Dara Ó Briain has defended Mock the Week against a suggestion that the show encouraged bullying, claiming that the jokes about him were “allowable”.
The Irish comedian, 53, presented the panel show for its entire duration from 2005 until 2022. The basic format involved six comedians answering questions about the week in the news as part of a faux game show. The show was cancelled by the BBC after 17 years “in order to create room for new shows”.
Speaking ahead of his new documentary on 5, Volcano, O’Briain was asked about how he felt being the butt of many jokes on the show, with the panellists often ridiculing his nationality, voice, weight and appearance.
Responding to a question about whether the treatment of him was a form of bullying, Ó Briain told The Times: “No. It really wasn’t. If I was in a low-status position it would be bullying.
“But I’m the one pressing the buzzer and handing out the points and I have a kind of high-status mien about myself. So actually it’s fine. It’s grand. And a lot of it was from Ed Byrne, who is one of my closest friends. So I think it’s allowable.”
Ó Briain continued: “I don’t think you need to give young men licence to slag each other off. We didn’t invent the notion of people joking at each other. We just basically stepped into thousands of years of it.”
Discussing the show’s end, Ó Briain said at the time: “That’s it folks; the UK has finally run out of news. The storylines were getting crazier and crazier; Global pandemics, divorce from Europe, novelty short-term prime ministers. It couldn’t go on.
“And so, regretfully, we are closing the doors on Dara and Hugh [Dennis]’s Academy for Baby Comedians. We just couldn’t be more silly than the news was already. Huge thanks to all our guests over the years, so many of whom went on to huge successes of their own, and never write or call. It was a joy!”
In 2023 it was reported that Mock the Week was set for a revival in the United States via Amazon.
At the time former Daily Show star Trevor Noah was attached as an executive producer, alongside the format’s original co-creator Dan Patterson.
