Biography
Dara O Briain is the biggest Irish comic to have hit the UK in recent years. Already a huge star in Ireland where he produces and presents the hit TV live comedy review show The Panel, Dara has now moved from being a sold-out festival favourite in Edinburgh to mainstream television success.
Dara is one the few performers to host succcesful comedy shows in both the UK and his native Ireland at the same time. 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 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). He left the show midway through its fifth season in order to perform at the Adelaide and Melbourne comedy festivals.
Dara later co-founded the televison production company Happy Endings Productions, whose most famous show in Ireland is The Panel (2003-onwards). The show has become one of the most talked about shows in Ireland and was twice nominated for the Best Entertainment show IFTA (Irish Film and Televison Award).
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.
Dara's hosted six successful series' of the comedy panel game Mock the Week for BBC television.Other notable televison work includes two documentaries re-creating the legendary British comedy novel Three Men in a Boat, where he rowed down the Thames with Griff Rhys Jones and Rory McGrath - the second is to be aired later in 2008. He fronted the BBC comedy interview programme Turn Back Time and co-starred in the acclaimed BBC Radio 3 drama, Your Only Man, Annie Caulfield's play, about the Irish writer Brian O'Nolan.
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