Dara Ó Briain is a stand-up comedian, and television presenter. He is one the few performers to host successful comedy shows in both the UK and his native Ireland at the same time.
Dara has hosted the comedy panel game Mock the Week for BBC television since 2005 and he can also be seen hosting The Apprentice: You’re Fired (BBC2)., Dara Ó Briain:School of Hard Sums (Dave), Star Gazing Live with Prof Brian Cox (BBC 1) Dara Ó Briain’s Science Club (BBC2).
Dara has also developed an enormous reputation as host to award ceremonies and corporate events in Britain and Ireland and regularly hosts events as the European Advertising Awards in the Grosvenor Hotel’s Great Room, the Meteor Awards in Dublin, the Empire Film Awards and the BAFTA Video Game Awards.
Ó Briain is phenomenal (The Stage)
A masterclass in intelligent stand-up (The Guardian)
Ó Briain remains one of the best no-frills stand-ups in Britain (The Telegraph)
Ó Briain’s solo shows just get better and better (The Observer)
This is 100 per cent, grade A, pure uncut stand-up – and it’s simply brilliant.
Ó Briain’s simply an astonishingly funny comic, hitting scorching form.” ***** www.chortle.co.uk
Genuinely imaginative and ridiculously funny” (The Independent)
One of the biggest and best comics in the country…Real class.(Irish Times)
An excellent show, drenched in truth and intelligence, by a comedian at the top of his game” ***** (Metro)
If you don’t laugh at Ó Briain, check your pulse, you must be dead. (Bruce Dessau, The Evening Standard)
He started his career in television as a children’s presenter on RTÉ whilst performing his first stand-up gigs on the Irish comedy circuit, after studying at University College, Dublin, where he studied Mathematical Physics. He hosted the RTE2 show The Panel for a number of years.
His big break in UK television came in 2003 when he became host of BBC2′s Live Floor Show. This led to an appearance as guest and, ultimately, four appearances as guest host of the popular news quiz, Have I Got News For You. By this time he had moved to the UK and was working on the British circuit full-time.
Dara sold out the entire run in Edinburgh in 2002, a feat he was to repeat for the next three years. By 2005, he was the biggest selling solo stand-up comedy show on the Edinburgh Fringe.
The basis for this success is Dara’s place at the very top of the stand-up circuit. Winner of the Chortle award for ‘Best Headline Act’ in both 2003 and 2004, Dara has performed virtually all over the world, from Dubai to Shanghai, and at all the major festivals from Melbourne to Montreal. He has performed at the world famous Just for Laughs Festival Gala, and has appeared in the UK’s ultimate showcase for entertainers, The Royal Variety Performance.
Click here for Dara Ó Briain’s website.
Dara’s first book Tickling the English, released in 2009, proved to be an instant hit, remaining in the charts for almost two years after release. Part travelogue, part tour diary, the result is an affectionate, hilarious and often eye-opening journey through the Sceptred Isle.