Dara Ó Briain

Ó Briain was born in Wicklow and attended Coláiste Eoin, a Gaelscoil on Dublin's southside. He attended college in University College, Dublin, where he studied maths and theoretical physics. 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 there, he was both the auditor of the Literary and Historical Debating society, and the co-editor and co-founder of the University Observer college newspaper. In 1994 he won the Irish Times National Debating Championship, the Irish leg of the English-Speaking Union John Smith Memorial Mace and the Irish Times/Gael Linn National Irish language debating championship (he is a fluent Irish speaker).

After leaving college, Ó Briain began his television career as a children's presenter on RTÉ, and began performing his first stand-up gigs on the Irish comedy circuit.[3] He admitted, "I did the trip from Donegal to Dublin 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) language 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. - Official Facebook Page