Ardal O'Hanlon

Comedy gold: Ardal O'Hanlon from the Gaiety Theatre

O'Hanlon's early standup work is better than Father Ted - the familiar cuddliness and accent are still there, but with added charm, intelligence and fabulous phrasemaking.

Ardal O'Hanlon: My Week

Comedian and Father Ted star Ardal O'Hanlon on his secret attic, coaching his son's football team, and why being a stand-up is the "best job in the world".

An interview with Gary Delaney

One-liner comedian Gary Delaney tends to write for the likes of 8 Out of 10 Cats, Jason Manford's Comedy Rocks and Russell Howard's Good News, but last Thursday he appeared on Dave's One Night Stand alongside Ardal O'Hanlon and Josie Long. "It was nice to be the guy in front of the camera, rather than the guy behind it writing the jokes", he tells Radio Teesdale's Peter Dixon.

Judging by the line-ups for the third series of this programme, I think it's safe to say that Dave are running low on suitable locations to film. The first episode featured Ardal O'Hanlon performing in Dublin, a city which the programme's already covered in the last series when Jason Byrne performed there. Later in the series, Stephen K Amos is performing in London, Jack Whitehall's location in the first series. And Reginald D Hunter is performing in Edinburgh, which, as far as I know, isn't where he lives currently. It's certainly not his hometown, although since that would mean filming in America you can excuse Dave for not going there...

In terms of the first edition of the series, O'Hanlon seemed to be performing well, but like many an occasion on this programme I was more impressed by the guests he had performing alongside him. This episode featured one-liner stand-up Gary Delaney (who, out of interest to northern comedy fans, is Sarah Millican's boyfriend) and Josie Long. I probably favoured Delaney's one-liners over Long's narrative, if I'm honest, but both demonstrated why they're two of the most sought after comedians in the country.

Ardal O'Hanlon is on good form as the headline act at Dublin's Olympia Theatre, his saucer-eyed wonder undercut by a surreal streak. Supporting him on this trip back to his local theatre are Gary Delaney (a one-liner machine in the same vein as Milton Jones and Tim Vine) and the whimsical Josie Long.

Of the two, Long is the more appealing performer, with her diatribe on The Sun's Page Three girls being particularly well executed. Delaney is perhaps someone more to admire than like - you can't help but be in awe of someone who remembers so many gags, although the fact that he finds his own material quite so amusing does start to grate.

Ardal O'Hanlon's reasons for doing stand-up comedy

The former Father Dougal explains the appeal of life behind the mic.

A new run begins of the series in which each week a different comedian returns to his home town. Tonight it's Father Ted star Ardal O'Hanlon. A pity the programme concentrates less on the comedian's roots and more on a stand-up gig by him at Dublin's Olympia Theatre. That said, the opening does feature a funny, though very black, sketch about an unfortunate visit O'Hanlon makes to the family home. O'Hanlon's routine, as ever, is observant, child-like and madcap, taking in everything from the Irish economy to Indian joke writers.

The ever-brilliant Jennifer Saunders hosts this two-hour dedication to the comedy of the 90s, offering a broad overview of its sitcoms, stand-ups and all that's in between. The stars of The League of Gentlemen, The Royle Family, The Fast Show and, naturally, Absolutely Fabulous all pop up to talk a decade of funny, with Reeves and Mortimer, Adam and Joe and Ardal O'Hanlon also on anecdote duty.

Tonight's main guest is Irish comic Ardal O'Hanlon, at whom it's still difficult to look without seeing Dougal, the simple-minded priest from Father Ted with trouble distinguishing between "small" and "far away". Jolly bemusement remains a crucial element of O'Hanlon's act, but he regularly subverts expectations with his smart and faintly surreal asides - for example, the assertion that Ryanair have now become so crafty that they're charging for emotional baggage.

Thanks to a spread of guests ranging from mediocre to tolerable, McIntyre's last stop on his televised tour is underwhelming. Headline act Ardal O'Hanlon peddles his usual awkward material with sloppy delivery. Canadian comic Sean Collins and Londoner Andi Osho seem to impress the audience (made up of most of the Emmerdale cast including Pauline Quirke), but would surely be hard pressed to squeeze a smirk from a crowd not already lubricated by such a clever compere. McIntyre is in Leeds for the last leg, so naturally he's tried to think of some funny things to say about the locals. He does well, picking them up on their tendency not to say "the" and also gently mocking Yorkshire folks' love of a carvery. His material isn't pioneering (at times it's pretty thin), but when he adds a silly walk and his twangy delivery, it usually comes together.