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Published May 2008 in the Plymouth Diary
Are you ready to mock?
TV show Mock the Week’s genial host Dara O’Briain has done his homework on the Plymouth Diary. “Yeah, the Plymouth Diary is ‘what, where, when’, isn’t it? And I do believe there is a beer festival at Tuckers Maltings in April, right? Actually, I did just Google you a few minutes ago,” he roars. “It’s a bit scary though because it gives the exact location of your offices!” Perhaps he’s thinking of beating down our door if he’s not pleased with the piece – but how could anyone fail to warm to this quick-witted and achingly funny Irishman who’s one of the hottest comedy talents around at the moment.
After months of delighting TV audiences on panel shows such as Have I got News For you, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and of course Mock the Week, Dara embarks on his fourth national stand up tour, which includes a show at the Plymouth Pavilions, in what he affectionately terms ‘a resumption of my day job’.
He explained: “There’s something special about being in a room with 2,000 people and having two hours of essentially playtime with them. I love it because every night you’re trying something different. I do a lot of talking to the audience but it is actually a show too. I mean if someone passed a petition around asking people not to answer any of my questions, I would still have an hour-and-a-half of a show left! But what makes that even more fun is that 30% will be added to it by me throwing questions out to the audience.”
Dara’s banter with audience members actually helps him to remember shows but it’s not about ritual humiliation, or a case of ‘mock the weak’. “I don’t do it in a hoary, corny old picking-on-people way or just point at someone and start laughing at them, he added. “But you do have to make sure you strike a balance. Some people like the improvisation and spontaneity part of it but others might think ‘that’s just you talking!’ and may feel slightly cheated. There is actually and genuinely a show there, and you have to make sure you deliver both.”
There are no specific targets for Dara to rail against but he’s very mindful of avoiding what he’s sees as comedy pitfalls. “The dullest topic you can ever talk about are things like bodily functions or pooh, or ‘Bush is stupid’. That was a low point in the comedy world doing jokes about Bush being stupid. You’re just backing up people’s prejudices and the audience ends up applauding itself. That’s out the window for a start.”
Mock the Week has provided an important showcase for emerging comedy talent such as Frankie Boyle, Russell Howard and Andy Parsons. Dara admits that the team works very hard to create the illusion of spontaneity. “Don’t ever underestimate the value of rehearsals on Mock the Week to make it look like it’s off-the-cuff,” he laughs. “I am basically used as fertiliser. The buds of the jokes get planted by somebody else and I nurture and water them and then throw them around to other people so they build up into something even bigger. It often ends up with one of those ridiculous gags that go on and on.
“Every show there are two or three of these gags initiated by Frankie or Russell who are like two angels at my shoulder. Frankie is a dark angel and Russell is a sweet, scatterbrained child angel.”
But the show didn’t always champion new comedians. Says Dara: “The first two series I felt the comedians were very old school. There was a deliberate decision to bring in younger comedians. It was a whole new generation who hadn’t been on the telly. For about ten or 15 years there were the same three panel shows and an unchanging array of faces, but there was a whole load of new people bubbling under on the circuit. When they burst through we wanted to feature the new generation.”
With the scarcity of stand-up shows on TV these days, an increasing number of comedians are turning to sitcoms to ply their trade. But Dara confesses to zero acting talent.
“I am like a radiator – I can’t emote,” he admits. “I have read for a couple of things but I get incredibly self-conscious. If it’s not my own words I just get very aware of every part of me. I’ll be reading the words and thinking: ‘is my arm in a funny place?’ I just can’t do it naturally. It’s just so weird to me to do someone else’s words. I used to have a monologue on Mock the Week but I hated it because it was too contrived. Acting is a talent which I admire enormously but I don’t share it.”
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