Comedy
Interview
The A-Z of Dara Ó Briain
Ireland, Mock The Week, Touring and 23 other alphabetised facts about Dara Ó Briain that are far more difficult to think of
A is for Arsenal
Ó Briain is a longtime fan of the Gunners and a season ticket holder at the Emirates. He told the Handbrake Off podcast, “When I’m getting the train down from Edinburgh, let’s say, because I’m doing a gig, I get excited when the stadium approaches because at some point we are going to go past the stadium and it’s nice to think there is that little patch of north London which is forever home.” Isn’t that lovely!
B is for Boats
Ó Briain was one of the stars of the Three Men In A Boat series, alongside Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones. The three comedians initially recreated the journey from the novel of the same name by sailing the Thames in a wooden skiff. They would end up undertaking many more sailing adventures in subsequent series, taking them to the Isle of Harris, Venice, and the New England coast.
C is for Children’s books
Science enthusiast Ó Briain has written three science-based children’s books. Kids are mostly interested in what happens to astronauts’ poo and wee, he’s said, but that seems as good a jumping-off point as any.
D is for Desert Island Discs
He appeared on the Radio 4 programme last year, in which he picked out tracks by Prince and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among others. Diverse taste!
E is for Ed Byrne
These frequent collaborators are such good mates that they were the best men at each other’s weddings. They also once travelled 4000 miles across the Pan-American Highway together for Dara And Ed’s Great Big Adventure.
F is for Fringe
Like many a comedy legend, Ó Briain got his big break at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This summer, he returned to the festival for the first time since 2005 with the show My Entire Life Is A Work In Progress.
G is for Guinness World Record
Along with Jack Whitehall and Jon Richardson, Ó Briain set a Guinness World Record for ‘Highest stand-up comedy gig’ on a British Airways flight in 2011. That’s ‘highest’ as in in the sky, to be clear.
H is for Hurling
Ó Briain was a hurler in his youth, and is an avid follower of the sport — you’ll regularly find him trying to convince his non-Irish followers to get into it over on his Twitter/X account. “Move the ball fast, get it over the bars or into the goal, watch the crowd erupt, and then just keep doing that. Fast, fast, fast,” is how he described hurling to those unfamiliar when asked on BBC Sport.
I is for Ireland
The proud Irishman was born in Bray, County Wicklow, and later lived in Dublin before moving to London. He’s fluent in the Irish language, and in 1994 he even won the National Irish Language Debating Championship.
J is for Jokes
He’s very good at them.
K is for Kids TV
Ó Briain’s first entertainment job was presenting children’s TV on RTÉ. Back when he had hair.
L is for Taskmaster leaderboard
He won Series 14 of Taskmaster with 184 points, marking the record for highest total Taskmaster points for the next three series. If you haven’t seen it before, get onto Youtube and try and delete the mental image of him spitting grapes into a bowl while wearing a pair of flippers on his hands.
M is for Mock The Week
Of course, Ó Briain’s biggest claim to fame is hosting this hilarious panel show for 17 years, from 2005 to 2022, where he took many a bald joke like a champ.
N is for (stolen) Notes
Earlier this year a fan stole Ó Briain’s notes off the stage after a gig in Guernsey. He ended up tracking the “sheepish” thief down and retrieving them – add “amateur detective” to his list of achievements.
O is for Ó Briain
No apostrophe! This is the original Irish spelling of the name, before it became Anglicised to O’Brien. Dara’s dad, a trade union negotiator who was part of the Irish language revival movement, changed it to its original form before Dara was born.
P is for Plaza Cinema, Stockport
Ó Briain became a patron of the art deco cinema and theatre after performing there in 2022. The cinema “should be an inspiration for how great buildings can be saved, restored and returned to the heart of their communities,” he wrote on Twitter/X.
Q is for QI
We don’t have room to include every panel show Ó Briain has appeared on, but he was a sometime regular guest on this one, boasting 14 appearances – and, well, it’s hard to think of anything else for Q.
R is for Robot Wars
Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon presented the reboot of the robot-combat series (that is a genre, apparently) Robot Wars, from 2016 to 2018. Fans were outraged at its cancellation, but sadly it’s remained on the scrap heap ever since.
S is for Space
If there’s one thing you really should know about Dara Ó Briain, it’s his passion for astronomy. He spun that into a two-part documentary, Wonders Of The Moon, in 2023; and in 2020 he even had an asteroid, 4901 Ó Briain, named after him!
T is for Touring
Standup is still Ó Briain’s bread-and-butter, and he’s out on the road delivering laughs year after year. His newest tour, Re:Creation, kicks off in 2025, and it’s set to be one of the funniest nights of the year.
U is for University College Dublin
Ó Briain studied mathematics and theoretical physics at this prestigious uni. He was also the chairperson of its debating society and the co-founder of the University Observer newspaper. Not just a pretty face!
V is for Videogames
Ó Briain is a massive gaming enthusiast, something he’s been known to discuss in his standup act. He even went on to present the videogame themed panel show, Dara Ó Briain’s Go 8 Bit.
W is for Wasted time
Dara Ó Briain is the presenter of the Dara Ó Briain’s Timewasters podcast, in which he invites comedian guests to come and tell him about the moments of their life they’ll never get back. Hopefully reading this article isn’t one of them for you.
X is for Xylophone
Thinking of something for the letter X is very hard indeed, but luckily our mate Dara once did an extremely funny stand-up segment about exactly that (see below). “Hardly a day goes by as an adult where someone doesn’t go, ‘Dara, have you got your xylophone on you? I left my xylophone behind on the bus and I’ve got a major xylophone-based event coming up this evening!’”
Y is for The Apprentice: You’re Fired!
Dara Ó Briain presented this official companion show for The Apprentice from 2010 to 2014. So now you know that.
Z is for Stargazing Live
We know it isn’t really, but it’s got a Z in it and well, this programme was pretty special. For seven series and a few specials, Ó Briain teamed up with Professor Brian Cox to broadcast live from Jodrell Bank observatory, where they chatted with special guests about the many wonders of the universe. Well worth a watch!
