Mock the Week - - 12:00 am Thursday, December 18 on U&Dave

Dara O Briain (Host)

Born: February 04, 1972 in Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland

Best Known For: Mock the Week.

Early-life: Born in Bray, Co Wicklow, on February 4, 1972, and attended a tough school on Dublin's southside. He studied maths and theoretical physics at University College, Dublin. While a student there, he was both the auditor of the Literary and Historical Society (the university's oldest debating society and the official College Debating Union) and the co-founder and co-editor of the University Observer college newspaper. In 1994, he won the Irish Times National Debating Championship and the Irish Times/Gael Linn National Irish language debating championship.

Career: O Briain's first post-uni job was as a children's TV presenter for RTE. He also began performing stand-up gigs on the Irish comedy circuit. He came to prominence as a team captain on the Irish topical panel show Don't Feed The Gondolas (1998-2000). He then toured heavily, performing across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. In 2002, O Briain began making appearances on British TV shows. He has hosted the comedy panel game Mock the Week since 2005, and continues to perform stand-up. He took over from Adrian Chiles as the host of The Apprentice: You're Fired! in 2010, but quit in 2014. He has also branched out into maths and science with the series School of Hard Sums and Stargazing Live.

Quote: On School of Hard Sums: "I only did it to get the problems, because I quite like doing equations. There's a bit of me that just pined for a bit of maths."

Trivia: O Briain was one of the six celebrities who took on the Zambezi River for Comic Relief's 2013 Through Hell and High Water challenge.

Hugh Dennis (Panellist)

Born: February 13, 1962 in Kettering

Best Known For: His regular slot on Mock the Week and The Now Show on Radio 4.

Early-life: Peter Hugh Dennis was born in Kettering on February 13, 1962. His father was Bishop of Saint Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Hugh read geography at Cambridge, where he joined the famous Footlights and met future comedy partner Steve Punt. After graduating, he worked at Unilever for six years. Hugh and Steve worked the comedy circuit, including London's Comedy Store. There, they were spotted by Jasper Carrott, who offered the pair a slot on his show Carrott Confidential.

Career: Punt and Dennis moved on to work on The Mary Whitehouse Experience, alongside Rob Newman and David Baddiel, before branching out into their own radio series, It's Been A Bad Week and the hugely popular The Now Show. Over the years, Dennis has appeared in a string of comedy shows, including The Imaginatively Titled Punt and Dennis Show, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You. As well as keeping busy with plenty of voice-over work, Dennis is also an accomplished actor. His CV boasts roles in My Hero and the popular sitcom Outnumbered. He has been involved with The Now Show on Radio 4 since 1998.

Quote: "Everyone's careers go at different paces; you need to forget what other people are doing and concentrate on your own progress."

Trivia: Away from performing, in 2007, Dennis took part in a mountain stage of the Tour de France.

Andy Parsons (Panellist)

Best Known For: Mock the Week

Early-life: Born in 1967, Parsons attended the prestigious Churston Ferrers Grammar School in Devon before going to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he met Henry Naylor and formed a double-act which twice toured with the National Student Theatre Company and once with Footlights. After studying law, he established, with Naylor, London's first sketch comedy club. His first TV writing job was for Spitting Image and he went on to become one of the show's main writers.

Career: Parsons has gradually built up a following among comedy fans, thanks to his inspired live performances and more mainstream exposure. He has appeared as a guest on They Think It's All Over, QI, and BBC Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk. He became a regular panellist on Mock the Week at the beginning of series three. He also performs regularly across the UK and has become a stalwart of the world's major comedy festivals. He's regularly performed solo shows at the Edinburgh, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Comedy Festivals. His first live DVD, Britain's Got Idiots, was a big hit in 2009.

Quote: On the British: "What do we want?' ‘A pie and a kip!' ‘When do we want it?' ‘Ooh, we don't want to make a fuss'."

Trivia: In 2010, Parsons took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala benefit show in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Rob Beckett (Panellist)

Miles Jupp (Panellist)

Born: September 08, 1979 in Newcastle Upon Tyne

Best Known For: Starring in Rev and Balamory

Early-life: Miles was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1979, but spent most of his childhood in London. His father was a minister in the United Reform Church, and it initially looked as if Miles was going to follow in his footsteps when he studied Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. However, he combined his studies _ and a job as a trainee chaplain in the local psychiatric hospital _ with performing as a stand-up comedian.

Career: His stand-up career started to take off _ he won the So You Think You're Funny? competition in 2001 and two years later was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2002, he also won over a younger audience when he was cast as Archie the inventor in the children's TV series Balamory, which ran for three years. Since then, he's gone on to appear in acclaimed sitcoms such as The Thick Of It and Rev, and has cropped up on numerous panel shows. He's also appeared in films ranging from Johnny English Reborn to Grimsby and The Legend of Tarzan, and took over from Sandi Toksvig as the host of Radio 4's The News Quiz.

Quote: On being typecast as polite, repressed characters: "I was moaning about this the other day to a friend and he said: 'What are you expecting to play - a Mexican drug lord?'"

Trivia: Miles starred as the actor David Tomlinson, who is probably best know for his role in Mary Poppins, in the one-man play The Life I Lead. He took on the project after numerous people _ including Tomlinson's eldest son _ remarked on the similarities between them.

Romesh Ranganathan (Panellist)

Born: January 30, 1978 in Crawley

Best Known For: Being a comedian.

Early-life: Born Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan in Crawley on January 30, 1978. He is of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. He started performing stand-up while he was working as a mathematics teacher at schools in Crawley and Banstead. He became a professional comedian in 2012.

Career: Ranganathan's breakthrough came in 2013 when he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Since then, he has appeared on a number of comedy panel shows, including Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Have I Got News for You. He has also performed stand-up on Live at the Apollo and presented the BBC Three series Asian Provocateur and co-presented the ITV series It's Not Rocket Science.

Quote: "I think I'm a mango. Just very sweet and lovely."

Trivia: Ranganathan is a vegan and supports Arsenal FC.

Tiff Stevenson (Panellist)

Ewan Phillips (Producer)

Geraldine Dowd (Director)

Mock the Week:

12:00 am - 12:40 am, Thursday, December 18 on U&Dave (19)

About this Broadcast

Season 14, Episode 4

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