Comedian Dara Ó Briain has done many different things in his career. He has been a children's TV presenter, a game show host and an author.
His new book, Beyond the Sky: You and the Universe, is out now and is designed to introduce children to the wonders of space and the universe. He describes it as "very fun fact heavy."
Dara joined Matt to discuss the book and some of the other highlights of his career. Despite presenting shows like Mock the Week and Robot Wars, stand-up comedy is still his main commitment. He will be performing at Vicar Street on 11th October.
"There are sequences written in where it has to be different," he says of performing the same material each night. "People want improvisation, but they'd also like to think you've actually written a show."
Dara studied maths and physics at UCD, but says that if he hadn't turned to comedy he would be "the unhappiest maths teacher in Carlow Institute of Technology. I would be trying to pepper my lectures with jokes."
"There's an element of me that needs to perform. I need to think of a thousand people being unamused and I find that a tremendous inspiration."
If people don't laugh, he says, you need to find a way to get it out of them.
Despite living in London for 15 years, he still feels very connected to Ireland. But would he ever come back? As his wife is English, he's not so sure about uprooting the family.
"If you're not two Irish people abroad, that stuff doesn't fester as much."
