainly as an actor, and she told Rolling Stone in 2024 that she is ready for a lead role. She moved to New York early in 2025, Parade reported.

Her next scheduled feature release is The Man with the Bag, an Amazon MGM holiday comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, set for Prime Video on December 2, 2026, according to Deadline in May 2026 and Variety in August 2026. Family Movie, a horror comedy directed by Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick in which she also appears, premiered at SXSW in March 2026 and is due in North American theaters on April 23, 2027, Deadline reported in August 2026. In August 2026 Variety reported that she stars with Dean Winters in Old Soul, a short film directed by Andrew Rea of Binging With Babish, headed to festivals before an eventual YouTube release.

In August 2025 she told Marie Claire she now felt “a neutral feeling in my gut when I say ‘I’m an actor.’ And I feel so proud to be able to own that now fully.” When she turned 30 in March 2026, she wrote on Instagram that “today is the first day of the rest of my life”, Parade reported.

What creators can learn from Liza Koshy

Sources

• Meet @lizzza: Average teenager and online sensation, The Daily Cougar, November 2014
• MTV’s ‘TRL’ Enlists Social Media Star Liza Koshy as Host (Exclusive), The Hollywood Reporter, August 2017
• Apple Says Liza Koshy’s Digital Beats Ads Get Four Times As Many Clicks As Ads Featuring Other Celebs, Tubefilter, December 2017
• Liza Koshy Fetes Three-Year YouTube Anniversary At 15 Million Subscriber Mark, Tubefilter, July 2018
• Liza Koshy Earned Seven Figures On YouTube Last Year, Is Launching Bag Line, Tubefilter, November 2018
• Liza Koshy Chats “Losing My Mind This Year” As She Foreshadows YouTube Comeback, Tubefilter, January 2019
• ‘Liza on Demand’ Season 2 Has YouTube’s Most-Watched Original Debut to Date, Variety, October 2019
• The New Liza Koshy Is Finally Ready to Leave Her Living Room, Cosmopolitan, October 2019
• Liza Koshy Named Co-Chair Of Michelle Obama-Founded Nonprofit ‘When We All Vote’, Tubefilter, November 2019
• How Taking A Break From Social Media Helped Liza Koshy Discover True Success, Jay Shetty, November 2019
• YouTuber Liza Koshy Apologizes For Mock Asian Accent, Pretend Japanese Words In Videos, Deadline, June 2020
• Liza Koshy Apologizes For ‘Perpetuating Racist Ideas’, Cultural Appropriation With Past Character Creations, Tubefilter, June 2020
• Liza Koshy Launches Capsule Makeup And Skin Care Brand ‘One Of One’, Tubefilter, October 2020
• Liza Koshy Signs Overall Deal With Jada And Will Smith-Founded Westbrook Inc., Tubefilter, December 2020
• Liza Koshy Collabs With Fabletics On Limited-Edition Activewear Line, Tubefilter, January 2021
• The Secretly Introverted Life Of Liza Koshy, Women’s Health, March 2022
• Why Liza Koshy Left Her YouTube Comedy Empire for the Big Screen, Rolling Stone, July 2024
• Liza Koshy Signs With Anonymous Content, Deadline, April 2025
• Liza Koshy Joins Liam Neeson for a Hilarious Ride in The Naked Gun, Nerdtropolis, August 2025
• Liza Koshy Is Done Waiting for Hollywood to Take Her Seriously, Marie Claire, August 2025
• 2010s YouTube Star With Emmy Award Nomination Turns 30, Parade via AOL, April 2026
• Holiday Comedy ‘Man With The Bag’ Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Alan Ritchson Lands Release Date On Prime Video, Deadline, May 2026
• Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick’s ‘Family Movie’ Gets Spring Release, Deadline, August 2026
• Binging With Babish’s Andrew Rea Sets Debut Short Film ‘Old Soul,’ a Fantasy Drama Starring Liza Koshy and Dean Winters, Variety, August 2026
• Liza Koshy (channel page), YouTube, accessed October 2026
• Liza Koshy and Family Movie, Wikipedia, October 2026

What to do next

If Liza Koshy’s story makes you rethink your own schedule, judge creators by what their recent videos do, not by how often they post or how many subscribers they have. Our methodology explains how we do that, and our creator lists apply it.

For the same questions put to other YouTubers, TikTokers and streamers, browse more creator interviews, including our Bretman Rock interview, another comedian who got his start on Vine.