Interview: Dara O Briain

Dara O Briain takes a break from fronting shows as diverse as Mock the Week, School of Hard Sums, Robot Wars, Dara and Ed’s Big Adventure and Go8Bit to speak about his return to live stand up, his love of local crowds, and talking over Brian Cox on Stargazing Live.

Dara O Briain is returning to his first love: stand-up. He is embarking on a mammoth national tour with a brand-new show entitled Voice of Reason. “It’s my job,” the comedian enthuses. “I can’t wait!”

He starts by underlining how pleased he is to be performing to a live audience again. “Doing stand-up is a euphoric experience. The great thing is the anticipation. You’re thinking, ‘You’re going to love this next bit!’”

What Dara does better than any other stand-up is play to the home crowd. “It’s wonderful to create local jokes that repay three or seven or even 12 years later. When I play Coventry, for instance, there are always packets of crisps on the stage. That comes from an audience interaction I had 12 years ago.

“Back then, I was chatting with a guy in the audience who worked for a crisp company. I did a joke about it, and when I came back on stage after the interval, there were 12 packets of crisps waiting for me on stage! Many people in Coventry remember that. So that’s the reason why the crisps are still there.”

Dara had an equally memorable experience in Glasgow. “There was a plastic bag waiting for me on stage. I did a joke pretending to be Brad Pitt at the end of Se7en – ‘What’s in the bag?’ It turned out that in the bag was a funny fur hat and scarf combination and a stethoscope.

“That was a reference to Dr Bear, a character I did three shows ago in Glasgow. Someone had left that bag on stage because they remembered it. It’s tremendous to build up relationships in all these different places.”

He goes on to recall the trademark of his visits to Norwich. “There’s a giant duck outside Norwich that I always refer to repeatedly when I’m there. A picture of the duck is on a brown tourism sign next to a picture of a church. Why is the duck the same size as the church?”

In Voice of Reason, Dara will be discussing such topics as the ordinariness of his daily life. He reflects that, “If there is a theme to the show, it is that at the age of 46, I have an incredibly normal life!”

On stage, Dara will also be mulling over the rise of the nerd. The comic observes that, “Nerds have become much cooler recently. Thanks to the Internet, they can find each other now. It’s very positive.”

There was a tiny moment where we thought we could use the internet to amplify scientific truths and have a great weapon for fighting lies. But no

In addition, in the show Dara will be talking about his on-screen relationship with Professor Brian Cox on Stargazing Live. “When Brian and I work together, he is the expert and I am the broadcaster. When he is talking, sometimes a producer says into my earpiece: ‘A plane is now hovering over Scandinavia with shots of the aurora borealis. We have to cut to that.’

“So at those moments, I have to interrupt Brian. But furious viewers then write in saying, ‘Why did you interrupt Professor Brian Cox? I was enjoying watching him!’”

Dara adds that, “They genuinely think I interrupt Brian because I’m jealous of him. They imagine I’m saying, ‘Sorry to interrupt you, Brian, but it is not going to be all about you tonight. I also know things that I want to tell the audience’. Brian and I find that idea hilarious!”

The comedian will also be devoting a large section of the show to a very funny routine about how he has become the subject of a fake news website.

Dara explains that, “I go in to the madness of this story about these things that are supposed to have happened to me. The producers of this fake news site have filled in some details. For example, they mention James Street in Dublin. So some effort has been made in producing it.

“But it’s still so ludicrous. The site pops up next to features headlined, ‘She has discovered the secret that dentists don’t want you to know’, and, ‘20 stars whose lives have been ravaged by drugs.’ In one of those, they put a picture of Chris O’Dowd beside a picture of Shane McGowan!”

This terrific routine emphasises the extent to which the internet has turned into an uncontrollable Wild West. Dara reflects that, “The internet has become a torrent of disinformation.

“There was a tiny moment where we thought we could use the internet to amplify scientific truths and have a great weapon for fighting lies. But no, that was completely wrong. What the internet is really useful for is more lies!”

Dara closes by underscoring what he hopes audiences will take away from “Voice of Reason”. “I get really enthusiastic about science-y stuff. You can see me getting giddy about space. That’s why I recently wrote that kids’ book about space. But on tour, I’m there to do funny.

Dara O Brian: Voice Of Reason, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Friday 12 & Saturday 13 October, 8pm, £24.50, brightondome.org