[Big smile] In what way have I broken him?
Did you catch this story?
[Gasps with glee] I did not!
So he was doing this antithesis to2012, and clearly its now all fallen apart because of you.
I am so proud of that!
Because I was never convinced byIndependence Day…
Its half a film.
It was homage in every direction!
MainlyV, though, which itself was stolen from Arthur C Clarke.
Its not bad geek credentials to bring it back to him.
So, I was angry with that anyway.
But also because I sawIndependence Daytwice in the cinema.
Once on holiday in Cancun in Mexico, which was full of Americans whooping and cheering.
And then I went to see it in Dublin.
And this woman started laughing.
She got a fit of the giggles and couldnt stop herself.
Every line of the film Pullman said, she would laugh again.
And eventually, the whole room was in tears laughing at this shit.
And everyone just fell around.
Were both screenings equally as good in their own way, though?
In a way they were both memorable, yeah.
But I felt more at home, I have to say, at the second screening.
They were more my people!
Did you seeThe Day After Tomorrow, then?
Where the penicillin didnt freeze?
[Laughs] What are the chances that there was going to be bad science inThe Day After Tomorrow!
The other thing you put in this gig is your extensive videogame routine.
Id say I couldnt have done it even two years ago.
Was that you and your confidence in it, or the audience?
I think that the age profile of gaming has gone up.
That generation has become this generation.
It might be a tipping point.
And thats enough to get away with a routine like that.
Thered just be one man, like a meerkat, in the middle, sitting up ramrod straight.
Hed be going what is this man saying.
Hes just waddling on stage!
Even when it got to doingLive At The Apollo,were like what do we take for that?.
We said well, weve got to take the gaming.
And there was a small element of gamble, but it goes big for the people it really hits.
You debuted it at BAFTA?
No, the first time it really came out was on Charlie Brookers show.
But we never felt we could finish with it.
Also, a lot of your book,Tickling The English,is about measuring the audience.
So this is what I couldnt reconcile, because Im intrigued as to why gaming wouldnt work beforehand.
But I know what essential details to give an audience so as not to bog the routine down.
But as well as that, theres more trust from them [the audience] for me.
And that theyre more likely to go with me.
They think we dont know where hes going with this, but weve worked with this guy before.
Lets hang in with him for a while and see where hes going to take this.
If all else fails, there are always new films you could take the piss out of!
Yeah, they are always new films.
The problem is finding a film with a comedy angle.
Some are just crap.
And the neutrinos [from2012] can be a tough sell.
That in itself is a tough subject for a comedy gig!
True enough, yeah, yeah, yeah!
The neutrinos is a cheap pay-off, lets not forget.
It is a really silly pay-off.
But I have gone wilfully more nerdy in this show.
And I even say its going to be slightly nerdy at the start.
And then every routine from here to the end is essentially a nerdy routine!
And your audience had real geek credentials.
You uncovered aSecond Lifeprogrammer at one point…
Oh, yes, yes!
If Id been sat in the audience at that point, Id have been away.
But I remember you saying at the time that you moved away from it very quickly.
That was because whileSecond Lifewas a media phenomenon, it wasnt a general one.
And there is an important distinction between the stuff that you and I know from our corner of Twitter.
The tweet I sent the other week about Robin Hood airport…
This was the one you were very pleased with?
All your base are belong to us!
Somebody set up us the Bomb!]
Because I was sitting in a car, and doing the I Am Spartacus thing and joining in.
And then, the two bits in my deeply hungover mind came into place.
She was really, really not at the races.
And I sat there and suddenly went oh God, this would be so good.
I hope nobodys done this.
Thats the last thing you want to write.
And then I put the phone down, but kept checking it!
And I read it to her and she said I dont understand that.
Shes like, I dont get it.
And then Id read her things like LOL.
Dara wins the Internet.
And then it went on Channel 4 News, and CBS News.
Funnily enough, I wrote a tweet that appeared on Channel 4 News.
But we have our own little corner of [Twitter], and it is beautiful.
Its about indulging yourself without over-indulging yourself, though.
Its dangerous now with Twitter, too, because its now treated as a legitimate news source.
You touched on it there.
Look at Stephen Fry.
One persons tweet there generated how many pages of coverage in the media?
It is in an awkward half-light, transitional phase between spoken word and written word.
That murky ground between the two, where wed like to be able to grab it back.
My view of what Twitter is, is that its the open plan office experience on a massive scale.
you could grab them into a private room.
And it is an open plan office for people, just with 200,000 chairs or whatever.
I get the same rush from it, because Emma Thompson included me in a Tweet.
And she put, 28 years in Hollywood, and this woman asks me about them!
So I sent her a thing and said if youre ever stuck, just make shit up about me.
Its a win-win for me.
An hour later, her reply pops up with Remember those rumours in the 90s about Tom Cruise sexuality?
Other man was @daraobriain.
I was like, yaaaay.
You get the same rush.
Its amazingly democratising, and normalising.
For better or worse, as well.
And it may take the sheen off things.
And people cant stand press release talk.
Its kind of awkward, because we havent best worked out how to mention product, generally.
But you know that people will go do you have to spend all your time selling?
People get fucking livid about trying to get any plug at all!
Its weird, though.
I have people I only know through it!
Hes a great interviewee.
Its weird, because hes not dim at all.
The mans a genius, in his own way.
Have you ever seen Whats up with Topher Grace?
Whats that American site?
They have a column checking what hes been up to.
And its an occasional look at Topher Graces excursions into popular culture.
Oh, to be the subject of an ironic column…!
Feel free to quote his questions!
I did quote him in aBack To The Futurearticle, recently.
He does have strong views onBack To The Future.
That they would recognise this person who you spent a week with, 20 years earlier.
I dont think they would.
Ah, now, if you start bringing up the second film, Ive never fully sat through it.
Ive sat through the third film.
Oh heck, youve got to watch it.
That is a part of it.
It breaks the ice, they have more to say.
But theres still a thousand of 2000 there.
So if you add it up, they are collectively 100 times better than me.
Thats such the nerds way to do it…
Yeah!
And I can even see the graph in my head!
It is a case, though, of getting it out of them.
The one Im going to stop doing is what do you do for a living.
Im over that now.
Im getting more lies, which I prefer.
Youve been overtly asking for lies from your audience too?
Yeah, Ive just asked them to lie.
Youve structured your show in the past around the audience.
Yeah, youre right.
Then you realise that youre trotting the same stuff out.
National characteristics, too.
This year, for the first time, it might be theyve seen this too often.
But its 50/50 whether theres a good life-saving story, or just an unusual job or something.
It has its purposes.
But there will always be interaction.
So they will take turns that you dont anticipate.
And most of the time theyre unrepeatable, because of the moment.
Sometimes you get a beautiful visual element, sometimes you dont.
So theyre ah yeah, just listen…
So its already gone through the exaggeration phase?
They remain a resource, but Ive got to find ways to use them.
You have, in a weird way, an evening of honest lying, then?
The one trick I may use is something I did in Edinburgh called truth or liar.
Throughout the show I got them to guess whether Id been honest or dishonest.
And I may do that again.
Incidentally, have you seen the final copy of the DVD yet?
No, not yet.
Theyve put a thank you for not pirating this DVD message at the start of it.
Because theyve turned the campaign around.
And now its a big thank you.
[Laughs] Thats good, Im delighted!
Looking into the future, the retirement gig for comedians now is that you do a daytime TV show.
Oh God, that was always thus, though.
Weve gotGoldenballswith Jasper Carrot.Lucky Ladders.
Even Noel Edmonds taking an hour to open boxes.
Its the Monkhouse path through the 40s and 50s.
And thats where they come in.
Did you see Terry Wogan hostingNever Mind The Buzzcocks?
No, was he good?
Now youve got the panellists on a show of that ilk who are deeply respectful of him.
Youre always aware, and youd be short-sighted if you werent, how is this going to end.
Hopefully still on stage, possibly not Ken Dodd…
Really?
I quite like the Ken Dodd thing.
I dont think theres anything sad or wrong with it.
But not in the jungle.
Never in the jungle.
Theyve just sent Gillian McKeith there, havent they?
[Big grin] They have, yeah.
It is a pleasure to have had people finally come to me about the original McKeith material!
[laughs]
So where next?
Youve already said youre going to tour again in 2012?
Ill start previewing this time next year.
Do it again in 2012, again in 2014, and well see where we are at that stage.
But I am a stage animal.
So Ill have to do it in some shape or form, talking in front of a crowd.
Is there anything else lined up?
Are you going back in a boat?
Weve got one more boat thing, at the start of the year.
And Im possibly doing a science thing at the start of the year, but its not definite.
Ive got all my quantum mechanics books out again, Im going back into that.
I just want to do something with a different part of the brain for a while.
And then Ill come back to writing jokes again.
But Ive got moreApprentice, moreMock…
Dara O Briain, thank you very much.
Dara O Briains terrific DVD, This Is The Show, is available now.
