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'Dara Ó Briain' (, February 4, 1972- ) is an Irish comedian and television presenter.

Contents

Early career

Stand-up comedy

Panel shows

Tours, columnists and chat-shows

References

External links

Early career

Dara started his career in University College, Dublin, where he studied Theoretical Physics. While a student there, he was both the auditor of the L&H (Literary and Historical) Debating society, and the co-editor and co-founder of the University Observer college newspaper. In 1994 he won the Irish Times National Debating Championship, the Irish leg of the English-Speaking Union John Smith Memorial Mace and the Irish Times/Gael-Linn National Irish language debating championship (he is a fluent Irish speaker).
After leaving college he began his television career as a children's presenter on RTÉ whilst performing his first stand-up gigs on the Irish comedy circuit. He spent three years as a presenter on the bilingual (Irish and English) children's programme ''Echo Island'' but came to prominence as a team captain on the topical panel show'' Don't Feed The Gondolas'' (1998-2000) hosted by Seán Moncrieff.

Stand-up comedy

Ó Briain's stand up career internationally took off around this time as he began to tour heavily, performing across the continents in Europe, Asia, Australia, with gigs as far afield as Dubai, Boston, Adelaide, Shanghai and New York. He is a regular at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the Edinburgh Festival, as well as making one notable appearance at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal in 2002 where he was offered a prestigious gala show because of his performances at the Irish showcase.
Around this time Dara presented the weekend mainstream game show ''It's a Family Affair'' for RTÉ. It was the first time he worked with former Channel 4 commissioning editor Séamus Cassidy. They later set up the production company Happy Endings Productions, and together they produced (and Dara presented) the chat show Buried Alive (2003) and most famously in Ireland ''The Panel'' (2003-onwards).
In 2007 Dara performed a stand-up act for an audience of fantasy role-players as part of the ''Tough Gig'' series on ITV1. For the gig he researched fantasy role players by joining a group of them for a weekend, adopting the character of the atheist elf Morgan Fairchild, the name coming from the American actress.

Panel shows

The Panel is an Australian television programme originally produced by Working Dog Productions. The Irish version, also called The Panel, is hosted by Dara and has become one of the most talked about shows in Ireland. Three times nominated for the Best Entertainment show IFTA (Irish Film and Television Award) the show has a rotating cast of panellists, usually drawn from the world of Irish comedy, discussing the events of the week and interviewing guests. The most regular panellists have been Colin Murphy, Ed Byrne, Neil Delamere and Andrew Maxwell.
Happy Endings Productions have also produced Miriam O'Callaghan's summer chat show, Miriam (2005) and co-produced The Podge and Rodge Show (2006)
From 2002 on, with his profile rising in the UK due to his one man shows at the Edinburgh fringe festival, Dara began to start making appearances on UK television shows such as ''Bring Me The Head of Light Entertainment'' (a Channel 5 production) and ''Never Mind The Buzzcocks''. At the start of 2003 he hosted the second series of BBC Scotland's ''Live Floor Show''. [1]
His big break in UK television came in 2003 when he made an appearance as guest and, ultimately, four appearances as guest host of the popular news quiz, ''Have I Got News For You''.
He was nominated in 2003 at the ''Chortle Comedy Awards for Live Comedy'' in the categories Best Compère and Best Headline Act (which he would go on to win). In 2004 he won the Best Headliner award again, as well as being nominated for Best Full-length Show.
Currently he can be seen hosting the comedy panel game ''Mock the Week'' on BBC television, a blend between ''Have I Got News For You'' and ''Whose Line is it Anyway?''. He is also a relatively frequent panellist on QI.

Tours, columnists and chat-shows

Other notable television work includes fronting the BBC sitcom writing competition "Last Laugh" and two documentaries re-creating the legendary British comedy novel "Three Men in a Boat", where he rowed up the Thames with Griff Rhys-Jones and Rory McGrath, also for the BBC.
In August of 2005, he returned to the Edinburgh Festival for the eighth consecutive time, for a run at the Assembly Rooms which was the biggest selling solo comedy show of the festival.
On 14 September 2005, he appeared as a guest on ''Room 101'', where he got rid of children's television presenters (originating from his co-presenters on ''Echo Island'') and once-in-a-lifetime experiences (he was given a once-in-a-lifetime experience on the show, by being the first guest ever to pull the lever that opens the chute to Room 101), banter, Gillian McKeith (host of ''You Are What You Eat'') and magicians.
In early 2006, he conducted his third and largest national tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. This included 66 shows in Cities and Towns such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast as well as 9 nights sold out in Dublin. His second night in The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London was recorded for his first live DVD. The DVD also contained an "In-Vision Drinking game Commentary" featuring him and Ed Byrne.
The comedian has also been an extensive newspaper columnist, with pieces published in many national papers in both the UK and Ireland, from the ''Sunday Times'' to the ''Daily Telegraph''.
On 9 August 2006, he hosted the first episode of his new celebrity chat show, ''Turn Back Time''.
A common chant at gigs he plays in colleges is "Ooh Aah, Up Da-ra".

References

1. Ditzy Boomhaha answers your questions

External links

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