David O'Doherty

David Nicholas O'Doherty (born 18 December 1975) is an Irish comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright and son of renowned jazz pianist Jim Doherty.

O'Doherty worked in a bicycle shop and in telemarketing and temping before he made his first stage appearance at Dublin's Comedy Cellar in 1998.

His first full show was The Story of the Boy Who Saved Comedy which received a nomination for Perrier Best Newcomer when it was performed at Edinburgh Fringe.

In 1999, he won the Channel 4 So You Think You're Funny Comedy Competition at the Edinburgh Fringe and was also a finalist in the BBC New Comedy Awards in the same year.

In 2000, he was nominated for Perrier Best Newcomer Award for his show, David O'Doherty: The Boy Who Saved Comedy followed in 2006 by a nomination for The if.comeddie award for his show, David O'Doherty is My Name He eventually won the if.comedy Award (formerly the Perrier Award) in 2008 for Let's Comedy.

He has received the accolade of Hot Press Irish Comedian of the Year in 2003 and 2010.

In 2006, he was nominated for an if.comedy award for his Edinburgh show, David O'Doherty Is My Name.

O'Doherty has performed at festivals across the world in locations that include Adelaide, Melbourne, Montreal, New York City and Wellington NZ, Moscow and Iceland.

As a support act he first toured Ireland with Tommy Tiernan, the United Kingdom with Rich Hall and the United States with Demetri Martin.

he has since returned to those places with his own tours.

He has often worked with Flight of the Conchords.

in 2006 and 2008 he performed as part of the Honourable Men of Art at the Edinburgh Fringe, along with Daniel Kitson, John Oliver, Andy Zaltzman and Alun Cochrane.

He was also nominated for the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2006 and in 2014 received the award for Best International Comedian at the Sydney Comedy Festival.

O'Doherty combines his comedic performance with tunes played on his miniature electronic keyboard.

He describes his style of comedy in his song "FAQ for the DOD" as "very low energy musical whimsy" – or "VLEMWy", for short.

O'Doherty appears regularly on BBC and Channel 4 TV shows including QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Would I Lie to You?.

In May 2007, O'Doherty's first TV series, The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty, began airing on RTÉ Two.

The six-part series was directed by John Carney, following the completion of his Academy Award-winning film Once.

His stand-up has won many international awards including the if.comedy award in 2008 and Best International Comedian at the 2014 Sydney Comedy Festival.

He attended Trinity College Dublin, where his comedy career began.

"I spent a lot of my time introducing things", he says, "concerts and bands, that sort of thing".

"I remember my brother once bet me I couldn't get the word 'spaghetti' into an introduction for a piano recital in the Edmund Burke so I stood-up and said 'my brother has bet me I can't say the word spaghetti' and I got a laugh."

O'Doherty has written several books, written two plays and released three comedy CDs.

His latest book for children, Danger Is Everywhere, illustrated by Chris Judge has been selected for the UNESCO Dublin, City of Literature Citywide Reading Campaign.

In August 2008, O'Doherty won the If.comedy award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his show Let's Comedy, which featured "a relationship in text messages, tunes played on a 3ft electronic keyboard, and a badger attack".

He was presented with the 2008 Intelligent Finance Comedy Award and a cheque for £8,000 (€10,000) by the previous winner Brendon Burns and the Australian author and television presenter Clive James.

He has returned to the Edinburgh Fringe every year since with a new show, that he has toured around the world for much of the following year.

His first CD Giggle Me Timbers (Jokes Ahoy) was recorded at his bedsit flat in front of 35 people.

O'Doherty's second CD release called Let's David O'Doherty was recorded at Whelan's in Dublin and released in December 2009.

In 2009 O'Doherty was made honorary president of The Monumental Brass Society, after a particularly well received routine on brass rubbing at the previous year's Edinburgh Fringe.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, is his favourite place for brass rubbing.

His third CD We Are Not The Champions was recorded in the same venue and was released in 2012.

O'Doherty has been decorated with numerous awards for his achievements in comedy.

In June 2012 he became the first Irish comedian to have their own Comedy Central Presents episode on American television.

In 2015 it was published in 10 languages around the world.

He regards himself as "a failed jazz musician, scrambling about for something else to do with his life".

O'Doherty's father is pianist Jim O'Doherty.

His grandfather was Kevin O'Doherty, an Irish hurdles champion, and his great-grandfather was Seamus O'Doherty, a head of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

He is the youngest of three children and has an older brother and sister who are seven and eight years older than him, respectively.

He studied philosophy at Trinity College Dublin, where he was a member of the Jazz Society and a fake Breakdancing Society.