‘I remember going: oh hello!’ Dara Ó Briain on comedy, coolness, cruelty and finding his parents

The standup has been the host of the panel show Mock the Week for more than two decades.

As it returns to UK screens, he discusses its years as a macho bear pit, the dearth of jokes about Brexit – and why it’s important to punch up Dara Ó Briain is still having photos taken when I arrive at the studio in west London.

A comedian requires comedy pictures, so Pål, the photographer, has him sitting on the floor holding up a scroll of the rust-coloured paper that he’s using as a backdrop.

It looks as if the roof is falling in on Ó Briain.

He calls over to me.

“We can tailor the interview to match the pictures,” he says.

“Starting with: do you ever feel like you’re trapped in a box?” Shoot over, he ditches his jacket and we walk up the road to find a quiet corner in a pub.

There’s a new season of Mock the Week, the topical satirical panel show that ran for 17 years on BBC Two until 2022 and has now been reborn on the free-to-air channel TLC.

A roster of comedians make up two teams and compete in a faux gameshow, ostensibly to answer questions about the previous week’s news, but really just to be funny.

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