Daniel O’Reilly: The Rise and Fall of Dapper Laughs, Addiction & Redemption

Daniel O’Reilly became one of Britain’s first huge social media stars as Dapper Laughs, building an audience of millions with a character that was loud, laddish and deliberately pushed boundaries, until it all came crashing down.

Branded misogynistic, accused of promoting rape culture and effectively cancelled, Dan went from having his own ITV show and sold out tour to becoming one of the most hated men in Britain. More than a decade later, a lot has changed.

Dan is sober, selling out theatres again and is the first to admit he got plenty wrong. He tells us what he regrets, what he still stands by and what it takes to rebuild when the mainstream media and an entire industry have all but exiled you.

We talk about the manosphere, the men dominating that space today and what happens when provocative content attracts millions of eyeballs, controversy brings even more attention and the character you’ve created starts influencing the young men watching you.

Away from the headlines, Dan is brutally open about cocaine, alcohol, losing his dad, almost losing his family and reaching the point where he didn’t want to be here anymore. He talks candidly about how bad things became, getting sober and the difficult reality of rebuilding his life from the ground up.

In this episode, I’m also joined by my co host Eth Power, who has his own experience of addiction and recovery and brings another perspective to a conversation that covers addiction, masculinity, shame, hitting rock bottom and what it really takes to turn your life around.

Dan’s story is ultimately proof that no matter how publicly you fall, how badly things have gone wrong or how many people have written you off, you can take responsibility, change direction and build a life you’re proud of.

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Key moments include:

✔ The rise and spectacular fall of Dapper Laughs

✔ Being branded misogynistic and accused of promoting rape culture

✔ What Dan regrets and what he still stands by