Comedian Rory O'Connor opens up about gambling addiction

The Meath funnyman tells Mark Moriarty on his Roasted podcast of the highs and lows of his journey.

By: irishmirror.ie

Dec 25 2024
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Comedian Rory O'Connor opens u

Comedian Rory O’Connor has shared the moment he knew he had a gambling addiction while minding his daughter.

The Meath man tells Mark Moriarty on his Roasted podcast of the highs and lows of his journey, how he struggled with addiction, ADHD and how a career in comedy was his ultimate deliverance.

He said his gambling addiction began when he started to bet on horses when he was teenager.

He said: "Gambling was my kinda buzz…… it’s drugs for the brain."

He said the true extent of his addiction became apparent to him when he was at home one day minding his daughter when he got a tip on a horse.

There was a problem getting internet coverage in the house and he freaked out, even though he was aware of his daughter crying downstairs, all he could think about was going upstairs to get online to place his bet.

Having tried and failed to work as an apprentice engineer and unhappy working in a call centre for two years, he tells Mark how Rory’s Stories was gaining traction and how one day in 2014 he asked his boss in the call centre for an hour off to make a video, she agreed on the condition he would give her tickets to The Late Late Show when he was a success.

"I was given a gift in life to tell stories, I pursued that, that’s what I’m most proud of. I had the courage… anyone who does something out of the ordinary, I’m the first person to say ‘fair play’.

"I have proven you can find out what you can be good at without being excellent at school, if you don’t do well there, it’s not the end of the world."

Discussing the success of one of his recent videos which received over 23 million views – a simple video of him getting into a cold bed with his wife - even surprised him.

"I don’t get it, when you catch fire with the internet it’s gone."

And Rory confesses he even got some DMs saying "hello, sexy boy" because he had his top off in bed.

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