BBC mulls new Irish sketch show

The BBC is considering a new sketch show featuring the Best Of Irish Comedy talent.

Live Floor Show host Dara O'Briain has pitched the idea to the corporation through his production company Happy Endings.

Character comic Deirdre O'Kane and the Apres Match sketch troupe would feature in the show.

Ireland's Sunday Times says ideas pitched by Happy Endings have been greeted more warmly since the success of BBC2's weekly stand-up show.

The production company is also run by Seamus Cassidy, a former Channel 4 commissioning editor, who was responsible for bringing hits like Reeves and Mortimer and Father Ted to the screen.

However, O'Briain says he will be careful about what TV work he does, as he wants to concentrate on stand-up.

"I won't be doing sitcoms," he told the Sunday Times. "I act like a brick."

"I do television mainly to raise the profile and get people in the door to the gigs. I choose TV stuff that complements what I'm doing live.

"Doing the stand-up circuit at this stage becomes like going to a gym. It's a chore. But I still find the performance a joyous thing to do."

"There is a tendency for people to get off the circuit the minute they get a TV contract. (Graham) Norton got the Perrier nomination and never came to Edinburgh again.

But he acknowledged: "There comes a time when you have to stop doing stand-up. The travelling eventually becomes impossible"

Published: 31 Mar 2003