CityLife

Lowry double for Dara

A COMEDIAN who was a member of the debating club while studying maths and physics at University College Dublin isn't one you're likely to try arguing with.

With such a background honing his brain, it's no surprise that Dara O Briain is considered to be one of the sharpest comics performing stand up today.

It's a reputation that has earned him the role of host on BBC 2's satirical panel show Mock The Week and as a regular guest compere on Have I Got News For You, "it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream to banter on television with Paul Merton. Have I Got News For You has been the best thing that's happened to me."

By the time he hit our screens he was already a household name in his native Ireland. But sadly for the people of Ireland he felt it was necessary to move to London.

"When you're a fisherman, you have to live by the sea. In the same way, if you're a comedian and you have the chance to work with Stephen Fry and Paul Merton, you're not going to commute from Dublin.

"London is too beautiful a place to do stand-up - you've got to be here," he laments and enthuses simultaneously.

Despite the opportunity to hob nob with comedy nobility, O Briain loves nothing more than to get on the road and see outside of the capital and perform live stand up.

"You get a real smell of the country when you're touring. I love the variety you see when you're travelling about England. Ireland is quite small and uniform, and that is also the image that Britain has. But when you go around it, you find that Britain is fantastically diverse and multi-cultural. That's really underrated."

"I get a huge buzz from live work," he eulogises. "Nothing is ever written down. There is no Bob Monkhouse-style joke-book. I love veering off on tangents. That's what makes every night unique. The fourth wall is there to be broken."

Halifax

Consequently, he's met some pretty interesting people along the way. "In the audience of a gig in Halifax, I had the male and female UK Window Cleaning Champions. I found out it took them just seven seconds to do three large office windows under competition conditions.

"I soon built that up into a Rocky-style story of triumph over adversity. They've even reappeared in my act when other places have been a bit quiet - 'sod you, in Halifax I met the mixed doubles champions of window cleaning!'"

But when he is performing it's often in the form of a rant. The current show touches on crime, religion and homeopathy, but previous rants have included age and how it affects your perception of youth (he's in his mid-Thirties) and the other issue that suddenly begins to concern you in your Thirties - exercise.

"I was given a gift of some sessions with a personal trainer. I thought she was going to come round to my house and shout things like 'max it to the extreme' and 'feel the rip'.

"Then take me to the park and kick the shit out of me while people in the surrounding tower-blocks laugh at me. I'm not sure if my fitness is worth the humiliation. Maybe it's like Orwell or Brat Camp, they need to break me before rebuilding me in a world of salad!

"Fitness is a good thing," he acquiesces, "but it's just such a chore. Also, being a stand-up is not a lifestyle that lends itself very well to it. On tour the other year, after the show I'd sit in my hotel room in somewhere like Selby, drinking eight cans of cider and watching the African Nations' Football Tournament on the telly.

"It's very difficult to find a low-carb salad at 11.30 at night in Selby!"

That's his excuse and he's sticking to it.

Dara O Briain is at the Lowry on Saturday and Sunday though he won't be jogging there.

Dara O Briain plays The Lowry on Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27. £17.50, £19.50. Call 0870 787 5780.