While Eric Roberts shot to fame as one of Ireland’s top TikTokers, his ultimate goal is to become an established household name.Â
The social media sensation is Goss.ie’s latest Spotlight On cover star – and in this exclusive interview, he reveals how creating content at the height of the coronavirus pandemic changed his life forever.
The newlywed Donegal native also opens up about his on-and-off romance with his teenage sweetheart Niamh, how it led to their “dream” wedding day, and their plans to start a family together.
When COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, thus giving him a temporary break from his job as a full-time special needs assistant, Eric decided to try his hand at creating content for social media.
Within just days of posting his first ever TikTok video, a light-hearted clip of him dancing quickly garnered attention online and became his first video to go viral.
Since then, the social media star hasn’t looked back and now boasts over 550k TikTok followers and 25.4 million likes on the platform, with his most-watched video to date raking in an impressive 10 million views.
After nurturing his social media platforms for nearly three years, Eric has begun to reap the benefits of his newfound fame in recent months.
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Earlier this summer, Eric landed himself a gig on BBC’s stand-up comedy show Big Comic Energy, and was later invited to Australia with JD Sports to cover the Republic of Ireland’s historic FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance.
In the coming weeks, the funny man will make regular appearances on our TV screens on a very popular Irish show, and will even take part in a reality series.
As he looks to shift his focus towards a career in TV, could we see the Donegal native host The Late Late Show, or perhaps helm his own chat show in the coming years?
In this exclusive interview, Eric opens up about the various exciting opportunities that have landed on his doorstep, and how he’s stayed true to himself throughout it all.
Read our full chat with Eric below:
Eric you’ve had such an amazing year, both personally and professionally. But first let’s take it back to the beginning, when did you first start creating content online and how did it all happen?
“I very much fell into it. It was during lockdown, I think I was just looking for something to put my energy into other than 2km walks at the time. I got very quickly addicted to watching TikToks and plucked up the courage to post one then. With everyone being so secluded, you weren’t really around your mates to be getting stick off them and stuff, so the embarrassment left and I said I was just going to start putting up some videos.
“The traction built from there and I fell in love with it. It was a great pastime during a difficult time for everyone, and just making people laugh and brightening up their day – I just fell in love with it and it spiralled from there.
Can you remember the first time one of your videos went viral?
“I can, yeah. Originally I was just putting up dances, because I’ve a background in dance, and I made a video with the caption ‘What do you do when the kettle’s boiling in the kitchen?’ and it was me dancing while I waited for my cup of tea basically. I think that got half a million views, and at the time I was like ‘This is absolutely insane’. I was chasing that from then on in.
“I put up a joke then, I said ‘I was lying in bed last night looking up at the stars, and I thought to myself ‘Where the f**k is my roof?’ That did quite well, and I fell in love with the comedy aspect of things. I was always a joker in school, but I never had any aspirations to do any content creation. I realised then that it was a brilliant outlet and there were lots of opportunities that came with it. I fell in love with it from there.
@ericroberts44 Waiting on a cup of tea #foryou #houseoftiktok #earthhour #fyp #foryoupage #foryoupage #fypirish ♬ Roses (Imanbek Remix) – SAINt JHN
What was going through your head when you saw your videos start to blow up?
“Even to this day, it’s still a funny feeling when it does happen. It’s almost a feeling of accomplishment when a video does really, really well. I’ve had videos that might get 10,000 views and then the following day I’ve one that gets four or five million views. There’s no real recipe to success, it’s just being consistent with it. Some stuff lands, some doesn’t, but I enjoy whatever I’m doing.
You mentioned consistency is key to a successful online presence. Do you ever fall into a creative rut and find it hard to stay consistent?
“Daily. I would describe my content as self-deprecating, where awful things happen to me and I’ll share that with my followers. I think the Irish public especially, that resonates with them. People love that Irish satirical humour. Instagram especially has turned into a transparency of my life essentially, where I’m putting up a lot about my family, my nephew OisÃn, my wedding recently… and people seem to enjoy what’s going on.
“It’s quite surreal that my life is there for the public to watch and laugh at. It’s a funny feeling that people are actually interested in what you’re doing day to day. With regards to actual skits and comedy, I regularly struggle with ideas to put up, but then something will happen and I get some inspiration from the most random places. The content can land sometimes, and it doesn’t other times as I said, but I just enjoy what I’m doing now – very much so.
“It’s quite surreal that my life is there for the public to watch and laugh at…”
As I mentioned above, Eric previously worked as a full-time special needs assistant, and is well-known for posting videos with his beloved nephew OisÃn, who has autism and cerebral palsy.
Despite being in love with his career as an SNA, the Donegal native recently decided to quit his job to focus on his social media career.
So, just why did he decide to take that risk?
On that note, you recently quit your job as a special needs assistant to focus on your social media career full-time. What pushed you to make that decision?
“I suppose the decision was kind of made for me. I was toying with it for a long time, I had been making money, and I was with an agency, and I was regularly doing skits. My content doesn’t take that long to make, it’s usually a 15-second video of me in my car. It got to the point where I was getting so many amazing opportunities that I said to myself ‘If I don’t dive into this feet first now, I never will.’
“So I decided to take a step away from that job which I had been doing for so long, that I was so in love with. I don’t even look at what I’m doing now as work, because I feel like I’m a normal person doing influencer things. I still don’t consider myself as an influencer. People can see how happy I am and happy lucky I feel to be in the position I’m in. I think that’s why people are enjoying it so much.
Are you ever worried about the longevity of a career on social media? Do you have a backup plan?
“If you had asked me that question last year, I would’ve said ‘Oh, absolutely. I think it’s a bit of a bubble, it’s very fleeting, I’ll stop trying to be funny eventually.’ But I came into this year as a yes man, and I wanted to say yes to as many opportunities as I could and see what I enjoyed in the industry. In doing so, I’ve done TV, I’ve done stand-up, I’ve done presenting, and I’ve fallen in love with all three.
“The reason it’s so exciting is because I’ve no idea what I’m going to be doing week to week, and any amazing opportunity could pop up. A few weeks ago, I was in Australia for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, presenting with JD Sports, and to even say that out loud is phenomenal. All these opportunities keep popping up, and I’m just excited to see where it leads.
“I have some really exciting offers at the minute, I’m going to be a regular on TV now in the coming weeks. If all goes well, later on in the year, I’ve an absolutely huge project which I can’t really talk about, but it could potentially be a life-changing thing. I’m taking everything as it comes, and just enjoying the process.
“One of my upcoming projects could potentially be life-changing…”
Irish content creators tend to receive a lot of hate and negativity online because of ‘small town syndrome’. Do you have any experience with that?Â
“I’m quite lucky in the content that I’m creating that I’m not very controversial, I’m not very political and I just create light-hearted, family-friendly content, so I haven’t had that much hate. You do get the odd comment, but it’s water off a duck’s back for me, because a lot of my content is self-deprecating anyone, so if I’m not taking the piss out of myself, someone else is.
“I’ve definitely seen other people struggle with it online. I suppose for myself, I’m quite lucky that anyone I’ve encountered who follows me is quite happy to meet me, and it’s always a nice experience. I consider myself quite lucky in that sense.
In the past, you’ve taken some of those negative comments and addressed them as a separate video. Is that your approach to deal with it, or do you generally let things slide?
“I try to make light of any situation, even if it is someone insulting me. Even when I respond to these things, I’m not responding in a negative way. I just kind of say ‘Listen, you’ve left this comment, let’s have a think about it. Maybe have a better start to your day tomorrow,’ and people are automatically like ‘Right, okay. I’m sorry. I’ve made myself look like a bit of an a***hole here.’
“People don’t really think when they are commenting online that there potentially could be repercussions or that we mightn’t even see it, but the majority of creators do see all the comments. So I just try to make light-hearted of them, and they probably won’t do it again after that.
You mentioned you’ve met some of your followers in person. Do you feel ever pressure to put on a certain persona when you meet people who follow you on social media?
“I feel like I don’t really have an online persona per se. I’m authentically myself 24/7, I am a joker and I do have a laugh every day. I try and be as positive as I can. So when people meet me, they’re not meeting someone else, they’re not meeting a character. I am genuinely myself, which I feel like a lot of people can’t really say.
“Some people do have to keep up a bravado and keep up a certain energy, but I’m a genuinely happy person. As I was saying, the experiences and the opportunities that I’ve had – I’m overly happy, I’ve never been happier in my life. I just feel so, so lucky every day, so I’m always positive if I’m meeting someone. I feel like I don’t really have to keep up a bravado per se.
Eric married his teenage sweetheart Niamh Emmett on August 21st, 2023 – 17 years after they first met.
The couple had an on-and-off relationship, before they rekindled their romance during the pandemic.
Eric later proposed to Niamh during a romantic holiday to Santorini in March 2022.
I wanted to know more about Eric and Niamh’s love story, and asked about the sweet details of their wedding day.
You recently married your childhood sweetheart Niamh. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey together?
“We met around sixth year, 17 years ago at dance class. I was infatuated with her immediately. We were on and off, as you are in your teens, for a long, long time, but we always found each other. Around COVID-19, we were in the same town, we got talking again and we’ve just been inseparable since.
“I proposed in Santorini last year, and we recently got married. The wedding was an absolute dream. If I sat down, put my head to paper and wrote down my dream day, I don’t even think it would’ve been as good. We were absolutely delighted with how it went.
Tell us about the wedding, did everything go according to plan or were there any major disasters?
“Honest to God, it was so, so quick, but it was amazing. My fiancée, to be fair, organised it start to finish, I had very little to do. But what I did do was organise Chasing Abbey to come and do a surprise performance on the night. That was the only thing I had. It honestly made the wedding.
“The guys did me such a solid, they came out and performed for half an hour. Niamh lost her mind, and the guests lost their minds. I’m so, so grateful to the lads. It was honestly like a big party, it didn’t even feel like a wedding at the time. Everyone just had such a phenomenal night so we were so happy.
You met Chasing Abbey at The Gossies 2023 earlier this year, didn’t you?
“I did, yeah! They brought me out after The Gossies. They were pointing at me as they were performing, and I was like ‘Are they pointing at me?’ They came over then and said ‘Come on, let’s go out for a few drinks’, so we went out, and we had an absolute blast. I’ve been in contact with them since, and they’re doing so phenomenally now which is great to see.”
Having heard about the foundations of Eric and Niamh’s love story, I wondered what was next for the newlyweds…
You and Niamh are based in Donegal but a lot of your work requires you to be in Dublin. Do you ever think about moving?
“It’s an idea we’re toying with, absolutely. Obviously, Niamh’s in education and she’s permanent now in Letterkenny. The trajectory I’m on this year, it will be a conversation that we’ll need to have further down the line. I’m starting a regular slot on a TV show in the next couple of weeks, which is amazing.
“I’m delighted to get my foot in the door, and I do want that longevity in terms of content creation, hopefully getting more into TV. When that stuff starts to kick off and there are more opportunities then, again similar to leaving work, that decision will be made for us. If that day comes, I’ll be delighted, but we’ll see what happens later in the year.
Now that you’re married, do you and Niamh have plans to start a family anytime soon?
“Absolutely! I mean it’s definitely on the cards. Niamh’s extremely maternal, and obviously I’ve worked with kids all my life and I absolutely adore them. I could definitely see myself being a father. Again, we’ll see what happens!”
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How does Niamh deal with your online fame? Is she bothered by the attention you get from girls in particular?
“Not particularly, I think it’s more gay men. The DMs are just filled with gay men at the minute, which is very flattering. To be honest, I think the majority of women just know I’m settled and I have Niamh there.
“But she absolutely loves it. I’m very respectful with everything I do online, as I said I’m very family-friendly so I have a nice following. Everyone’s very respectful, so she absolutely loves it. She gets hotel getaways, and holidays, and events, so she’s delighted.
You previously told us you have people sliding into your DMs with some crazy requests. What’s the wildest message you’ve ever received?
“I suppose the money offers for the dirty laundry. There are consistently offers for OnlyFans, but I think I’ll be steering clear from those kind of requests as a married man. Listen, if the bank account starts to go down, that’s the back-up!
Who’s the most famous person to have slid into your DMs?
“Oh Jesus, that’s a very, very good question. I’ve had a few Geordie Shore ones popping in recently there. I’d say they’re up there definitely. There’s been a few UK names, but I won’t name names because I wouldn’t consider them friends.
The influencer industry is known for being notoriously fickle. Do you have any experience with this? Do you think there’s a lot of fake friendships?
“To be honest, everyone I’ve met has been quite accommodating. There is definitely a new age of influencer, I would say. A lot of the older creators would’ve built up their platforms and maybe gains tens of thousands of followers over the course of a decade, whereas a lot of us are coming through now getting a few hundred thousand followers in the space of a couple of months. I’d say there’s a bit of animosity there in terms of new and old, but the majority of people I’ve come into contact with have been very welcoming.
“The likes of Paddy Smyth, who has been in the industry for a very long time took me under his wing early on. I’m very good friends with him, he was actually at my wedding there with Rob Kenny.
“It’s just great to have these, I suppose mentors, but friendships in the industry. They give excellent guidance. It’s still very new to me, although I’ve been doing it for a year or two now, I’m still just getting my feet and getting my bearings. It’s a really enjoyable process.”
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about the industry since you became a part of it?
“I suppose how small it is! You go to a couple of events and it’s all the same heads all the time. It’s interesting to see what a small community it is, and it really gives you an insight into how difficult it is for people to put themselves out there and be successful with it. Everyone has their own niche and they’re all interesting in their own way. The main thing you can try to do is be yourself, and if you’re not authentically yourself, you’re not really going to succeed in the industry. So that’s one of the main things I’ve learned.
“If you’re not authentically yourself, you’re not really going to succeed in the industry…”
As I mentioned, Eric has had an incredible past 12 months – both personally and professionally.
The Donegal native recently jetted to Australia, with his then-fiancée Niamh, to create content and drum up support for the Republic of Ireland at their historic first ever appearance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The former special needs assistant tells me of the “surreal” experience, and explains he was especially content that he was able to show his followers his more “serious” side…
You mentioned you’ve landed some huge opportunities since finding fame on social media. Earlier this summer, you travelled to Australia with the women’s national team for their first ever World Cup. What was that experience like?
“From the moment I got the email until travelling over, it was just phenomenal and so, so surreal. To be able to support the girls on the pitches, and get some amazing interviews – it was an opportunity I haven’t even seen any of the other creators in the country get, so it was very, very special. It was almost a sense of self-accomplishment as well of how far I’d come to be offered such a role, and such an important role as well.
“It was amazing. I’m hoping it’s going to lead to more similar roles. It was an opportunity for me to show a more serious side to myself as well. There was quite serious reporting while I was there, and people aren’t really used to that from me, so I really, really enjoyed it. As I said, I’m going to continue trying out as many opportunities as I can going forward.”
You’ve said you’d love to do more TV, what would be your dream show to appear on?
“Ideally, in a few years time, I see myself potentially having my own show. I’d love to get involved in prank shows, or talk shows, or whatever it might be, but for now I’ve got my foot in the door. I’m going to be doing some fun, entertaining presenting in small slots.
“Later on in the year, I’m doing some reality TV as well. I’m really excited to see where it leads. As I said, I don’t know what I’m going to be doing from week to week, so whatever pops up, I’m just going to say yes and see where it takes me.
Last week, RTÉ confirmed the return of Dancing with the Stars. With your background in dancing, would that be something you’d consider?
“I mean if they shoot me an email, I’ll definitely get back to them. I would definitely consider it, 100%. It looks like a really, really tough show. I have a background in dance, but it’s a very specific Robotics/Animation/Hip-Hop style, so me doing the forbidden Salsa, I’m not sure how it would go. I’m sure it would be very entertaining, but it’s definitely something I could see myself doing.”
You seem to be on a really great path in terms of your career, what’s next for you?
“I’m just going to continue trying to make people laugh everyday. I want to get really involved in presenting, hosting and I think TV is really where I see myself going over the next year or so.
“As I said, I’ve a few very exciting projects coming that I’ll be giving Goss.ie the exclusive to when I’m allowed talk about them. I feel like that could be a very big moment in my career. I honestly feel like I’m only getting started, so I’m just excited to see where it leads.
“I honestly feel like I’m only getting started…”
Now that you’re leaning more towards TV, will your social media career take more of a backseat?
“I think the beautiful thing about my content at the minute is that it’s just transparent day to day. Whether I’m doing nothing at the house, I’m putting up content, or if I’m going to do something exciting on TV, I’m putting up content about that. It’s essentially just content of my own life, so no matter what I’m doing I’ll be able to take my followers along.
“As I said, I feel like I’m just a normal guy getting to experience all these amazing things, and I think that resonates with people so I’ll just continue to do that. The likes of the TikToks have definitely, definitely slowed down, but I feel like it’s more quality over quantity now. I’m just really, really enjoying what I’m doing at the minute.”
After Eric teased that he’s “only getting started”, I’m curious to know what he’s hoping to achieve over the next five years – and it’s clear he has big aspirations.Â
The 32-year-old candidly confessed he wants to be the next host of The Late Late Show, and to become a household name in Ireland.Â
With his “yes man” attitude and determination to succeed, we have a feeling Eric could give Patrick Kielty a real run for his money…Â
What’s left on your bucket list – professional and personally?
“I definitely, definitely want to get super involved in television. I want to be one of the most renowned names and faces in the country, and coming from a pure personal place, I want to see where I can take it and potentially be the next host of The Late Late Show in five years time.
“Personally, I just want happiness and health for my family, and all the Miss World normal responses and clichés. Honestly, I’m so happy at the minute, I don’t feel like anything is missing. I’m so, so content, I hope it continues to go that way.”
