Dara Ó Briain jokes he was ‘fired’ from Mock the Week

The satirical panel show was axed by the BBC earlier this month

Dara Ó Briain joked aboutMock the Weekbeing axed by the BBC in his recent appearance on Channel 4 comedy showThe Last Leg.

Earlier this month, it was announced that the BBC had called time on the satirical panel show after 17 years and 21 series “in order to create room for new shows”.

On Friday’s episode of The Last Leg (19 August), while talking about Ó Briain being touted as the possible replacement for Jeremy Paxman onUniversity Challenge (a job that went to former Independent editor Amol Rajan), host Adam Hills asked him: “How do you feel about your name being in the mix?”

“I think my name’s gonna be in the mix for everything. They fill out a list for these things and they’ll pick whoever’s been recently fired.”

He added: “It’ll be me and Richard Osman, just sitting at home in our pyjamas going, ‘Oh, I’m in the running for that job, am I?’

“We often go round to each other’s houses in each other’s pyjamas.”

Osman had announced that he was stepping down from the BBC quiz show Pointless in April, after 13 years hosting the show with Alexander Armstrong.

‘Mock the Week’ (BBC)

The final eight episodes of Mock the Week will air on BBC Two this autumn.

Ó Briain recently hit back at Andrew Neil after the broadcaster appeared to suggest that the panel show “deserved to be cancelled”. Read more here.