Dara Ó Briain ( , ; born 4 February 1972) is an Irish comedian and television presenter based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He is noted for performing stand-up comedy shows all over the world and for hosting topical panel shows such as ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and pan ...

'', '' The Panel'', and '' The Apprentice: You're Fired!''. In 2009, the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' described Ó Briain as "

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

's heir apparent as Britain's 'favourite Irishman. In 2012, he was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Entertainment Performance for his work on ''Mock the Week''. He has also been a newspaper columnist and written books for both adults and children. His first children's book, ''Beyond the Sky'', was nominated for a Blue Peter Book Award in 2017.

Early life

Ó Briain was born in 1972 in Bray, County Wicklow, and adopted into what he described as "a stable home" where he enjoyed a happy childhood with his "supportive" parents. He attended Coláiste Eoin secondary school, a '' Gaelcholáiste'' (Irish-speaking medium school) on

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

's southside. He attended

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD), where he studied

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

. In 2008, he remarked: "I haven't written it into my act, but it occasionally comes through. I could come on with a chalkboard and say: 'Now you're all going to pay attention. While a student at UCD, he was both the auditor (chairperson) of the Literary and Historical Society (the university's oldest

debating society Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

) and the co-founder and co-editor of ''

The University Observer ''The University Observer'' is a broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the campus of University College Dublin, Ireland, once four three weeks. Launched in 1994 by University College Dublin Students' Union, the newspaper was an immediat ...

'' college newspaper. In 1994, he won the ''Irish Times'' National Debating Championship and ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

''/

Gael Linn Gael Linn () is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation focused on the promotion of the Irish language and the arts. The organisation's funding includes government and lottery sources. History Gael Linn was founded in May 1953, followin ...

National Irish language debating championship; he is a fluent Irish speaker, and speaks to his father only in that language. He played both

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

and

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

for Bray Emmets and hurling for the Wicklow County minor team.

After university

After graduating in 1994, Ó Briain began working at

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

as a children's TV presenter. At this time, he also began performing his first stand-up gigs on the Irish comedy circuit. He admitted, "I did the trip from

to Donegal to play to six people; then I turned round and drove home again. I did about three or four years playing to a lot of bad rooms, but learning as I went. It's not bad when someone gives you £40 for standing up and telling jokes. I remember thinking: 'This is the life. Ó Briain 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. Ó Briain also hosted RTÉ family entertainment gameshow ''It's a Family Affair''.

Stand-up comedy

Ó Briain's stand up international career took off around this time as he began to tour heavily, performing across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, with gigs in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He was a regular at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, as well as making one notable appearance at the Just For Laughs festival in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 2002, where he was offered a prestigious gala show because of his performances at the Irish showcase. Around this time, Ó Briain presented the weekend game show ''It's a Family Affair'' on

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's public service broadcaster. Its first channel was Telefís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RTÉ Television has added chan ...

. It was the first time he worked with former Channel 4

commissioning editor In book publishing, a commissioning editor is essentially a buyer. It is the job of the commissioning editor to advise the publishing house on which books to publish. Usually the actual decision of whether to contract a book is taken by a senior m ...

Séamus Cassidy. They later set up the production company Happy Endings Productions, and together they produced (and Ó Briain presented) the chat show '' Buried Alive'' (2003) and most famously in Ireland '' The Panel'' (2003–2006). In 2005, Ó Briain's eighth show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the biggest-selling solo comedy show of the festival. In early 2006, Ó Briain conducted his third tour of the

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. This included shows at the Theatre Royal, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as well as nine nights in

at Vicar Street. His second night in the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and listed building, Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) an ...

, in London was recorded for his first live DVD. His fourth multinational tour followed in late 2007, which as he says in his routine has "no title" but was almost entitled "You Had to Be There". He performed new tours across the UK and Ireland in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2018. His 2010 tour played for 150 dates, to over 225,000 people, including 37 nights in Vicar St. in Dublin, nine nights at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

in London and a first date in

. Each of those three tours were recorded for DVD, and the 2012 tour, entitled 'Craic Dealer', was similarly recorded during his shows at the

Edinburgh Playhouse Edinburgh Playhouse is a theatre in Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of For ...

in May 2012. "Craic Dealer" ran for over 150 shows, as did his 2015 tour "Crowd Tickler", this time with dates in Scandinavia, Northern Europe and Australia added to the tour. The tour was recorded for a DVD release. On 12 March 2011, Ó Briain, Jack Whitehall and Jon Richardson set a new ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

'' title for hosting the 'highest stand-up comedy gig in the world', on a

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

flight in support of

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

. In 2011, Ó Briain took part in two shows of the 16-date '' Uncaged Monkeys'' tour with Professor Brian Cox, Robin Ince,

Ben Goldacre Ben Michael Goldacre (born 20 May 1974) is a British physician, academic and science writer. He is the first Bennett Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford ...

Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, (born 19 September 1964) is a British popular science author and theoretical and particle physicist. His written works include ''Fermat's Last Theorem'' (in the United States titled ''Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve ...

and

Chris Addison Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He was a panellist on several editions of TV comedy panel show '' Mock the Week''. He is known for lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he ...

. In October 2017, he started touring his show "Voice of Reason". As well as another 37 nights in Vicar St Theatre in Dublin (to bring his total there to 197 shows), "Voice of Reason" was performed more than 175 times, in 20 countries, including debut shows in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, Germany and New Zealand. It was recorded as a BBC special at the Hammersmith Apollo, for broadcast in 2019. He had originally planned to perform the show on debut tours to the United States and Canada in 2020, but this was postponed after the first four US dates, in early March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canadian part of the tour resumed in August 2021. In September 2021, he announced a new show, named "So... Where Were We?", with a tour starting in November 2021. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a portion of the tour in Ireland that was originally planned for January 2022 was pushed back to March through June 2022. He has been touring since and extended the tour. In February 2025, Ó Briain started his ''Re:Creation'' UK and

tour.

Television career

'' The Panel'' was hosted by Ó Briain. Three times nominated for the Best Entertainment show

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

(Irish Film and Television Awards), 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, Andrew Maxwell and Mairéad Farrell. Around 2002, with his profile rising in the UK due to his one-man shows at the

, Ó Briain began making appearances on UK television shows such as ''Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment'' (a Channel 5 production) and ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first host ...

''. In early 2003, he hosted the second series of

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

's '' Live Floor Show''. His big break in UK television came in 2003, when he appeared as a guest panellist on news quiz, '' Have I Got News for You'', subsequently making several appearances as guest host of the show. In 2003, Ó Briain was nominated 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. From 2005 to 2022, he was the host of the comedy panel show ''

'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, a blend between ''Have I Got News for You'' and ''

Whose Line Is It Anyway? ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' is a short-form improvisational comedy show created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. The three major versions of the show are the original 1988 British radio programme (from which all subsequent versions are ada ...

'' The show reached its 200th episode during its 19th series in 2019. On 14 September 2005, Ó Briain appeared as a guest on '' Room 101'', where he got rid of children's television presenters (following his work as a presenter on ''Echo Island'') and once-in-a-lifetime experiences (he was given a once-in-a-lifetime experience on the show by being the second guest to pull the lever that opens the chute to Room 101 – the first had been former host Nick Hancock). He also got rid of banter,

Gillian McKeith Gillian McKeith (born 28 September 1959) is a Scottish television personality and writer. She is known for her promotion of various pseudoscientific ideas about health and nutrition. She is the former host of Channel 4's '' You Are What You E ...

and magicians. Since 2006, Ó Briain has starred in the BBC's ''

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous novel by English writer Jerome K. Jerome describing ...

'' series, with

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh actor, comedian, writer and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. He and Smith came to national attention in the 1980s for ...

and Rory McGrath. The series has included the trio rowing the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, as in the 1889 novel of the same name, sailing from London to the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

for a sail boat race, borrowing numerous vessels to make their way from

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

to the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

. In 2009, the three took to the Irish canals and rivers on a trip from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

. In 2010, they explored the Isles of Scotland. In 2011, two more series were made; one travelling from Montenegro to Venice, the other travelling down the New England coast in the US to New York. In total seven series were made. Ó Briain has also been an extensive newspaper columnist, with pieces published in many national papers in both the UK and Ireland, from ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''. On 9 August 2006 he hosted the first edition of his chat show '' Turn Back Time'', which only ran for one series. He is a relatively frequent panellist on '' QI'' and wrote about Ireland in the ''QI'' series E annual, and appears occasionally on ''

Just a Minute ''Just a Minute'' is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game. For more than 50 years, with a few exceptions, it was hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Following Parsons' death in 2020, Sue Perkins became the permanent host, starting with the 87th ser ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. He also holds the record for greatest number of appearances on the BBC stand-up showcase '' Live at the Apollo,'' where he appeared seven times. On 1 October 2009, Ó Briain released his first book entitled ''Tickling the English'', about what he considers it means to be English. As part of its promotion, he has stated that he is enthusiastic about

English culture The culture of England is diverse. Owing to England's influential position within the United Kingdom it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate English culture from the culture of the United Kingdom as a whole. However, tracing its origins ...

and a student of English history, his favourite events being the

Gin Craze The Gin Craze was a period in the first half of the 18th century when the consumption of gin increased rapidly in Great Britain, especially in London. Daniel Defoe commented: "the Distillers have found out a way to hit the palate of the Poor, by ...

and the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

.Dara Ó Briain Interview, National Theatre, 23 October 2009 In a review of ''Tickling the English'', Ó Briain was described as Sir Terry Wogan's

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

as Britain's "favourite Irishman". Ó Briain has appeared several times in the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

science / comedy show '' The Infinite Monkey Cage'' which premiered on 30 November 2009 on Radio 4. In 2010, Ó Briain replaced

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...

as the presenter of '' The Apprentice: You're Fired!''. After five years, he quit following the 2014 series. Ó Briain has hosted the British Academy Video Games Awards 9 times between 2009 and 2019, including 2012, when highlights were also shown on Challenge. In 2012 he hosted the Bafta Television awards, the same year he was nominated for a Best Entertainment Performance Award. From 3 to 5 January 2011, Ó Briain and Brian Cox presented '' Stargazing Live'' on

, three programmes based at the

Jodrell Bank Observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio as ...

, scheduled to coincide with the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus, a partial solar eclipse, and the Quadrantid meteor shower. The two presenters hosted a second series of three-hour-long programmes, plus follow-up 30-minute shows called ''Stargazing Live: Back to Earth'', from 16 to 18 January 2012. From 8 to 10 January 2013, they presented the third series, again accompanied by ''Back to Earth''. Stargazing Live has continued to run intermittently throughout the decade, including live coverage of the Partial solar eclipse over the UK in 2015, Astronaut Tim Peake's journey to the ISS in 2016, and a 50th anniversary celebration of the Apollo missions in 2019. Stargazing Live was nominated for a Bafta for Best Live Television Event in 2017. From 16 April 2012, Ó Briain presented an eight-episode series of '' School of Hard Sums'' with co-host

Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy (; born 26 August 1965) is a British mathematician, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, Fellow of New College, Oxford and author of popular mathematics and popula ...

on Dave. Each episode was themed and Ó Briain along with a guest attempted to solve various conundrums posted by du Sautoy. Series 2 began on 1 May 2013. On 6 November 2012, Ó Briain began presenting a series called '' Dara Ó Briain's Science Club'', in which he and other celebrities discuss science issues. The first edition of this programme features Ed Byrne talking about how closely related he is to the

Neanderthals Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

. Each episode in the series includes a short animated history that has been created by the UK animation and illustration agency 12Foot6. In 2013, Ó Briain joined Jack Dee,

Chelsee Healey Chelsea Jade Healey (born 6 August 1988) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the roles of Janeece Bryant in the BBC school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2012, 2023), Honey Wright in the BBC medical drama series ...

, Greg James,

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), commonly known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. W ...

and Philips Idowu in ''Through Hell and High Water'', a

challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the

Zambezi River The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

. They raised over £1 million for the charity. '' Dara and Ed's Great Big Adventure'', a 2015 three-part fly-on-the-wall television series, followed Ó Briain and Ed Byrne on their journey by car down the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

. In June 2015, ''Dara Ó Briain Meets Stephen Hawking'', in which Ó Briain travels to Cambridge for a series of interviews with theoretical physicist

Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...

, aired on BBC One. From January to March 2016, Ó Briain presented ''Tomorrow's Food'', a three-episode series alongside Angela Hartnett, Chris Bavin and Dr Shini Somara. The

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

show looked at the technologies and produce in farms, supermarkets, kitchens and restaurants around the world. In 2016, Ó Briain began hosting a panel show about video games called '' Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit''. Ó Briain presented the 2016 reboot of ''

Robot Wars Robot Wars may refer to: Film and television * ''Robot Wars'' (film), 1993 ** ''Robot Wars'' (soundtrack) * ''Robot Wars'' (TV series), a British TV competition, 1998–2004 and 2016–2018 ** '' Nickelodeon Robot Wars'', a U.S. TV game show ...

'' starting on 24 July, as well as the subsequent two series in 2017. He hosted a revival of the classic quiz show '' Blockbusters'', which began airing on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

on 21 March 2019 until 5 December 2019. In 2019, Ó Briain appeared as a guest on ''

Hypothetical A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess or tho ...

''. In June 2019, he was the host of ''The Family Brain Games''. He co-hosted this with Hannah Critchlow, who was responsible for the psychological analysis and supported by Adam Hampshire. This programme was won by the Smith Family of Newmilns, Ayrshire. Ó Briain also presents C4 quiz show ''One & Six Zeros''. On 23 June 2022, Ó Briain was confirmed to star as a contestant in series 14 of C4 comedy game show '' Taskmaster''. He won the second episode of the series with 30 points, becoming the first person in the show's history to win the maximum possible number of points on offer in a single episode, and later went on to win the series with the highest-ever total score (later eclipsed by John Robins in series 17). In 2024 he returned to compete in the third ''Taskmaster: Champion of Champions'' special, against Sarah Kendall,

Morgana Robinson Morgana Robinson is an Australian-born British comedian, impressionist, writer and actress. She has appeared in her comedy sketch programme '' The Morgana Show'', ''Morgana Robinson's The Agency'', '' House of Fools'' and '' Very Important Peop ...

, Sophie Duker and Kiell Smith-Bynoe (who was substituting in for Series 15 champion Mae Martin). Once again Ó Briain was victorious. In August 2023, Ó Briain presented ''Wonders of the Moon with Dara Ó Briain''; a two-part series that aired on Channel 5. In May 2024, Ó Briain presented a two-part series on Channel 5 called ''Mysteries of the Pyramids with Dara O Briain''. In July 2024, ''Wonders of the Sun with Dara Ó Briain''; a two-part series presented by Ó Briain aired on Channel 5. In April 2025, Ó Briain presented ''Volcano with Dara O Briain'', a two-part series on Channel 5.

Film work

Ó Briain had a cameo role as a generalised alternative comedian in the 2013 British film '' The Look of Love'' directed by

Michael Winterbottom Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—''Welcome to Sarajevo'', ''Wonderland (1999 film), Wonderland'' and ''24 ...

Personal life

Ó Briain married his wife Susan, a surgeon, in 2006; they live in West London with their three children, one daughter (born 2008) and two sons (born 2011 and 2015). He was best man at his best friend Ed Byrne's wedding in 2008 after Byrne had previously been Ó Briain's best man. He describes himself as looking like "one of

Tony Soprano Anthony John Soprano, portrayed by James Gandolfini, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO crime drama television series ''The Sopranos''. He is a member of the American Mafia, Italian-American Mafia and, later in the series, ...

's henchmen, on a bad day", and said that in 2008, "living in London I probably only get recognised about once a day. And that's okay by me. I'm not a celebrity. And I certainly don't see myself as one".Taylor, Richie.
I'll never be a famous face. I'm an ugly bloke!
". ''

'', 15 February 2008. Retrieved on 15 November 2008. Ó Briain is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, but has said that he also sees himself as " ethnically Catholic": "I'm staunchly atheist, I simply don't believe in God, even if he believes in me. But I'm still Catholic, of course. Catholicism has a much broader reach than just the religion. I'm technically Catholic, it's the box you have to tick on the census form: 'Don't believe in God, but I do still hate Rangers. His surname is the original Irish form of O'Brien. He said, "My dad was involved in the Irish language movement and changed it. Even Irish people are now confused by it". Ó Briain is a fan of English football club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and of

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

, having played for Wicklow county football team at minor level. When his tweet congratulating

on knocking

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

out of the 2013 Football Championship was read out on '' The Sunday Game'', Ó Briain expressed amazement and vowed to try to have one read out every week. Ó Briain has also expressed an interest in Irish cricket, and has written about the subject for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper. As well as this he has attempted to explain

to British audiences. He attended many events of the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris. Ó Briain was one of fifteen members of a racing greyhound syndicate for several years. The December 2009 transmission of ''Three Men Go to Ireland'' featured their dog Snip Nua who, by the time of transmission, had been put down following injuries sustained in a race. Ó Briain was so upset about the death that he and his fellow syndicate members immediately disbanded the syndicate permanently. In early 2010, a series of small demonstrations were held outside some of Ó Briain's tour venues, urging him to publicly denounce the sport of

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

due to the dog's death. In 2020, Ó Briain tweeted that an

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

had been named after him: 4901 Ó Briain. In 2020, having known that he was adopted, he successfully sought out his birth family. In 2022, Ó Briain became one of the Patrons for the Plaza Cinema, Stockport.

Stand-up DVDs

References

External links

* * *
Dara Ó Briain on Chortle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obriain, Dara 1972 births 20th-century Irish comedians 21st-century Irish comedians Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Auditors of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin) Bray Emmets Gaelic footballers Bray Emmets hurlers Broadcasters from County Wicklow Former Roman Catholics Gaelic games players from County Wicklow Irish adoptees Irish atheists Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Irish former Christians Irish game show hosts Irish male comedians Irish stand-up comedians Irish television personalities People from Bray, County Wicklow People educated at Coláiste Eoin Scientific skeptics Television presenters from the Republic of Ireland