Dara Ó Briain [da-ra oh breen]
is an Irish comedian and television presenter. He began
his career as a children's television presenter on
RTÉ before segueing into comedy.
Ó Briain's stand up career took off at the
turn of the millennium as be began to tour heavily,
performing across the continents in Europe, Asia, Australia,
Dubai, Boston, Adelaide, Shanghai and New York. He
has also made appearances at the Edinburgh Festival
and at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal.
The comedian has also been an extensive newspaper
columnist, pieces published in many national papers
from the Sunday Times to the Irish Independent.
Dara has also appeared extensively on RTÉ television:
he was a presenter on the bilingual (Irish and English)
children's programme Echo Island, appeared as a team
captain on Don't Feed the Gondolas (1998-2000), and
presented It's a Family Affair and The Panel (2003-onwards).
He also appeared on the UK panel games Bring Me The
Head of Light Entertainment (a Channel 5 production)
and Never Mind The Buzzcocks. In 2002 he became host
of BBC2's Live Floor Show a showcase for fellow stand
up comics which brought him to the attention of a wider
mainstream audience and led to a number of guest appearances
as 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. |