Everything to Know About Andrew Callaghan, Journalist Behind HBO's Jan. 6 Documentary This Place Rules

Courtesy of HBO Andrew Callaghan

Andrew Callaghan, director and star of the new political documentary This Place Rules, is generating quite a bit of buzz in Hollywood and around the internet.

The 25-year-old director, who started creating funny and irreverent content for the web in college, has been slowly building a loyal following since launching his two successful YouTube channels, All Gas No Brakes and Channel 5. And his new documentary, which focuses on the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, began streaming on HBO Max New Year's Eve.

Callaghan might just be the most famous journalist you've never heard of. So who is this documentarian? Here's everything you need to know about Andrew Callaghan.

He was born and raised in Philadelphia

Callaghan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1997. He was raised there until his family moved to Seattle, where he worked on his high school's newspaper and covered events like a juggalo gathering and Occupy Seattle.

After graduating from high school, Callaghan received a full scholarship to Loyola University in New Orleans. It was while attending Loyola that he began creating his now-signature man-on-the-street content in 2018 with his show Quarter Confessions. The series focused on Callaghan asking New Orleans tourists about their deepest, darkest secrets.

Callaghan launched his successful YouTube series All Gas No Brakes in 2019 

Courtesy of HBO

The YouTube star started his channel All Gas No Brakes in 2019 and has racked up more than 89 million views. The channel was financially backed by internet content company Doing Things Media, and featured Callaghan in an RV traveling the country and making videos.

He enlisted his friends Nic Mosher and Evan Gilbert-Katz to come along for the ride and help create content.

He was fired from his own show and lost all rights to his intellectual property

Courtesy of HBO

After a year traveling and making biweekly videos covering events — including a Flat Earth Conference, the parking lot outside of a Phish show, and an anti-vax rally in Hollywood — Callaghan decided he didn't like the foundational premise of his contact with Doing Things Media.

Originally, his contract was focused on capturing "party content," but after a year traveling, Callaghan decided he wanted to focus more on issues that mattered to him. After a dispute over how Callaghan covered the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis, he was fired.

"I still like party content," Callaghan told Rolling Stone earlier this year. "It's tight. But it's not tight when it's like the middle of a summer of protests and some f---ing dude in suburban Atlanta is like: 'The Portland video is dope, man, but can we like shift back towards party content?' It's like, 'What f---ing party do you want me to go to?'"

Callaghan launched the YouTube series Channel 5 in 2021

After leaving All Gas No Brakes, Callaghan launched another YouTube series titled Channel 5. This series follows host Callaghan and his producers — Mosher and Gilbert-Katz from All Gas No Brakes — traveling the country in a RV doing interviews for their more than 1.5 million subscribers.

"I've been filming a f--- ton," Callaghan told Rolling Stone in September. "I went to the Lyrical Lemonade festival, did some shit on O Block. I went to a White Sox Game." Callaghan and his producers create a mini-doc at each event for their subscribers. "It's hard to measure months because I move around so much," he said.

The filmmaker debuted his first feature-length documentary, This Place Rules, on HBO Max

Photograph by Courtesy of HBO

Callaghan released his first full-length documentary on HBO Max just before the New Year. The film — which promises to help viewers "explore the perfect storm of chaos and division that led to the January 6 Capitol Riot," according to HBO — premiered on Dec. 30, 2022, and began streaming the following day.

This Place Rules, now streaming on HBO Max, has amassed high audience ratings since its debut.