Angela and Nick pull out all the stops for a quick-witted comedian.

Dara Ó Briain is an Irish comedian known for his incredible stand-up shows and TV-presenting prowess,  including hosting BBC Two’s panel show Mock the Week, which ran for 17 years. 

Held in sky-high esteem by the comedy world and its audience, Dara began working in children’s TV in 1994 after studying maths and theoretical physics at university. Through the 2000s, he continued to work in TV before  channelling his efforts into stand-up comedy. 

He joined us at Dish HQ to talk about his new tour Re:Creation which focuses on the search for his biological father. The tour, which runs across the UK and Ireland, follows a sold-out run of his last show at 173 venues in 20 countries. Dara simply loves performing live. 

Off stage, Dara has a run of brilliant TV credits including presenting Stargazing Live, Robot Wars, Mock the Week and Comedy Central’s reboot of Blockbusters. 

There were some great food options to choose from Dara’s list of likes, with Angela deciding on chicken karahi, a recipe by Ravneet Gill. This was accompanied by a glass of Paolo Leo Varietali Primitivo Puglia and, of course, we had to satisfy Dara’s sweet tooth with profiteroles adapted from Martha Collison’s recipe for the best éclairs. 

As expected, Dara was a hugely entertaining guest, lifting the lid on how his stand-up comes together, his time on Mock the Week and the ups and downs of writing with wine.  

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All recipes from this podcast can be found at waitrose.com/dishrecipes

A transcript for this episode can be found at waitrose.com/dish

We can’t all have a Michelin star chef in the kitchen, but you can ask Angela for help. 

Send your dilemmas to [email protected] and she’ll try to answer them in a future episode.

Dish from Waitrose is made by Cold Glass Productions.