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Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...

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 ...

, occupation = Comedian, actress , years_active = 1993–present , net_worth = , height = , spouse = Stephen Bradley , partner = , children = 2 - 1 daughter (Holly), 1 son (Daniel) , parents = , mother = , father = , relatives = , family = , callsign = , awards = 1

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 ...

, website = , module = , footnotes = Deirdre O'Kane (; born 25 March 1968) is an Irish

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

and actress.

Biography

Originally from

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

, O'Kane is married to writer and director Stephen Bradley; they have two children. She attended Loreto High School Beaufort, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in

Career

Stand-up comic

O'Kane became a stand-up comic in 1996 and got into the finals of the BBC New Comedy Awards of that year. She has played at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

every year since including 2001 where she not only performed her own solo show, ''Deirdre O'Kane is Crystallized'', but also the two-hander ''Tis Pity She's Anonymous''. She has also played The Melbourne, Adelaide and Kilkenny

Cat Laughs The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival is a comedy festival held over the first weekend in June each year in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was founded in 1994. It has been referred to as the "Best Little Comedy Festival in ...

Festivals and has toured the Middle East, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Prague, Brussels and London.

Theatre

O'Kane began her career as an actress and has played every major theatre in Ireland as well as touring in Australia, Canada and the UK. Leading roles include Mary in ''

Juno and the Paycock ''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the I ...

'' (National Theatre), Miss Funny in ''At the Black Pig's Dyke'' ( Druid Theatre Co.) and Daphne in ''Present Laughter'' (Gate Theatre).

Movies

She portrayed the role of Noeleen in the 2003 motion picture ''

Intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a break between parts of a performance or production, such as for a play (theatre), theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with ...

'', directed by John Crowley. She played the lead role in the 2014 biopic ''

Noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

'' as Christina Noble, a children's rights campaigner, charity worker and writer, who founded the Christina Noble Children's Foundation in 1989.

Television

Television credits include hosting the ten-part TV series of stand-up comedy and sketches called ''The Lounge'' (

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, ...

) which included guests such as

Rich Hall Richard Travis Hall (born June 10, 1954) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as ...

Adam Hills Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show '' Adam Hi ...

, Jeff Green and

Dara Ó Briain Dara Ó Briain ( , ; born 4 February 1972) is an Irish comedian and television presenter based in the United Kingdom. He is noted for performing stand-up comedy shows all over the world and for hosting topical panel shows such as ''Mock the Wee ...

. She also played the role of Fiona in

Owen O'Neill Owen O'Neill is a Northern Irish writer, actor, director, and comedian. Early life O'Neill was born, the third eldest of 16 children, in Cookstown, Northern Ireland. He has drawn on his upbringing in Cookstown for some of his more colourful ch ...

's sit-com ''The Fitz'' (

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

). In 2001, O'Kane (described in ''

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 ...

'' as "absolutely superb") played the leading role of Helen in ''

Paths to Freedom ''Paths to Freedom'' was a popular comedy on the Irish television network RTÉ Two. The shows stars two characters, Jeremy ( Brendan Coyle) and Rats ( Michael McElhatton), who have both recently been released from a Dublin prison. The show t ...

'', a six-part spoof-documentary for RTÉ/BBC Choice and starred in the RTÉ comedy series '' Fergus's Wedding''. In 2012, she took on the part of Debra Moone, in Sky's comedy ''

Moone Boy ''Moone Boy'' is an Irish sitcom created, co-written by and co-starring Chris O'Dowd for British broadcaster Sky One. The series is co-written by Nick Murphy (writer), Nick Vincent Murphy and is produced by Baby Cow Productions, Sprout Pictures ...

''. In 2016, she made a guest appearance on the British TV show ''

As Yet Untitled ''Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled '' is a British television programme that was first broadcast on Dave and hosted by comedian Alan Davies. In each episode Davies holds an unscripted roundtable discussion with four guests. The guests include st ...

'' and told an anecdote about her car being double clamped by over-efficient clampers to whom she was rude over the phone.

Alan Davies Alan Roger Davies (; ; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only permanen ...

liked her stories enough to consider naming the episode after one of her quotes: "Would you ever fuck off?". O'Kane is one of the narrators of the Irish version of ''

Gogglebox ''Gogglebox'' is a British reality television series created by Stephen Lambert, Tania Alexander and Tim Harcourt, and broadcast on Channel 4. The series documents families and groups of friends around the United Kingdom who are filmed for the ...

'', alongside Rory Cowan, which started in 2016 on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

. In 2018, she was a runner-up on the second series of the Irish version of ''

Dancing With The Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''. In October 2021, ''The Deirdre O'Kane Show'' launched on

Sky Max Sky Max is a British pay television channel and on-demand service which launched on 1 September 2021. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a subsidiary of Comcast. The service broadcasts a variety of drama, comedy-drama, and unscripted serie ...

. The five-part series features

Bill Bailey Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian, actor and television presenter. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom '' Black Books'' (2000–2004), and for his regula ...

, Ardal O’Hanlon, Joanne McNally, Jason Byrne,

Reginald D. Hunter Reginald Darnell Hunter (born March 26, 1969) is an American stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian based in the United Kingdom. Early life Reginald Darnell Hunter was born on March 26, 1969, in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, the youngest of nine.Ma ...

Neil Delamere Neil Delamere ( ; born 1979) is an Irish comedian. He is a regular on the BBC Northern Ireland television show '' The Blame Game'', and was the BBC Fighting Talk Champion of Champions in 2022. Early life and education Delamere is from Ede ...

, Emma Doran,

Des Bishop Desmond Bishop (born 12 November 1975) is an American - Irish comedian. He was brought up in New York and moved to Ireland at the age of 14. He primarily resides there. Early life Bishop attended St. Francis Preparatory School in the Fresh M ...

, Catherine Bohart and Martin Angolo. Hip-hop comedian Rob Broderick, a.k.a. Abandoman, also features on the show. In September 2021, she became a judge on the Irish talent show '' The Big Deal'' along with

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward, are Irish media personalities and singers. They are Monozygotic, identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in The X Factor (British TV series) series 6, th ...

Lyra , from ; pronounced: ) is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra was often represented on star ...

, and

Aston Merrygold Aston Iain Merrygold (born 13 February 1988) is a British singer, songwriter, actor, dancer and television presenter. He is known for being a member of the British boy band JLS, who were the runners-up to Alexandra Burke in the fifth series ...

. In 2024, O'Kane was a contestant on LOL: Last one Laughing Ireland, the Irish version of Japanese comedy-reality show Documental, where "Ten of Ireland's comedy stars try to make each other laugh." She ended up getting into the final but lost to Jason Byrne. In 2025, she appeared in

Chris O'Dowd Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979) is an Irish actor and comedian. He received wide attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the lead characters in the Channel 4 comedy ''The IT Crowd'', which ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2010. He has star ...

's Small Town: Big Story as Carol from Casting.

References

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okane, Deirdre 1968 births 20th-century Irish comedians 21st-century Irish comedians Living people Irish stand-up comedians Irish television actresses Irish women comedians People from Drogheda 21st-century Irish actresses Actors from County Louth