‘I told a jok

NEWS ROUND: Dara with fellow comedians Hugh Dennis, left, and Andy Parsons on Mock The Week

DARA ó BRIAIN is discussing his breezy new book, Is There Anybody Out There?, aimed at introducing inquisitive youngsters to the mysteries of space and the possibility of alien life. Only he isn’t so much talking as enthusing – at something approaching the speed of light.

The motormouth BBC Two Mock The Week star, a television fixture for 15 years, is renowned for his equally rapid wit. So it’s hard to believe the genial Irish comedian was once a geeky, tongue-tied teenager.

“I was socially awkward,” he tells me. “A bit dorky and shy. I was not socially gifted. I couldn’t speak to anyone until I was 15.”

University changed that. Dara, 48, studied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at University College, Dublin.

“College debates were big events for me. We had nothing like that at school. I sat in envy in the audience for a year. Then I entered a competition for first-time speakers. I told a joke and it got a big laugh. All of my dials hit red. I didn’t even know I had a dial. Where did that feeling come from?

“And that was it. Physics went out the window and I w my parents I w like saying I wa improbable dep

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“I drove from be told there w cancelled it,” h the six and then round trip...”

His first tour I was! I ended I was getting b they were on a

“It was three night. You deve wages as a chil RTE kept him a

Dara, 6ft 4in words “like on Soprano’s henc day”. He’s unm now. “I’m wear yet people still am,” he laughs