Dara O Briain takes newspaper to task over 'British' label

The Guardian has revised a television review which implied Irish comedians Dara O Briain and Ed Byrne were British.

Dara, who buys the paper every day and describes himself on Twitter as a “Brit licker”, took to the social media platform to call out the blunder after the first episode of Dara And Ed’s Road To Mandalay aired on BBC Two on Sunday night.

The review pulled no punches, describing the idea for the show “increasingly dull and unedifying”.

But Dara took issue with the reviewer’s reference to “sending white British men to far-flung places in search of ‘strange and quirky’ aspects of other cultures”.

He said on Twitter: “Bravo @guardian telly review! Accuses us of cultural insensitivity, while in the same sentence subsuming Ireland back into Britain…

“Calling me and Ed ‘white British men’ is also irritating since the show was clearly a celebration of Malaysia’s hugely diverse culture.”

The review noted in the following sentence that the pair are both Irish.

And it went on to pan the show by saying the “insights are as scant as the comedy”, the jokes at a chicken beauty pageant in Kuala Lumpur fell flat and “Barbara Windsor would have done a much better job”.

Dara later applauded the revised version which removed the British reference in the online article.

“Ha! Well done @guardian! Now it just implies that you’re bored of Irish people and our many travel documentaries,” he said.