He should quit now, says O'Hanlon

Ardal O’Hanlon has criticised former MP Lembit Opik for his ‘disrespectful’ dabbles into stand-up.

The Father Ted star said that the Lib Dem’s ‘publicity stunt’ in attempting comedy showed that he had contempt for the work and craft that goes into being a comedian.

‘I kind of object to it, hugely,’ he told the Dainly Express. ‘Whenever I see celebrities straying into stand-up comedy I feel it’s disrespectful. I think in Lembit Opik’s case, it’s clearly a publicity stunt as he tries to forge a new career. That’s fair enough.

‘But I think, “Why choose stand-up comedy?” You choose it because you don’t respect it as an art form. You know, it’s not just a case of getting up and opening your mouth – you really have to put a lot of effort into it, you really have to learn your craft, you have to try to figure out what works and what doesn’t I don’t think there are any shortcuts in comedy.

‘Why doesn’t he just stop it right now?’

Opik recently performed his first stand-up gig in London, to a critical drubbing, which he followed up with appearance at Glastonbury and on Channel 4’s Stand Up For The Week, where he was ‘roasted’ by Patrick Kielty.

O’Hanlon added that Opik doing comedy would be ‘like me going into politics, which is another issue: comedians getting too big for their boots and straying into other areas that they shouldn’t.’

Published: 2 Jul 2010