From delivery driver to Dubai’s sky-high stages: Rory O’Hanlon riffs on Gucci glamour, brutal heat and expat laughs

Dubai: Irish comedian Rory O’Hanlon has performed everywhere from Moscow to Monte Carlo, but Dubai may have officially won him over, even if the city’s heat nearly took him out once.

The award-winning comic, currently touring the UAE with The Laughter Factory alongside UAE-born comedian Ismail Abdi and British comic Nicole Drinkwater, was clearly fascinated by the city’s larger-than-life energy during his interview with Gulf News at Aura Skypool on Palm Jumeirah.

“A lot of good-looking people in Dubai, isn’t it?” Rory laughed. “I don’t know where these people are all from, and everybody looks like they’re going to the Oscars every day.”

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Looking out across Dubai’s skyline, the Irish comic admitted the city still feels surreal to him despite multiple visits.

“It’s like something from a film, isn’t it?” he said. “It’s like the future. It’s futuristic. Yeah, it’s bananas.”

And Dubai’s style culture, according to Rory, is unlike anywhere else.

“There’s no middle ground here,” he said. “It’s full on. It’s either Gucci or go home.”

The comedian, known for his rapid-fire delivery and observational humour, admitted Dubai even made him reconsider his own wardrobe.

“When I come to Dubai, I need to take it up a notch,” he joked, before laughing about luxury watches and the city’s obsession with status symbols.

“Apparently Rolex is like, ‘Oh my God, it’s not good enough.’”

But while the glamour impressed him, the weather was another story entirely.

Rory recalled making the rookie mistake of trying to walk outdoors in Dubai during July heat while staying at Dukes The Palm.

“I walked from my hotel over to the mall,” he said. “I didn’t think I was gonna make back.”

He also found Dubai’s culture of convenience hilarious.

“Even today, I was going for my lunch, and they brought me down there in a golf buggy,” he laughed.

Despite touring internationally and sharing stages with comedians such as Bill Burr, Rory insists his own life back home is far less glamorous.

“I live in a one-bedroom flat,” he said while admiring the Palm views around him. “I don’t have a view. I just look at a wall.”

Long before sold-out gigs and comedy festivals, Rory was working as a delivery driver in Dublin while trying to make stand-up work.

“You do anything really before you start doing stand-up,” he said. “I’ve had a good few jobs, but I did do deliveries… just working around Dublin.”

That grounded background perhaps explains why Rory’s comedy style remains rooted in observational humour rather than controversy-driven material.

“You just want to go up and make people laugh,” he said. “That’s all.”

And for Dubai’s expat-heavy crowds, he believes comedy nights offer something familiar.

“I think it’s like something they know from home,” he said of Irish and British audiences living in the UAE. “They’ll enjoy it.”

Still, it’s clear Dubai itself may have become part of the act now too.

“You could stay here for a long time,” Rory admitted. “This is great.”

Don't Miss It!

·         May 14^th – Radisson DAMAC Hills 7PM

·         May 15^th – Radisson DAMAC Hills 8:30PM

·         May 16^th – Dukes, The Palm, Dubai 8:30PM

·         Tickets: Available at thelaughterfactory.com