Dara O'Briain jokes about videogames

By Robert Purchese Published 10 December, 2010

Wii games are like "stroking a pony".

Irish comedian Dara O'Briain was spotted making jokes about videogames on the Live at the Apollo stand-up television show.

"I love videogames," he proclaimed to his audience. "I enjoy saying that because half of the room are looking at me, going, 'Ah Jesus, you're 38.'"

When asked how he relaxes after a gig, O'Briain went on to say, "It's less embarrassing if I say 'I masturbate to hardcore pornography'."

O'Briain, like many of us, finds it "strange" that people still look quizzically at people who enjoy a product of "the largest entertainment market in the world".

Games are great, he said, because they do "something no other art form does" - stop you going further if you're rubbish. Books don't quiz you after chapter three and then slam shut should you get the answer wrong, O'Briain theorised, and CDs don't stop playing because your dancing is awful.

But games? Games do, and O'Briain used Grand Theft Auto IV as an example of failing and restarting, and the lengthy game-journeys involved in that. He then touched on Guitar Hero and how he wanted to play a song that turned out to be far down the tracklist. And then he moved on to Wii.

"How many of you have ever played with a Wii?" he canvassed the audience. Cheers rippled through the crowd.

"That doesn't count.

"This is a Wii game," he declared. "'Ooh I'm stroking a pony.' That's a Wii game, right. 'Ooh I'm feeding sugar cubes to a unicorn and it's going to poo out rainbows that I can paint onto Mario's house.' That's not gaming.

This is gaming: 'Oh my god I'm in a gun battle! Which of these buttons isn't crouch?!'"

Dara O'Briain lamented the amount of crouching in games - a sketch that culminated in a fantastic burst of physical comedy where O'Briain mimicked being a videogame character interacting with a table on the stage.

He was out of breath afterwards.

Dara O'Briain's passion for games was shown before when he hosted the BAFTA Video Game Awards earlier this year.

"Snaaaake? Snaaaaake? Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!"

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • merseymal #1 1 year ago

    I was out of breath too after watching this routine in Liverpool last month.

  • Restart #2 1 year ago

    Man makes jokes. This is news? O_O

  • Der_tolle_Emil #3 1 year ago

    I love this guy. His latest DVD arrived last week as well but I haven't had the chance to watch it yet. Really looking forward to it though.

  • Tyronne #4 1 year ago

    will not be able to hear `SNAKKKEEE` the same way again without a little voice in the back of my head going `ohh snake`in a irish accent.

  • SClaw #5 1 year ago

    That's nice, Eurogamer, but how about you try... I dunno... interviewing him or something rather than just transcribing something we can watch on iplayer? You know. something journalistic! Wild idea for you there!

  • riceNpea #6 1 year ago

    and i thought the Peace Walker article was pointless....

    comedian jokes about games? i'm pretty sure a fair few of them have done that. what next? a Charles Manson has a Wii in his cell article?

  • Eraysor #7 1 year ago

    Saw this live in Bristol a couple months back, I almost died laughing

  • cowell #8 1 year ago

    Good stuff but I am sure some of this routine was part of his spiel on Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe.

    I think Dara's a good advocate for our hobby and I've seen him browsing the games section at HMV in Oxford St

  • CaptainQuint #9 1 year ago

    Comedian makes videogame jokes to mainstream audience. Whoopy-doo.

    Next we'll all be floating around the earth, Star Child style.

  • Pastici #10 1 year ago

    Eurogamer readers in cynical outbursts shocker :o.

  • bad09 #11 1 year ago

    Not sure if "famous comedien makes joke about games" is really news TBH but Dara is a legend regardless and I didn't know he was a gamer.

  • chrisjm #12 1 year ago

    Next week on Eurogamer, Nintendo DS spotted in Kerry Katonas handbag, exclusive pictures!

  • Syrok Verified Community Coordinator, Tarsier Studios #13 1 year ago

    "rather than just transcribing something we can watch on iplayer?"

    I can't watch anything on iPlayer. Not everyone lives in the UK. ;)

  • cowell #14 1 year ago

    It may not be earth shattering news but it was funny and relevant. Chill out....

  • sheldipez #15 1 year ago

    @ cowell - yeah it was - this "news"/comedy routine is a year old..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3aHvPG6H8

  • Luckyjim #16 1 year ago

    That was actually quite a funny routine.

  • Markitron #17 1 year ago

    Some people on here are right Moany gits, go start your own games website if your so sure what 'news' entails. personally, after having read this item im more inclined to go check out the dvd

  • jonsaan #18 1 year ago

    Awesome.

  • Deckard1 #19 1 year ago

    Next week in the eurogamer comments section: people piss and moan about everything. EVERYTHING.

  • darc #20 1 year ago

    "erratic at best" LOL.

    But 38? He looks more like 48, no?
    Edited by darc at 10/12/10 @ 16:49

  • lucky_jim #21 1 year ago

    Yeah, a lot of it was stuff he said on Gameswipe. But I was really pleased to see him taking this to a wider audience.

  • sheldipez #22 1 year ago

    http://tinyurl.com/DaraSnake .. As seen on Kotaku last month

  • moriss #23 1 year ago

    so he did the same jokes he did on charlie brookers gameswipe then. awesome newz, thanks.

  • trip919 #24 1 year ago

    Human makes jokes about games.

    *MORE AT 11*

  • Zamn10210 #25 1 year ago

    I love Dara O'Briain, but this is news? Really?

    Even if man-jokes-about-games is news, he's been doing this routine for over a year. Come on.
    Edited by Zamn10210 at 10/12/10 @ 17:06

  • Sausagechaos #26 1 year ago

    That is what I call a Friday treat, cheers Eurogamer
    And thank god he's stopped going 'eeeeeeeerm' between every sentence.
    Genuinely funny routine.

  • Benno #27 1 year ago

    hahah, got so funny when he started talking about snake

  • ChopleyTurnip #28 1 year ago

    Yes it's his Gameswipe stuff again but all comics have a finite repertoire, and this is a very good routine. Personally I think Dara is a brilliant 'advertisement' for games if you will. You can almost see some folks thinking, 'Hang on, a successful and famous well-adjusted chap delivering a kick-ass comedy routine likes games....?'

    And also, what're the constant bitchy negative comments from some folks here all about? Not every news item can be an earth shattering revelation of biblical proportions.

    This is a well-known stand-up/TV presenter doing a routine about games, this is a games website - I can see a link there......
    Edited by ChopleyTurnip at 10/12/10 @ 17:30

  • Ninja_Tino #29 1 year ago

    HOW DARE YOU POST THIS, EUROGAMER?! NEWS?! ZOMG NOT NEWS AT ALL LOL jk I enjoyed it and wouldn't have seen it otherwise. Jesus, some of you really need to lighten up. The 'Snaaaake' part was great, but I wonder it non-gamers still found it funny? The audience, in general, seemed to be enjoying it.

  • excelexcel #30 1 year ago

    Jesus some of ye are right miserable gits. So its not news, its a bit of fun and I found it great. AH NOT TOGGLE MAPS :p

  • elephant_stone #31 1 year ago

    h'mazing!

  • kinky_mong #32 1 year ago

    More award winning journalism from Eurogamer. Posting a video that was on Gamesradar a week ago about a comedians routine about gaming, part of which he used in Gameswipe first aired months ago. Bravo!

  • nobloodyname #33 1 year ago

    The part that really made laugh - all of it was funny - was the crouch-rant. Spot on! He could absolutely have been describing my (lack of) ability!

  • waggy79 #34 1 year ago

    This is a free site is it not? You're more than welcome to go somewhere a little more intellectual if this place is beneath you.

  • TelexStar #35 1 year ago

    Sometimes I read these comments threads and wish to the high heavens that Eurogamer would just do away with the comments section altogether. There's just an inordinate number of people who have nothing better to do than to bitch and moan about whatever appears on the site.

  • darc #36 1 year ago

    Inadvertent crouching... the racing game equivalent is accidentally laying on the horn when cornering hard. Dear game developers please never map ANYTHING as an "L3" (left thumbstick depression) control ever again. Also, beeeeep!

  • ChopleyTurnip #37 1 year ago

    It reminds me a bit of the comments section at The Guardian. If they dare to do a 'trivial' feature you can guarantee that 50% of the comments will be denouncing The Guardian for daring to waste bytes on something that isn't of earth-shattering importance (because of course, bytes on the internet are dangerously finite!).

    Of course they forget that The Guardian covers everything else AS WELL, so if they want to know about the Euro crisis or despots in Africa or drug wars in Mexico, it's all there too.

    Same basic principle here, Eurogamer covers pretty much everything in the world of games, across all the formats, (the GT5 analysis was superb and fascinating, and I don't even have a PS3), if you want detail and in-depth, Eurogamer has it, if you want a quick piece about Dara O'Briain telling jokes about videogames, they've got that too.

    Seriously people, chill out a bit, if you don't like these pieces, don't bloody read them! I don't like Eastenders, I cope with this by not watching it. I don't feel the need to go to Eastenders forums (I assume such things exist) to tell everyone that Eastenders is crap.

  • Climhazzard #38 1 year ago

    Dara O'Briain seems to be a great ambassador for gaming and makes it well known his passion for it. That kind of joke couldn't have been done at any point in the past history of gaming which just shows that we're now getting to the point where video games are becoming much more socially acceptable. So there this piece by EG is totally relevant, stop being pathetic little children trying to keep gaming in the dark ages.

  • stegabba #39 1 year ago

    would'nt mind if he was actually fucking funny

  • Freek #40 1 year ago

    Yeah, that was all old material, and recent too. I mean sure, you do a few jokes over now again but not this blatant.
    His entire Games Wipes interview and his crouching marine gag and the snake gag, all recycled. Still funny though, but a little strange. Well, geuse he figured people don't watch BBC Three or went to his gig or saw it on Youtube 2 weeks ago.

  • Iain815 #41 1 year ago

    Seen him live in Belfast and he didn't disappoint.

  • Golgo #42 1 year ago

    the cunt isnt funny

  • FenderMaster #43 1 year ago

    not his biggest fan, but he definitely has his moments, lots of celebrities talk about CoD or GTA, it's all over the place, as synonymous with games as Mario or that Lara Croft game... but what impressed me was that Dara was talking about Metal Gear... and it got the best reaction!

  • The_Inquisitor #44 1 year ago

    I heard some of this sketch on Gameswipe before and I thought the article had ruined what I hadn't seen before... But I was in tears of laughter by the end. :D

  • Tomo #45 1 year ago

    Amazing skit :D

  • metalangel #46 1 year ago

    Saw this in his routine at the start of his tour waaaay back in March. Note to self: don't drink lots of beer beforehand, trying to avoid pissing yourself is bad enough without an excellent comedian's routine making you howl with laughter.

  • mushroomyakuza #47 1 year ago

    Haters goan hate.

  • NunianVonFuch #48 1 year ago

    This was part of his routine at least a year ago when I saw him in Ireland, before Gameswipe anyway. Great material all the same, the snake bit never gets old!

  • Wedge1985 #49 1 year ago

    @freek to be fair all the comics on Live at the apollo reuse their jokes. most of them are taken from their current shows but half the time you'll hear the same ones appearing on mock the week, Have i got news for you, QI etc.

    And @all the whingers, get over yourselves. nowhere does eurogamer state that they'll only report breaking news. why not have lighthearted pieces like this? i found it quite entertaining as i'd missed this episode...

  • Spong #50 1 year ago

    I thought it was a shit routine personally. And like others have said, some of it was regurgitated from his appearance on Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe over a year ago. It wasn't funny then and it hasn't improved with age.

    This ain't news EG. And, to me, it wasn't really comedy either.
    Edited by Spong at 11/12/10 @ 08:55

  • Tinrib72 #51 1 year ago

    Spot on. And yeah I have seen a variation of the skit previously like a few on here have and still thought it hilarious....but seriously didnt get expect the swathe of whiny bitches on this thread. Get over yourselves.

  • Freek #52 1 year ago

    @51
    Really? Wow, that kinda makes Live at the Apollo a bitt pointless.

  • Harmonica #53 1 year ago

    This piece is almost unreadable. You're putting words into mouths if you type gigantic sentences littered with double-quoted words here and there.

    Interview Dara O'Briain, or quote the entire segment in one big chunk.
    Edited by Harmonica at 11/12/10 @ 17:11

  • mcreddie #54 1 year ago

    PLAGIARISM!
    Edited by mcreddie at 11/12/10 @ 17:26

  • yegon #55 1 year ago

    Im willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I hope he's funnier than he is on Apprentice:You're Fired. Terrible in that but that's probably down to the constraints of the medium. Plus, he occasionally wrote a column on footy in the Guardian that was quite amusing.

    Oh, and what ChopleyTurnip said x1bn - bang on about Guardian comments :). I genuinely, sincerely, have the utmost sympathy for the mindset of the miserable beggars who spent their time moaning about non-"hardc0r3" gaming articles....and yes, Im aware of the irony that I'm moaning about moaners but the point still stands, so pfft!

  • LiamK #56 1 year ago

    "Really? Wow, that kinda makes Live at the Apollo a bitt pointless. "

    Well, only if you've seen all the comedians live shows beforehand.

  • President_Weasel #57 1 year ago

    He's done this routine before, yes, a couple of times. Parts of it on gameswipe, and the whole thing including the crouching and the running about and the "this routine stops when the comic runs out of breath" somewhere else I can't remember. (oh, and on stage in Liverpool, per merseymal's comment).

    Thing is, you have to expect a comedian to do his material more than once. No comedian who works wholly or partly from a script is going to write a whole new show for every performance. I'm pleased to see him doing a routine about how it's OK to play games in front of a bbc early evening audience, rather than just preaching to the converted on gameswipe.
    Good on you, Dara.

  • Ryze #58 1 year ago

    Excellent stuff

  • DrStrangelove #59 1 year ago

    In Doom and Quake you couldn't crouch. Some things were better in the past.

  • electrolite #60 1 year ago

    "Yeah, that was all old material, and recent too. I mean sure, you do a few jokes over now again but not this blatant. "

    What the fuck are you on about? Stand-up's repeat segments all the time, some of them repeat entire shows from start to finish.

  • electrolite #61 1 year ago

    To all those whining about this story. The headline and the link on the EG homepage clearly indicates what this article is about. So if you weren't interested why the hell did you open it? Was it just so you could have a piss and moan? That's fucking sad.

  • mrfrostynova #62 1 year ago

    Yeah this isn't news but Dara O'Briain's a great fella so couldn't care less.

  • homerbert #63 1 year ago

    I'm amazed how many people are forced at gunpoint to read all the news articles on Eurogamer. I'm so lucky that I'm able to read the headline link from the main page and decide whether or not I care enough to read the whole article. Maybe Eurogamer will be nice enough to refund them the money they were charged to read the articles.